Posted on 02/26/2018 10:38:51 AM PST by Kaslin
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 16th.
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.
He was a Trump-style outsider.
BTW, the Democrat running against him was a former Republican!
And the slobbering over Clinton and his enabling wife continues.
Not Trumpian at all
Sleazy opportunistic democrat who thought he could switch parties and win....kind if like Arlen Specter
In his basement, where he has a gym set up, including some kind of hanging rings. He taped her hands to the rings, over her head, and blindfolded her. She was naked.
Then he took a picture of her, from her front.
For real.
And threatened to send it to people, if she ever revealed their affair.
This guy is a monster.
“””photo that Greitens, a married man, allegedly snapped of a partially clad lover during a sexual tryst”””
If true, this action seems to confirm Greitens is an idiot.
The name of the woman should be public, as well as that of her labor-union husband. And Greitens made Missouri a right to work state. It is
pretty easy to make charges when you can stay anonymous.
Yeah, we knew greitens was a snake when we elected him.
Anyone that expects a politician to be anything other than a snake is a dumb@$$.
have you seen the pic? Have you talked to anyone who has? didn’t think so.
It isn’t uncommon these days for a woman to allow a boudoir pose, and this may well be just her ex trying to humiliate her.
Greitens?
Isn’t that what they used to call kidney stones?
Have YOU seen any pics? I have not seen the woman but only her voice as reported per local news. Greitens stated he did tell his wife before the election! Do you ever get out and research any yourself?
He seemed to appear out of nowhere and had this stellar resume. I think a lot of conservatives had a bad feeling about him from the beginning, but once he was able to beat out the others in the primary, we just fell behind him in support in the general. I had reservations, but still voted for him because I would never vote for a Democrat. Especially one that had switched parties like Chris Koster(his general election opponent) did.
"Pride goeth before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction."
Redundant? Hardly. It's reiteration.
The author asks, “Who is Eric Greitens?”
That’s easy, someone who’s set up his whole life with an eye on running for POTUS, and I mean since childhood. The military service, the non-profit, the books, the picture-perfect family, the sucking up to Trump at every opportunity; every single move extremely calculating and aimed at breaking into national politics.
Yes, it’s possible this whole scandal could be a union honey trap, but it wouldn’t be happening if he hadn’t been arrogant enough to think he could cheat and get away with it. The Mike Pence rule could have saved his career.
I did not vote for him in the primaries. Just didn’t come across as trustworthy to me. I have to admit, he has no one to blame but himself.
However, it is true that this is a tactic that has been used to flip red states blue. Most well known is Colorado. Where they waited for the “October” surprise to put out propaganda regarding wrong doing.
It worked for the most part. Even though later, it was shown that most of it was not true. The damage was done.
I have little sympathy for this the Gov. However, I do detest the DEMs for using the Courts to accomplish what they could not do at the ballot box. At this point, we don’t have the facts. Yet we do have Engler (Republican) leading the effort to get him tossed out so to speak.
I am thinking that Farm Boy Parsons is preferable to Rhodes Scholar G. Boy. Any one attending Oxford under the Rhodes Scholar is thoroughly indoctrinated to support the Global Cabal.
Probably got a twofer. Humiliate her/get back at him. Plus strike against the right to work as the former hubby was union per other reports.
Non-story. Period. He’s been an excellent Governor, best the state has had in the modern era. Media hates him for being a Conservative Jewish Republican.
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