Les Jones

News > Blogosphere Reaction to McGreevy's Resignation

New Jersey governor James E. McGreevey resigned today after admitting to having an affair with another man. McGreevey is married. Oddly enough, McGreevey is being praised as a hero in some circles, despite the fact that the admission comes just ahead of an expected sexual harassment lawsuit from a former aide to the governor, security advisor Golan Cipel.

I'm all for the right of consenting adults to do what they want behind closed doors, but being adults means that they're responsible for what they do.

McGreevey cheated on his wife. He ain't the first and won't be the last. Bill Clinton and Neil Bush come to mind, for instance. But I don't hear anybody saying it was society's fault that Clinton and Bush were cheating on their wives.

Then there's the question of consent. In Clinton's case, Lewinsky came onto him. In Neil Bush's case, he had sex with prostitutes while in Asia. But in McGreevy's case, there are allegations of sexual harassment and an expected sexual harassment lawsuit, which is apparently what prompted his revelation. If those allegations are true, then the whole "consenting adults" thing goes out the window.

Frankly, the fact that gay sex is involved is the only thing getting this guy good press from the left side of the blogosphere. As a commenter at Atrios said, "I'm a little confused as to why a governor apparently resigning over sexual impropriety is to be praised merely because it was gay sexual impropriety." Yep. Giving gays a different, lower standard than heterosexuals is just the soft bigotry of low expectations.

LATER: A comment from this thread at BuzzMachine:

Allowing the position of NJ homeland security director to be filled by your gay lover hardly qualifies you as a rational leader. Instead it qualifies you as an irresponsible and dangerous man, who lets his passions interfere with the safety of over 7 million people (many of whom were involved in or had close connections to the September 11th attacks across the river in NYC). McGreevey didn't merely play politics with the safety of the people of NJ, he endangered them by placing his romantic interest, an unqualified man who couldn't complete a background check, in that position.

LATER STILL: This 2002 Asbury Park Press article questions Cipel's credentials to be New Jersey homeland security advisor. "Israeli military expert and journalist Yossi Melman said the letter "more than exaggerates" Cipel's experience and capabilities in the Israeli Defense Force."