Apropos of Something, I'm Sure
Now Playing: "Madame George" by Van Morrison
When I heard of the confessions to homosexuality of New Jersey's governor today, it reminded me of something from somewhere a long time ago, but I couldn't quite remember what it was until just now.

You knew, right, that New Jersey has had a long history of similarly interesting governors? One such governor was Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury (1661-1723):

Perhaps the most infamous characteristic of Edward Hyde is not his status as a corrupt politician, but rather that of a cross dresser. Numerous rumors have circulated that Viscount Cornbury liked to dress in women's clothes in order to have a likeness near to his cousin, Queen Anne. A painting hangs in the New York Historical Society whose description reads, "Viscount Cornbury, governor of New York and New Jersey (1702-1708)." The painting is a portrait of a man wearing a woman's clothes, and it was identified as being Cornbury in 1796, seventy-three years after his death. This painting is a piece of evidence that supports historians' uniform depiction of Hyde as a cross dresser.

There have been many stories told throughout history of his escapades as a transvestite. One was told by Horace Walpole in a conversation with his friend George James Williams. Walpole recounted,

"He was a clever man. His great insanity was dressing himself as a woman. Lord Orford [Walpole] says that when Governor in America he opened the Assembly dressed in that fashion. When some of those about him remonstrated, his reply was, 'You are very stupid not to see the propriety of it. In this place and particularly on this occasion I represent a woman (Queen Anne) and ought in all respects to represent her as faithfully as I can.'"

Heh, heh. Of course, there's no correlation between being gay and being a transvestite unless, of course, you believe, as most Americans do, that there is.

As for Governor McGreevey, I couldn't care less whether he's gay. But he's obviously dipped himself in some deep derrieregy to have to resign his office.

Who knows? Maybe there's an upside for President Bush in all of this. He's only 20 points down in the Garden State.