Et tu, Spitzer?

Who would have thought that New York Attorney General/Governer Wannabe Eliot Spitzer would pull a Joe Lieberman? Spitzer has famously challenged investment banking/brokerage/consulting firms and the music industry's payola practices. Apparently he doesn't think that the standing-up-for-the-little-consumer pose will carry the day in New York, so he's decided to try on the standing-up-for-parents-in-the-sewer-that-is-pop-culture pose. Which these days means calling for laws to restrict video game sales. (Hat tip: GamePolitics.com.)

Spitzer seems like a good guy, if a bit too fond of grandstanding. But he's way too smart to not know how lame a statement like this is: "We should follow the lead of states like California, Illinois and Michigan and pass 'Safe Games' legislation, which would ban the sale and rental of violent and sexually explicit video games to children under 18." As Spitzer well knows, following those states' lead will take you nowhere but the losing end of a court decision. All three states have passed laws restricting game sales, and all have been struck down or enjoined.

To see why they failed, and why Spitzer's call for federal legislation is pure posturing, read this. There are plenty of ways for liberal politicians to show they're more centrist or conservative than people think. But this isn't one of them, and only makes Spitzer look craven and phony.