Client 9: What was he Thinking?

How could a man with seemingly unlimited career prospects squander so much for so little?

I'm not of course talking about the $4,300, which, at the time, may have seem liked a good deal. Powerful men, as the saying goes, don't pay prostitutes for sex, they pay them to go away afterwards. $4,300 for a tryst in a DC hotel room might seem higher than the market rate, but the escort in question was, so far as anybody knows, discreet.

What really makes the transaction so surprising is that "Client 9" must have known that to get caught would be political suicide. As a prominent political figure his personal affairs were of de facto personal interest -- and as a former attorney general he was well-aware of the methods of crime enforcement.

Yet proceed he did; what's more, the act in question wasn't -- at least not entirely -- a crime of a passion, in the traditional legal sense of the phrase. Rather, we can infer (from the financial subterfuges used to cover the transactions) that his decision to take the risk was likely premeditated. It would appear that Client 9 knew perfectly well that what was he doing was something he didn't want anybody to know about, and took elaborate measures to try make sure nobody found out.

This is not just a case of a man being led about his hormones, to the exclusion of the rest of his brain, but something more complicated: a case in which an extraordinarily intelligent man used all of his rational capacities to form a track-covering plan -- yet seemingly focused none of his cognitive wherewithal on evaluating whether that plan was worth pursuing in the first place.

Freud, wrong about so much else, was certainly right that the mind is forever locked in internal conflict; where he talked about "id" and "ego", modern scholars see something slightly different, a clash between "ancestral systems" and more modern "deliberative cognition", but for present purposes the point is much the same. Id beat ego, just as it has so many times before.

Why does this happen so often? The answer, in a nutshell, is this; evolution blew it. When our fancy new deliberative reasoning systems evolved, evolution, which lacks foresight, took what amounts to the lazy way out, crudely grafting the new capabilities onto the older ancestral systems, with nary a thought as to how the two would work together. The ancestral mate seeking systems that led Client 9 by the nose thus still receive extremely high priority, whether or not their actions are in the interests of our minds as a whole.

Was Spitzer's philandering a victory for his selfish genes, as some evolutionary psychologists might have it? Well, yes, and no. His genes, in some very crude sense, made him do it, but his actions weren't in his own genetic self-interest.

Ultimately, our genes can only take us so far: they help guide the development of our brains (and hence our minds) -- but they can't anticipate the complexities of the real world; instead our genes then largely cede control of our day-to-day actions, leaving our somewhat clumsy brains in charge.

It's up to us to keep that conjunction of genes and clumsy engineering from getting us into trouble.

Gary Marcus, author of Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind

Comments

[Durango]

Why did Spitzer hire a $4,000 hooker?

Because he could! As would most males if given the opportunity. But most of us lack the cash or opportunity.

I am only surprised that for $4,000 he didn't hire 2 $2,000 hookers.

[wendy]

For me, none of the posts get at the convoluted and dangerous actions of Eliot Spitzer. I'm a psychologist and many of us are truly puzzled by this dark side of Eliot. It's not, imho, an id/ego matter
but far more confounding.

This we surmise: He wanted to keep his family together because he has a good enough home or at least he has three minor girls. That's not something anyone in politics or most out of politics wants to lose. Sure, there was some disconnect with his wife. But as the man who prosecuted such high class rings, and smart enough to know all Dems in high positions well might have their phones and emails tapped by BushCo et al, why would he go to such lengths to get laid.

Okay, so as said, maybe prostitute was easier on the marriage, no emotional connections. The money, one assumes, was negligible for someone as weathy as Eliot S. BUT knowing all the laws better than most, he surely knew he was violating wire transfers and the Mann act. We might not know of these matters but be sure; he did. As one touted as possibly the first Jewish President, what really was going on in his mind. Getting laid wouldn't be hard for a pretty cute governor. Think Guiliani. No, don't think Guiliani because he left home and fell in love/lust. But Eliot wasn't dealing as far as I know with cancer but with, as you've said, some gradiose 'I can get away with this." Yet, for someone so cogntively brilliant surely it crossed his mind, because he needed that mind to dole out the sneaky sums of cash under 10,000 at a time.

I wish I could give some more depth. Had he been a sex addict as many in other forums suggest, then surely someone would have come forward. Since he doesn't use condoms, so woman who he bought might have come forth. For seriously big bucks. They knew who he was. He used a friend's name and his own address? I mean to say a lot of thought

[Centaur]

Actually, it was the Guv's "member" that was doing the thinking and I have a theory why his member took control. It's the water guys. Yes, that's right it's all those sex hormones in the water that's been reported. Don't laugh, this could be the perfect defense that he can use.

[HurryUp1212009]

Read up on BiPolar Disorder; he's got it bigtime. I did the same thing he did, and often, until my family intervened and got me on anti BiPolar medication and off booze. Thank God I didn't lose my family or my job.

[TexanJane]

Spitzer's behavior is only peripherally about sex. Or, I think, evolution's mating call. It is about a pathology - although exactly which of many it might reflect, only he and his therapist could say for sure.

Possibilities: A compulsion for adrenaline-producing danger
A deep seated desire to self-destruct
A grandiose belief that, unlike others who get caught, he is supremely more clever

But, if what I heard today is correct - that his wife is urging him to fight to keep his job - what in the world is HER motivation?

These two need to get to a professional's couch - immediately.

[liveandlearn]

what about all the antigay gay republicans?

[hopeless277]

He thought that since he was the Guvnor, no one could touch him. I guess he forgot that the core mission of the DOJ is to round up Democrats and put them in jail. Being such a dumbass should disqualify him from being governor. Hell, it should disqualify him from holding ANY public office ever again. Dumbass.

[richw23]

If we weren't such prudes it wouldn't be an issue.

[research]

Bingo.

[frank1569]

Not everyone is born with the same sized libido, and said libido changes - like everything else - over time. Maybe Spitz is hypersexual and his wife not so much; maybe she condoned his behavior (as long as it was safe and emotion-less.) Who knows and who cares?

The problem, ultimately, is the fact that some asshole made sex between consenting adults illegal if paper money were exchanged. Dinner, movie, sex? Legal. One-nighter with a club hook-up? Totally legal. Massage while naked? Legal and expensive. But touch a nipple - and all holy hell breaks loose.

What if... you had very sensitive feet, and your masseuse used her magic fingers on said feet, and you had an orgasm. Is that illegal? Would she have to return the money to keep it legal?

Why are we still paying the FBI to do this shit? And is it a coincidence that the day after said FBI admitted, for like the 10th time, that they had "accidentally" committed tens of thousands of felonies suddenly they score the Gov of NY? What a goddamn coincidence...

Prostitution is not a victim-less crime - it's not a crime at all. Of course, we still live in a country where we still censor "dirty" words and shit our pants if a side shot of a breast makes it onto the tube, unless it's a "news" reports from Panama City during spring break.

A country of five year olds who still yearn to be Amish.

Spitzer's biggest mistake was using the phone. Hasn't he heard that all 16 "intel" agencies plus the Pentagon plus Big Telecom plus who the hell else knows who are illegally spying on us 24/7? Do you see any terrorists caught, El? Any sleeper cells uncovered? Plots thwarted? Anthrax killers caught? No? Well, who the hell do you think 8 years of unsupervised illegal spying is targeted at then, moron?

[Ramus]

Many testosterone-ridden men who are driven to achieve whatever are the same fellows who have serious zipper problems, JFK and MLK come to mind. It is the very oldest of stories..and the oldest of professions. The problem with Spitzer is that he'd prosecuted prostitution rings before and was probably getting thrills by not being caught. Except for this prostitution ring possible being a money laundering operation for criminal gangs, it's surely an innocent enough victimless crime. He shoulda known..no e-mails, no phones. All should have been done by personal messenger. Did he never see Goodfellas or The Wire? sheesh. Prostitution should be legal anyway..who besides Mrs. Spitzer and their daughters were hurt? And if he was in DC he should have found himself a DC woman..sheesh

[terriw]

give me a break with 'genes' as the excuse.

he's not 18. he's 40-something. it's not poppin' like it used to.

[PioneerKing]

if you are attempting to infer that Eliot is in the midst of some sort of emotional break down then all the better reason for him to be found out NY does not need a governor who is mentally unstable
sex is sex - don't try and excuse Eliot's actions through psycho babble

[danceswithyids]

As Client 10, I think I can speak to this with some authority.
We are in fact unable to think, due to lack of blood flowing to our brain thus depriving it of its valuable oxygen.

[larry278]

I take issue with calling Gov Spitzer a schmuck, he qualifies as a Schmendrick Putz regardless of which portion of his psyche induced him to use the services of a prostitute. Making the arrangments by phone isn't something an experienced, successful prosecutor would do. He left clues a plenty when he pulled these capers. The man has what professionals call terminal hubris. He didn't feel that he'd get caught because nobody would dare accuse a governor of this stupid caper. He got caught.

[humblediplomat]

Look how the GOP IMMEDIATELY jump on the impeachment bandwagon, meanwhile our milquetoasts Democratic leaders in Congress just keep trying to "get along" with the Bush / Cheney regime. And, they let the public forget about Vitter and larry craig too.

Why can't get behind the impeachment efforts of Wexler and Kucinich. Sure, by now they have dragged their feet so long, they can say there is no time for impeachment, but the investigations and documenting the evidence can and should still be done.

[joekonn]

Gary, if this is an example of your understanding of psychology, you need to continue to mature for a few more decades before you try to integrate the material you have read. There is, of course, always a market for psycho-babel.

There is nothing haphazard about the construction of the human mind. There is conflict between the very real desires and needs of the individual, and the structure of society. The result of this conflict is the loss of the individual's knowledge of himself and resulting slip ups. A person who knows himself has a better chance of anticipating his flaws and avoiding disaster than one who has internalized society's 'standards' and tries to force himself to comply. The former knows he has 'naughty' desires and finds appropriate ways to soften them and or identify their origin, the latter is surprised by his own behavior.

"The unexamined life is not worth living", Socrates. The unexamined mind appears haphazard, but is only too predictable; the examined mind is not in the least haphazard, but with free will can befuddle the outside observer by making genuine choices.