March 15, 2008

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This morning on CBS' Sunday Morning Ben Stein gave his take on the Eliot Spitzer scandal and his thoughts may surprise you. I'm no fan of Stein, but I think he may have made some valid points. As with many political scandals involving sex, it's the naughtiness that gets the coverage and many important issues are often overlooked. As Stein puts it, it sets a dangerous precedent when a handful of appointed officials brings down elected officials, seriously impacting the will of the voters.

"...However, in Governor Spitzer's case he got humiliated, disgraced and then the voters lost the guy they voted for. It is deeply scary to me that a few employees of the federal executive branch can start a train rolling that has such immense effects on the electoral process. Basically a few career civil servants have nullified the will of the voters of the Empire state, over something clearly wrong, I don't doubt that, but it's not a political crime, not treason, not terrorism..."

What do you think? Does he have a valid point?

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