Well, I don't believe I missed anything. I don't know how you took anything I said to infer I perfer or condone lawbreakers in government or anywhere else. You are quite right in the fact that they need to answer for their deeds. My point about the whole thing is that the news media as a whole sensationalizes any little juicy tidbit they can get ahold of. Nowhere in my previous post did I say that it was OK to minimize or tolerate misuse of public office or betray the trust of the public that they are to serve. Bill Clinton undewent impeachment proceedings for his dalliance one evening. The Commander-And -Chief. It just has continually happened time over time in this country and elsewhere, and I don't think for one moment that it won't happen again. I still say it has little or no bearing on the person's ability to perform their job, and if none of these things had ever been exposed and splashed about with such fervor, none would have ever been the wiser and the job would have still gotten done.
Clinton's case and Spitzer's case are two different animals in my book. In Clinton's case he fooled around and other than embarrass himself and his family, in my opinion there was no need to try to impeach him. Of course it all boiled down to partisan politics and the republicans tried to throw him out for lying under oath because they surely couldn't throw him out for the fooling around alone. Spitzer paid for prostitutes, which is illegal in NYS and many other places. He violated the law and if he didn't step down voluntarily, the state lawmakers would have had every right to try to impeach him. Yeah, the media likes to sensationalize these things. It makes them big money. We are a nation that is obsessed with sex, porn, etc, yet we get puritanical with those we elect to office. Doesn't make much sense, but a heck of a lot of things don't make much sense in this country! To me it comes down to the legality of it. If one simply fools around, all he is doing is hurting himself and his family. If what he does is against the law, then steps should be taken against them as steps would be taken against me or you.