Eliot, you dumb schmuck...

...or, just another self-righteous do-gooder getting his tail caught in a crack.

There's a kind of smarmy pleasure to be derived from watching a sanctimonious bastard like New York's governor taking a fall, isn't there? His schtick has gotten close to being a cliche for politicians, evangelists and anyone else in the public eye: Mr Do-Right, the pillar of rectitude, guardian of your morals, suddenly revealed as a plain ol' grubby low-life.

Yup, you have to love it. Although I surprised myself a bit when the scandal broke yesterday: I realized that my usual knee-jerk reaction -- one based on seeing political leanings I oppose being held up as hypocritical, a desire to see those who flout morality get stomped and the normal desire to see arrogance take it on the chin -- just wasn't happening.

I'm getting tired of seeing people hurt other people, I guess. Spitzer's family doesn't deserve to get caught up in all the drama. And I'm saddened by the glee that people who feed off of politics -- the bloggers, the talk-show hosts -- are displaying. As if not a single one of them doesn't have their own grim little human foibles locked away behind a facade of morality and "rightness."

Oh, I do. I mean, I haven't ever signed up with a prostitution service or anything like that, but I've been in life too long to consider myself without sin. You swim with turds, you get smeared.

But at least I don't suggest that I have some better notions of how people should think and live than they do.

Moreover, I'm too familiar with the stereotypical reactions to want to hear them again. Everything from "he's a godless Democrat, whattya expect?" to "he's male and therefore thinks with his schwantz." I've heard all those reactions, and more, and frankly am tired of 'em.

Let it not be forgotten that, while Spitzer was getting jiggy with some high-dollar noffka in a hotel room, said female was not exactly Miss Innocence: she was raking in the big bucks and stands a good chance of clearing quite a few more from similar future horizontal and tell-all activities. We all know politicians and pillars of righteousness tend to be both whores and patrons of whores, all at once. Where's the surprise?

So there we are. I think Spitzer should haul butt out of public office instantly, and never again make any pronouncements on what anyone should do. I disagree with damn near everything he stands for, and suppose by reason of having accepted a life in the public eye he deserves to go in the tank when he screws up.

What it all comes down to is this: I judge you, you judge me. It's human nature. I try to take the sting out of it by being forthcoming about the basic fact that I have feet of clay, but it hurts like hell when people find me wanting in important areas. Even less-important ones.

I know how easy it is to slip up in small ways. I suppose if I had the access big-shots do, I'd find out about slipping up in big ways, too. Since I'm sick of being dismissed for my less-than stellar qualities, I'm putting a lot of effort into not judging harshly when the mighty -- or the not-so mighty -- take a dive. If Spitzer can't see how monumentally he has betrayed those close to him, it's not my place to tell him. I've been where his family are now, and I have heard all the rationalizations. And I've dispensed a little pain here and there as well.

I remember a line from a Kurt Vonnegut novel: "God Damn it kids, you've got to be kind."

I'm not all that swell at it myself. I'm trying.

And if those who think themselves above acting morally and kindly don't like it, it would be a favor to our unhappy world if they would simply go away and spare us the fuss.