Opinion: Eric Greitens Was a Victim of Himself
Eric Greitens, Missouri’s now-former governor, played the roll of victim when he announced a week ago he’d be resigning at the end of that week.Like many of you I watched it live on television.
Here is the full text:
Good afternoon. Today I am announcing that I will resign as governor of Missouri effective Friday, June 1, at 5 p.m.
I came to office to fight for the people of Missouri, to fight for the forgotten. I love Missouri, and I love our people. That love remains. I am thankful to all those who have worked beside me, sweated beside me, those who gave their time, their energy, their precious resources so that we could pursue our mission of taking Missouri in a new and better direction. We have accomplished a lot together. I am proud of you, and I am proud of all of our work.
The last few months have been incredibly difficult for me, for my family, for my team, for my friends and for many, many people that I love. This ordeal has been designed to cause an incredible amount of strain on my family. Millions of dollars in mounting legal bills, endless personal attacks, designed to cause maximum damage to family and friends. Legal harassment of colleagues, friends and campaign workers. And It’s clear that for the forces that oppose us, there is no end in sight. I cannot allow those forces to continue to cause pain and difficulty to the people that I love.
I know, and people of good faith know, that I am not perfect, but I have not broken any laws nor committed any offense worthy of this treatment. I will let the fairness of this process be judged by history. It has been a great honor and a privilege to serve as your governor. Traveling the state, I have talked to many of you who harbor extraordinary anger at this ordeal and for those who have pushed and promoted it.
For those who would be moved to vengeance, let us allow history and God to bring justice. We must, as we have always done, work to improve the lives of those around us. This is not the end of our fight. I will always be a fighter for the people of Missouri. A great deal of work is left undone. The time has come, though, to tend to those that have been wounded, and to care for those who need us most. So for the moment, let us walk off the battlefield with our heads held high. We have a good and proud story to tell our children. Let’s love them and each other every day. (Springfield News-Leader)
May God continue to bless you and to bless the great state of Missouri.
You can watch the video here. It was that second paragraph where Greitens portrayed himself as the victim:
The last few months have been incredibly difficult for me, for my family, for my team, for my friends and for many, many people that I love. This ordeal has been designed to cause an incredible amount of strain on my family. Millions of dollars in mounting legal bills, endless personal attacks, designed to cause maximum damage to family and friends. Legal harassment of colleagues, friends and campaign workers. And It’s clear that for the forces that oppose us, there is no end in sight. I cannot allow those forces to continue to cause pain and difficulty to the people that I love.
No doubt this time was difficult for him and his family, but the designer is Eric Greitens himself! He couldn’t take responsibility for his actions. To quote our president. SAD!
Here’s his original campaign video that got him noticed and the nomination.
In the recent non-scientific Sunday Poll most readers also felt he wasn’t the victim:
Q: Agree or disagree: Eric Greitens is the victim of a plot designed to force him to resign as Missouri’s governor.
- Strongly agree 5 [16.67%]
- Agree 0 [0%]
- Somewhat agree 3 [10%]
- Neither agree or disagree 1 [3.33%]
- Somewhat disagree 0 [0%]
- Disagree 6 [20%]
- Strongly disagree 15 [50%]
- Unsure/No Answer 0 [0%]
I doubt there’s much policy positions of now-governor Mike Parsons that I’d agree with, but I’m pretty sure we won’t see a mugshot of him or that’ll he’ll be on the national news or late night shows.
A future poll question might be about the office of Lt. Governor — should it remain vacant or bill filled? By appointment or special election?
— Steve Patterson