A New York Thing?

I've tried off an on all day to try and wrap my arms around the Schneiderman debacle, and I've not been very successful. I guess that's not a bad thing, because I don't know how successful many others are being, either.

For example, do you think New York is a breeding ground for sex offending Democratic politicians? Eliot Spitzer. Anthony Weiner. And now Eric Schneiderman. I heard that several times today, the punditry getting all giddy trying to fill time waiting until the president's announcement about the Iran nuclear deal. There was a lot of time and a lot of chances for stupid to occur.

So, are there similarities between Spitzer, Weiner and Schneiderman? Well, sure, I guess.

• All three were Democrats.
• All three were politicians representing some group of New Yorkers.
• All three were driven out of office for reasons related to sexual misbehavior.

However, the similarities seem to end there. 

• Weiner sexted young women; the other two did not. He probably thought, at one point, that he wouldn't be caught - or, maybe, he wanted to be caught. Mostly, though, he sexted young women while he was married to one of Hillary Clinton's closest aides. Had he not been married to Huma Abedin, he would have been much less notorious, don't you think? He'd still be a slime ball, but he'd be much more of a footnote than a headline outside of New York.

• Spitzer patronized prostitutes, while he was married. And, not only while he was governor, but while he was the Attorney General, too. He probably thought he wouldn't get caught; men cheat on their wives all the time, some with prostitutes, some with coworkers or underlings or people they meet in bars. Paying for it just seems all that much more icky (as does keeping on his socks), but it's not a New York thing. 

• And Schneiderman? What he described - role-playing, consensual sex - is not what the women he dated described. His was not a 50 Shades kind of thing. His was a drunken, abusive while not having sex type of thing, as well as a drunken, abusive while having sex kind of thing. His was a power thing, a control thing, a threatening thing. It was not a Weiner thing, nor a Spitzer thing, not a Democrat thing, not even a New York thing.

What's worse, of course, is Schneiderman's history of being a strong supporter of women, of the #MeToo movement. His office was involved in trying to make sure that victims were compensated when Harvey Weinstein's company was sold. His office was investigating the Manhattan District Attorney for failing to do anything about Weinstein back in 2015 when victims first filed reports.

And now, that District Attorney's office will be investigating the assault allegations against Schneiderman.

Now, that seems like a New York thing right there.