This from my LJ:

"... Spitzer was Mr. Clean, a crusading reformer -- and, further, not even just any crusading reformer, but one who targeted rich, entitled people, mostly white, many living in Manhattan, who thought they were above the law. Well look who fits that profile now. Bill Clinton is a run-of-the-mill sleaze. This is a downfall of Sinclair Lewis or Theodore Dreiser-like proportions. I've heard the words Elmer Gantry tossed around a lot in the past few years, thanks to the legions of right-wing preachers who have met Spitzer-like fates. But still, being the kind of person I am, that's the first thing I thought about. In college, when Ray Carruth (former NFL player, go on and wikipedia it and I'm sure you'll recall) was accused of killing his girlfriend, the first thing I thought of was 'this is just like An American Tragedy! Ripped from the ... well, not headlines exactly ... ripped from the English lit course!' "

Sigh. I actually believed in Eliot Spitzer. He was no Howard Dean, but, in my view, he went after the right bad guys.

In another case of reading material imitating life, I shall board the Greyhound this weekend and head back to my ancestral homeland (rural Pennsylvania) with a copy of "Braving Home" by Jake Halpern in my bag. We'll see if I get through several chapters or if bumping along down the two-lane country highways + reading = seasickness and I have to stop.