Elliot Spitzer: Schadenfreud so good it ought to be illegal.

[elfs]

It is a truism of American life that we know two mutually incompatible things: that power corrupts without pause or regard, and that if we just find the right man, the incorruptible man, then we can put him into power and he'll put things right. Conservative are more likely to give lip service to the first and yet often succumb to the last; liberals, on the other hand, often seem to yearn for the last and yet seem to guard against the first more consistently.

Which is why the fall of Elliot Spitzer is so strangely delightful. My gods, you do not make your career and become governor by touting your law-and-order record of busting corrupt politicians and high-priced prostitution rings, only to toss it away with Nixonian list-making and finally get caught paying for a high-priced call-girl!

[Sweet! Gawker has pictures of the call-girl stable!]