Pride Goeth Before the Fall: Politics, Hubris & Eric Greitens

Eric Greitens, a Democrat turned Republican, who also happens to be the Governor of the Show-Me State was indicted and booked last week on a felony invasion of privacy charge. The grand jury indictment stems from a photo that Greitens, a married man, allegedly snapped of a partially clad lover during a sexual tryst in the basement of his home in the spring of 2015, one year before his winning gubernatorial campaign. This is a big story, one that has great ramifications for state and national politics. It is a commentary on the crashing of a promising career. It includes the grim reality of a family torn apart and serves as a warning that pride turned to recklessness usually equals fatality.

On January 10, 2017 Missouri Governor Eric Greitens and his wife, Sheena Greitens, issued a joint statement admitting that the governor had engaged in an extramarital affair in 2015, and that the couple had dealt with it “…honestly and privately.” The couple issued the statement as a local CBS affiliate in St. Louis aired a report on the same topic, but added that Greitens snapped the photograph of his paramour, and threatened to spread the picture if she exposed the affair. Greitens’ statement made no mention of these contentions, but his attorney denied the blackmail allegation. Greitens has refused to answer further questions on the matter. But, he is now scheduled to appear in St. Louis Circuit Court on Friday, March 16^th.

The fact of the matter is that rumors of this fling have been making the rounds in Missouri political circles for a couple of years, so the confirmation of their truth is not completely shocking, even though Greitens ran for governor as a family values conservative, and used his wife and young children as campaign props to help establish his image.

Needless to say, the media, waiting for this shoe to drop, are having a field day with the revelations, and seem to be enjoying it a little too much.

Media delight, notwithstanding, there are some problems with this action. There has been no criminal complaint, as the woman in question has refused to divulge information with police, reporters, or attorneys. She has been subpoenaed. Presumably she has given testimony that this led to the indictment. Greitens’ few defenders among the public, and his legal team, have noted the unorthodox nature of these proceedings, and have argued that the indictment should be dismissed. Regardless, few are expecting that the genie, now out of the bottle, can be easily returned to confinement.

Before we continue forward, it would be appropriate to ask a simple question: Who is Eric Greitens? While this might seem apparent, the real Greitens is something of a mystery. He is a man of formidable credentials, something of a walking resume. Greitens, a Duke University graduate and a Rhodes Scholar, claims an Oxford doctorate among his academic trophies. He then pursued a military career, finishing Naval OCS in 2001, and graduating from the Navy’s elite Underwater Demolition/SEAL school in Coronado, California in 2002. He served numerous overseas deployments, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander while on active duty. There is no doubt that Greitens served his country bravely and honorably.

There is another side to Eric Greitens. Much of Greitens’ sterling CV seems to be the product of assiduous planning, with an eye toward the future, and running for public office. In fact, many Missouri Republicans are convinced that Greitens has no real interest in the state, but that he considered the governorship a useful stepping stone to the Presidency. He jumped from the Democrats to the Republicans in 2015 without comment. It is very likely that he knew he could not win a statewide office with the dual handicaps of Democratic Party membership and St. Louis residency, both of which are electoral poison in outstate Missouri. During his primary campaign for the governorship, Greitens offered little but a recitation of his SEAL service to recommend him. In 2016, an anonymous political attack surfaced charging that Greitens exaggerated his accomplishments and was mischaracterizing his SEAL service. He responded by releasing his military records, and uploaded testimonials from fellow special forces comrades. While this answered any questions about his service, Greitens could not shake the perception of himself as a political image builder like Gary Hart and a service recorder exaggerator like John Kerry.

Greitens won the Missouri GOP primary and ran for the governorship in 2016. He eschewed the help of the state GOP establishment, preferring to spread his message on Facebook and other social media. He avoided questions from reporters, dodged interviews, and spent an inordinate amount of time stressing his “outsider” status. To that extent, he lobbed insults at the experienced lawmakers in the state, often his own Republican brethren, who would ordinarily have championed his agenda.

Greitens has, in effect, burned his bridges. He no longer has any real base of support as he has alienated his own party members.The Democrats will give him no help, as we can see from the politically-motivated indictment. The media are gleeful and gloating at the sufferings of young Eric. Others who might have been inclined to give Mr. Greitens the benefit of the doubt have walked away from him. Adultery does not play well in bible-belt Missouri.

What does, the future hold in store? Regardless of the outcome of the legal proceedings, Eric Greitens career and reputation are in ruins. His promising future is finished, and his family issues are probably just beginning.His wife Sheena, a law professor at the University of Missouri, has been steadfast up until now. In fact, Mrs. Greitens has endured her share of grief beyond the moment. She was robbed at gunpoint in the fall of 2016 when she left a restaurant in St. Louis trendy Central West End neighborhood. Eric Greitens will consider his fall and understandably will blame the media, the opposition, a politically-biased prosecuting attorney and all sorts of other goblins in his universe. The sad fact remains that in the world today, Eric Greitens can blame no one but himself.

I disagree. If he took semi-naked pictures of his mistress while tied up, then he’s a scumbag irrespective of whether he used the picture to blackmail or intimidate her. Conservatives on this board were quick to throw conservative Senator Steve Montenegro (R-AZ) overboard because a staffer sent him a topless picture, despite his denial that he had an affair with her, and the behavior of which Greitens is accused is far worse (and he already admitted to the affair). I am not going to let Sky Queen Claire McCaskill skate once again because the media depicts MO Republicans as misogynists. MO has a perfectly good Republican Lt. Governor, and Greitens—who, BTW, was a Democrat until 2015–should resign for the good of the party and the state.

Given that any discretions occurred BEFORE he held office is the key here. If he was engaged in such behavior while in office is something else entirely. I view it through the prism of the Democrats and how they’d judge one of their own: This is a non-story.

A real sex story is what’s going on here in Nashville with our whore of a Mayor. She was having frequent morning trysts with the taxpayer-paid police bodyguard at our famous local cemetery, which she’s denying (nevermind all the trips to Europe). Now THAT is sick.

http://www.adisgruntledrepublican.com/2018/02/security-video-shows-mayor-bodyguard.html

Call me a libertine but I personally don’t care about sexcapades, before office or during doesn’t make a difference to me, GOP or even rat (I don’t wanna be a hypocrite, me and DJ were arguing over his whore mayor).

I do care about how sexcapades might hamper a Republicans ability to WIN or govern (and thus effect wider society outside of wronged spouses) and would make my resign or not recommendation based solely on that. The same standard I would apply to Steve M in AZ, if local voters don’t care then neither do I.

Trump was able to shrug off alleged sexcapes and recorded lewd remarks, maybe Griet can, maybe not. If dude staying in office could help McCrapskul he needs to take a powder, our candidate against her has already made a gaffe, he doesn’t need any “help” blowing it.

A thought about Griet, I of course was very leery of nominating such a RECENT former democrat, his excuse IIRC was that he was ignorant and never really thought in depth about politics before (which makes him high office material?). But I digress, my impression of him and his hyper early Presidential posturing that he was unctuous type who was trying to market himself to those (numerous) voters who vote for a candidate based on the package rather than what’s inside. He appeared to highly effective at it, which can be useful in this day and age but is certainly a double edged sword. He may very well be a total jerk, I don’t know him.

I haven’t been following his tenure closely, all I know is he was feuding with GOP legislators over something, they didn’t like the way he was conducting himself, which would tend to make me side with him since legislators are usually a-holes who don’t like it when stuff that needs shaking up is shook. If he’s been doing a good job, great, I’d love to hear the details.

Yes, it’s clearly a political hit. Probably payback for greitens jumping off the Rat ship to join the repugs in attempt to curry favor with out-state voters.

Most times I figure that when a politician gets slimed he had it coming, and this time is no different in that regard.

The only thing that bothers me about the whole deal is that he’s actually been a decent governor.

I’m sure whatever winds up happening in the end he’ll land on his feet and wind up with a cush job as a lobbyist.

“...Trump was able to shrug off alleged sexcapes and recorded lewd remarks, maybe Griet can, maybe not....”

Trump fights back. If this other guy is a fighter, then he will too.

If not, then he’ll do what all the spineless ones do and tuck tail.

It’s ALWAYS about fighting back.

Judge Roy Moore fought back, but he lost the freaking election. In ALABAMA. To the U.S. SENATE. I want to keep the Democrats out of power, not make a statement about how much of a rebel I am or about Democrat hypocrisy.

I don’t want our U.S. Senate nominee in Missouri having to answer questions about Governor Greitens playing bondage games with his mistress and then snapping pictures if her to keep her quiet. I want our nominee to be able to talk about McCaskill’s liberal voting record and how out of touch she is with Missouri’s voters. If that means “sacrificing” Greitens, then so be it. Greitens should resign, lick his wounds, and start planning his comeback if he really wants to serve the public.

I don’t care if the whore Mayor of Nashville won’t resign after being caught getting nailed every morning by her bodyguard at a local cemetary; that’s the Democrats’ problem, not mine; having a Democrat whore as mayor of Nashville won’t give the GOP Senate nominee in MO license to point to Nashville whenever they ask about Greitens, so the “Democrats are even worse” argument is inapposite. I want the GOP to get as close as possible to 60 Senate seats in 2018 before the more difficult 2020 and 2022 cycles (when lots of potentially vulnerable Republicans will be up), and I’m not willing to jeopardize any seat to teach anyone a lesson that they won’t learn anyhow.

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