Spitzer: Testosterone Run Amok?

Sick to my stomach. That's my initial reaction to the breaking story of Eliot Spitzer's admission that he has been involved with a prostitution ring.

What was he thinking? What is is that makes men in high profile political positions think they can get away with this kind of thing, even after Bill and Monica, even after Larry Craig's toe tapping, even after...well, you can fill in the blanks. There are too many dozens of names and sex scandals to recount here.

It is the rush of power that makes these guys think they are invincible? Testosterone run amok? Is the answer in the old joke about where men's brains are? And is there a correlation between amount of crusading for other people's morality a politician does and the likelihood that he will fall into illicit or immoral behavior patterns himself?

You tell me. This time I am completely speechless.

Comments

[Amalek]

Testosterone probably has a role here.

I would wager his testosterone levels are high, and always have been. His personality, his aggressiveness and his sex drive are all influenced by this. That has led to his success, and to his downfall.

Men like Spitzer do not need to pay beautiful women to have sex with them. They have to pay them to go home afterwards. That is why he uses hookers.

[PioneerKing]

Gloria:

Get this, Eliot is simply supporting the economy.

[dstanley]

Please don't blame testosterone for Spitzer's stupid antics. There's plenty of us men who don't cheat on our wives. And all you guys who keep saying you can't help yourself, take some responsibility for your own behavior. Staying loyal to your wife is the easiest thing in the world.

This isn't a question of the morality of prostitution. If Spitzer was single, and hadn't sent other people to jail for doing the same thing, I would have no problem with it. But he cheated on his wife on Valentine's Day. What were the uncomfortable things he asked the prostitutes to do? Wear his wife's wedding dress and crap on his wedding ring?

[SamThornton]

One of my favorite authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald observed in a 1926 short story, "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand."

I think most of us get that pretty instinctively. There seems to be a similar process that goes on with the politically powerful. Like the very rich, they aren't like you and me, but there the similarity ends. The internal dynamics that attract most people to positions of power are qualities that in those who don't achieve their desires are likely to fill us "normals" with disgust. Egoism that verges on megalomania; ruthlessness that knows no quarter; an obsessive desire to control everyone and everything around them; a contempt for mere truth; and a pervasive sense of entitlement, the belief that they and they alone are the chosen one.

It's essentially a bill of particulars describing a borderline psychopath.

Sometimes we get lucky and find a political leader in whom those qualities are subdued and trumped by higher values. In Governor Spitzer, we apparently weren't so lucky.

[degjack]

I always found Spitzer quite hunky.

Now I find out he's LUSTY too!

Alllll-rightttttttt !!!

[plooger]

Maybe the former AG can pioneer a brand new defense, "The Water Made Me Do It."

HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/10/sex-hormones-mood-stabil_n_90714.html

** Sex Hormones, Mood Stabilizers Found In Drinking Water of 41 M Americans **

[outnow]

Primate behavior is all about the "Alpha Male." Translated, this power means "access" to females. The pursuit of money is the pursuit of power. Politics is also about power.

Harems are for the richest men. Others resort to affairs or prostitutes. Women in France do not value monogamy, either, according to a new study.

Nobody should be shocked at infidelity or hypocritical behavior by politicians. Blame birth control for liberating women, or blame the primate behavior on the Alpha Male complex.

We see Spitzer is having a conflict because he prosecuted two prostitution rings while the Attorney General for the State of New York. He also went after corrupt business practices and advocated giving driver's licenses to "illegal immigrants" or undocumented aliens. These were his "real crimes."

The truth is that men look at (can't help but notice) women with rare exceptions. The men do not have to act out on their fantasies but they often do throughout as is evident throughout history. Even the Bible contains such stories. But women can "get even" or be more promiscuous as men.

It is easier to accept the truth than to change human nature. There was an evolutionary advantage for this behavior at one time. Butting heads with the other young bucks was about mating and territory. Boys never grow out of this behavior.

[standforpeace]

The biggest problem here is that he prosecuted others for this offense; I don't know, maybe some even went to jail. In contrast, when he gets caught, he gives a news conference and terms it a private matter. In my book, that means that he has to step down.

[Irenic]

It's called Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

[efranklin]

HuffPost's Pick

Right now there's a gray-haired guy from Arkansas shaking his head and testing the boundaries of human sympathy.

[cheshyre]

We could just grow up and ask if the man is doing his job or not. The rest is none of our business. This whole "gotcha" game is what turns my stomach.

[mbafromharvard]

"Power is the strongest aphrodisiac" -- Henry Kissinger.

[Shantee]

I rest my case for the legalization of prostituion. I don't care how my women Spitzer sleeps with....this is a matter between he and his wife. The oldest profession in the world is here to stay. As a nation we need to more mature and sophisticated about these matters, especially we New Yorkers.

[Camel54]

Couple of thoughts, Ms. Feldt: It's not just rich and powerful men. Plenty of men all the way up and down and up and down the economic spectrum enlist the services of the oldest professionals.

Mens brains aren't in their pants, ma'am, what's in our pants has far more sway than our brains. It's not easy resisting the pole call. The big question isn't why so many men do it, all men are capable of it because nature made us this way. The question should be why some of us don't. How do we do it and why? What makes us able to look millions of years of evolution in the face and not gonna happen?

I will say this, though, as a political opportunist, I think Spitzer should use this to help the Democrats. If he is going to resign, he should say in his speech that unlike Larry Craig and unlike the David Vitter, he is doing the right thing after violating the law and violating his family's trust and resigning his position. This will help bring those scandals back into spotlight and prevent McCain from gaining any ground while our party continues with it's insanity.

[sfsilver]

What makes you think that men of any class, party, income or power level enjoy or seek out sex any less than Spitzer. People need to get a grip and stop being (acting) shocked that men enjoy sex. Why do any of us care about how or why anyone gets laid?