Anyone who checks in at Cup of Cha knows that I am a bit of a political junkie. I’ve actually written about a half-dozen posts that I haven’t put up because I couldn’t even vaguely justify them as being China-related. But after several requests to weigh in on the Spitzer saga, I ultimately decided I had to. Why? It’s just too stunning a story.

This is a man who built his reputation ripping out the hearts of big, often corrupt businesses. He had a bulldog mentality that led him as a prosecutor to great heights. It was a combination of smarts, guts, focus and, well, meanness, that helped him become probably the most prominent state attorney general in US history, and eventually get to the Governor’s Mansion in Albany. And it was this same arrogant mentality that allowed him to believe his own myth and think he was infallible.

The last paragraph, of course, could also be used to apply to Rudy Giuliani, nearly verbatim. Although he’s never made it out of Manhattan. And the irony is that rumors have already begun that Rudy could try for NY’s top post.

Aren’t these two men remarkably similar? They both managed to build tremendous political careers and reputations without making too many friends. Two New Yorkers from the Burroughs (even if Spitzer was closer to Yonkers than he likes to admit), who fought their way to the top, each thinking he was above the law. Rudy had sex with his cousin and got public funds to protect his mistress. Who incidentally was not a relative. Spitzer slept with women for 4000 bucks a pop.

Both also made a ton of enemies. Here’s the first e-mail a NY friend wrote me the day E.S. got busted:

There is a God!!!!!!!!!

Guess he wasn’t much of a fan. Here is the complete body of an e-mail I received exactly 20 minutes later from the same friend, who is apolitical:

I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am.

Here are the highlights from more e-mails I received on Spitzer, within 48 hours:

Never again will I have to worry about Spitzer being president.

I wonder if he’s asking for advice from [former NJ Governor Jim] McGreevy [who was found out to have been having a sexual relationship with a male aid]

I love that Spitzer used the alias George Fox. Fox is one of Spitzer’s closest friends and biggest donors. He even used Fox’s home address. What a guy…

The point is, even thought the man won election in 2006 with nearly 80% of the vote, he had some serious enemies. But if you look at what he was doing, it’s quite stunning. New reports say he spent about $80,000 over ten years on up-scale prostitutes. That’s fairly stunning. That’s almost enough money to buy you a couple of minutes of a decent war.

It’s hard to imagine how a prosecutor thought he could get away with that even as he worked his way up the ladder to the White House. But that’s the point, isn’t it? People buy into their own invincibility. Even as they become more and more closely watched, they gain the hubris to think that no one can touch them. In fac, it’s because of the hubris that this is such a big story. Normally a politician going to prostitutes is not something that drives up your positives, but it also wouldn’t end a political career–at least not this quickly. His crime wasn’t so much soliciting sex as it was thinking he was more pristine than everyone else.

And in the end, as much fun as I’ve had laughing at the Spitzer story, it’s sad and depressing. He has three teenage girls who are left to wonder why their daddy threw everything away, and why their mother was so committed to his political life, that just after finding out the horrible details, which included exposing her to “unsafe” practices, felt the need to stand by her man.

As much as Eliot Spitzer seems like a jerk, this is a tragic story.

And in the end what has happened? A crusading litigator may end up facing prosecution.

All of the enemies that Spitzer made over the years–and there were many–are the winners in all of this. Spitzer and his family are the losers. But the biggest loser? That’s right, Barack Obama. The man trying to become the first black president now has to compete with a governor of a major state who’s black and blind. Top that Mr. Platitude!