America's Border Guards are keeping us safe from British Moral Turpitude.

Yesterday we had an event that made the world look at the United States of America with hopeful eyes.

Today we have the kind of story that Europeans love to read about us Puritans across the pond when they feel the need to feel superior.

Today we read the story of Sebastian Horsley, the author of Dandy in the Underworld (a memoir that includes descriptions of drug use and prostitutes that may have been semi-fictionally enhanced) being denied entry to the United States at Newark "Liberty" International Airport. He was unable to attend his own book publication party in New York because “...travelers who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude or admit to previously having a drug addiction are not admissible.”

The "moral turpitude" police in Newark, New Jersey probably didn't see the irony of this happening during a week in which the ex-governor of New Jersey publicly admitted a threesome with his wife and chauffeur, the ex-governor of neighboring New York just quit because of his $80,000 prostitute habit, and the brand-new governor of New York admitted to multiple affairs on his first day on the job.

Now that Barack Obama has eloquently opened the door to an open discussion of race in America, maybe another candidate (Hillary?) could give a groundbreaking speech about our tortured attitudes toward sex in America.

Does the Spitzer Sex Scandal Hurt Hillary or Help Hillary?

When this news about New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's rendezvous with an expensive prostitute in DC broke this afternoon, my first thought was that this was bad for Hillary Clinton, and not just because Eliot was a vocal supporter of Hillary's presidential candidacy. I simply figured that the last thing any Clinton wants is for the words "sex scandal" to appear in any headline during this campaign, especially regarding a scandal involving another Democratic Chief Executive.

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong. I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better.
“I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.”

--Eliot "Client 9" Spitzer, 10 March 2008

But when I saw Eliot Spitzer's obligatory and stereotypically-weaselly public statement in print, I couldn't help thinking of similar appearances by another recent Democratic Chief Executive (no, not Jim McGreevey) and that Hillary Clinton will be seen sympathetically once again as the strong wronged spouse. I wouldn't be surprised to see her national numbers take a small quick uptick in the next few days.

If she does pull off the impossible and win the nomination and the election, maybe she should think about making Eliot Spitzer the US Attorney General. Not only was he a great Attorney General in New York for many years, often taking on national issues that Bush and Ashcroft ignored, but he and the first spouse could hit the town together -- keeping Bill out of the White House and out of Hillary's hair, leaving her undistracted when those important phone calls come flooding in at 3AM.

Are they saying "I Told You So" from the pulpits in Texas?

After today's hint of a minor bimbo eruption on the front page of The New York Times, are the evangelical churches on both sides of the Bible Belt trumpeting this "I told you so" to the Republican primary voters who have handed the nomination of God's Own Party to a sinner? Are plastic letters and LEDs being changed to proclamations of their candidate's holiness or clever skewers of the faux-conservative McCain? Are the blessed wondering if they have nominated their own Bill Clinton? Are the interns safe?

The story of the friendship between John McCain & Vicki Iseman in today's paper of record is actually less interesting than the reminders of John McCain as the sole survivor of the Keating Five Scandal. The whole article is definitely worth reading for the picture it paints of the closeness between money and power. The corporate jet rides (with their reminder of Dubya riding around on Kenny Boy Lay's Enron plane) are more annoying than the hints of possible romance.

Will McCain lose any of the remaining Republican primaries? Or will he continue to win them with thinner majorities than Obama's (keeping in mind that Obama has had a real opponent during his current string of 10 straight decisive wins)?