Elliot Spitzer’s tragic prostitution case and some much-too-late advice
By now everyone’s heard the tale of Elliot Spitzer, the Democratic Governor of New York who ran on the promise of cleaning up the sleaze and corruption in New York state. He may have done so, but now it looks like he’s going to be brought down for being “linked to a prostitution ring” (as reported in the media), though when you actually examine the details a bit closer, it turns out he was just guilty of hiring hookers. It’s not a good thing that he did, especially since he has a wife, but it’s far from the worst you could do. I would argue it’s not even as bad as what Bill Clinton did, because at least Spitzer hasn’t lied to anyone under oath about it. Yet, predictably, the Republicans in New York are demanding his resignation upon threat of impeachment. What the hell is it with Republicans and wanting to impeach over minor sexual scandals, while they harbor much worse within their own ranks? (I’m thinking of the child-molesting Mark Foley here.) It’s so duplicitous I wonder how anyone fails to see through it. And if hiring a hooker is an impeachable offense, well, our president should be impeached a million times over and executed a thousand times over for high crimes and treason.
This is part of a larger scheme of Republicans abusing the machinery of government to try to ensure one-party rule. That’s what the whole US attorney firing scandal was about: ethical State Attorneys who refused the administration’s demands to go after a lot more Democrats than Republicans were replaced by those who would obey that form of crooked politically-motivated “justice”. Many times more Democratic politicians than Republican politicians have been investigated and charged under the Bush administration. What happened to Elliot Spitzer is nothing more than the latest salvo in a huge anti-Democrat legal campaign waged by the Bush Administration and its cronies. The investigation doesn’t even make any sense; prostitution isn’t a Federal charge unless it is taking place across state borders, but this aspect of the case was only discovered through the use of wiretaps long after the Feds had begun investigating! It simply doesn’t add up.
I also can’t get over how idiotic Elliot Spitzer was to precipitate this whole mess. Who in the hell pays for prostitutes using bank transfers?! You know they can track that! Anytime you’re involved in any sort of illegal activity (be it prostitution, buying marijuana, buying alcohol underage, buying unlicensed firearms, whatever), everyone knows you always pay in cash so that it doesn’t leave a paper/electronic trail (which is the only reason Spitzer was even caught). If Elliot Spitzer wasn’t so stupid then his passion for the hooker would still only be between himself, his wife, and his hooker on the side. Instead, now we have to deal with yet another mountain-out-of-a-molehill attack against Democrats by Republicans, who will then proceed to use it to energize their base. Get smart, people!
March 11th, 2008 at 20:09
My cynical side agrees with you in that this is probably all contrived.
No one would pay for a hooker in such method. If anything this is just a ploy to get people’s attention off of Bush and the war and Obama kicking so much ass. I don’t know where I saw it, but I remember watching a video that showed many instances of some random “terrorist” plot hitting the media just in time enough to get people’s attention off of something that had happened back home.
It’s all just so convenient, isn’t it? I mean, Hillary’s endorsing McCain over her own party, FFS. Something’s not right with this country.
March 11th, 2008 at 20:29
Oh, I don’t think it’s all contrived. I believe it’s entirely possible that he paid for prostitutes using bank transfers. People do stupid things. Being governor, he was probably guilty of an air of invincibility. I don’t deny that he did it — I merely deny that it is a big deal. It certainly isn’t worth impeaching over. Hell, prostitution is even legal in some parts of Nevada.
It’s part of a pattern of legal attacks by Republicans against Democratic politicians whenever it is convenient. The Democrats were about to take control of the New York state legislature for in the first time in over 100 years this November. Now, with the state party thrown in disarray with the Spitzer allegation, that outcome is less likely. And yeah, every day this is in the news is another day that people aren’t paying attention to Bush’s crimes.
March 11th, 2008 at 21:20
Cash, or postal money orders.
But anyway, I don’t think this is so much a Republican vs. Democrat issue as it is that Spitzer made a lot of enemies in high places while he was Attorney General. Most of Wall Street is partying today, as are, I imagine, people in several other industries. (Didn’t Spitzer lead the price-fixing suit against the music industry)?
So, he probably did it. He probably won’t go to jail for it, but this is the opening that a lot of people have been looking for. Oh, and there’s this. Shame, though, he probably did a lot of good on the whole.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:46
Ooof, so he was quite a bit of a hypocrite. Still not quite as bad as Mark Foley being a big anti-child-molestation crusader while simultaneously partaking in said child molestation, but still bad. What is it with politicians who focus so intently on outlawing or fighting something? It turns out that half the time they were involved in that very thing! What’s the order of events here? Does he have a fondness for hookers first and then decides to go after them later, or is he first going after them and then he gets caught up in it and starts using them himself, while not shutting down the crusade?
Hypocrites!
March 12th, 2008 at 16:02
It’s a lot easier to campaign in black and white. I’ve been suckered into voting based on wedge issues before; they can be very powerful and most people can’t deal with the nuances of reality.
March 12th, 2008 at 21:01
It’s ridiculous how usually the frontrunners against crime and corruption are the ones doing it themselves.
Utterly disgusting. Im glad hes resigning.
March 12th, 2008 at 22:54
Wow, a topical bot.
March 12th, 2008 at 23:36
I’m not even sure it’s a bot. The SpamKarma evaluation looks more like a human to me. It could be entirely manual.
Regardless, I’ve snipped out the completely irrelevant link to vinyl siding.
March 13th, 2008 at 02:33
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0312084kristen1.html
Here’s pics of his hooker. Hmm… I’d say money well spent. :]