New Jersey Politics has always been both corrupt and anarchistic. But it has just taken a turn into the Twilight Zone with Gov. McGreevey outing himself. Now, I have nothing against him being gay, but I think it was a shock to his wife and daughter. And someone must have had "home movies" and was blackmailing him because his other scandals (hiring prostitutes to discredit witnesses and extortion) didn't cause him to resign...

...didn't cause him to resign...


It's puzzling to me that he would resign over this.

Why not just say, "Yeah, I'm gay. Deal with it. If you can't deal with it, that just means you're a narrow minded bigot, and to hell with you."

What's the big deal? Maybe he would have lost the next election because the narrow minded bigots would have voted for someone else... but why would his sexuality affect his ability to govern the state?

On the same track, what if Bill Clinton had just said right from the beginning, "Yes, I got a blow job in the oval office. Don't you wish you'd been as lucky?"

That would have taken the wind out of a lot of sails, I think...

tanstaafl.

Agreed. It is not his preference or even the affair that is the issue. It is linked to the fact that there are a lot of other criminal investigations going on around him right now. After all, how many times can you use the name Machiavelli in polite dinner conversation...

I would also note that his partner was on the government payroll in a job that appeared to be selected for him. If it is proven that his partner was hired to keep him either paid off by the governor or to keep him close by, it would be another criminal case. And also would break the unwritten rule: in NJ there are a lot of people in political office drawing salary based on political favors, but it is considered "bad form" to be caught.

So it is not a matter of him being gay or being caught in an affair. There are a lot of other issues surrounding the governor. This announcement is just another episode in the surreal story of NJ politics. The closest thing I can compare it to is Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, where the role of Galactic President is to be so outrageous that you distract everyone from the people who really hold power.

Edit: As for the timing, I do not think that his admitting the affair or being gay had anything to do with it. I suspect that there was a lot more that was not said - a blackmail attempt, links to and payoffs from contributers, perhaps people in his own party telling him to step down, whatever.

Uh Oh you said something bad about clinton look out.

He meant Hillary.