The Confession

By James E. McGreevey

James McGreevey was the governor of New Jersey who resigned when his love affair with another man was about to be revealed to the public. In The Confession McGreevey tells of his life, starting with childhood and how he hid his homosexuality and how he became interested in politics and how it all ended up so badly.

So this is his confession, but more than his confession, it is an insider's look at making it in politics. Reading this book was a revelation. The amount of time and energy McGreevey put into running for and maintaining public office was just astonishing. From what he says, that is par for the course for politicians. It is a constant round of meetings, dinners, speeches, parties, gatherings, special occasions, public occasions, schmoozing, boozing, shaking hands, making nebulous promises, raising money, oiling the movers and shakers...it's just nuts. Beats me how anyone does it.
As far as deceiving his wife and cheating on her with a man and on some of the questionable practices done in fund raising, McGreevey tries to sound repentant. But it just comes across as a tad stagy and insincere, like Jimmy Swaggart's teary confession in front of the cameras. Yeah, he's sorry, they're all sorry...sorry they got caught!
Still, even though I didn't buy into McGreevey's contrition, I did like reading his book. The stuff about the rat race of politicking was really an eye-opener and just that part alone made the book worth reading.

New Words
Babka: A sweet Polish yeast bread that usually features almond and raisins; recent variations feature chocolate and cinnamon. "'This is the strangest looking soda bread I've ever seen,' I [McGreevey] remarked brightly. He [a Polish pastor] was aghast. 'Soda bread? What soda bread? This is babka.'"

Ad hominem: In an argument, this is an attack on the person rather than on the opponent’s ideas. It comes from the Latin meaning "against the man." "The New Yorker made fun of him [Congressman Michael Huffington] for 'washing his hands frequently,' a nasty little jab at his masculinity that even George Will, no friend of gay rights, condemned as 'ad hominem."

Consigliere: A counselor or advisor, especially to a mafia boss. "They agreed to the appointment, which would make him [Golan Cipel] part scheduler, part policy strategist, part consigliere."