Elliot Spitzer Accomplished what Edwards Promised

[amborin]

Elliot Spitzer has a laudable record of great accomplishments

he didn't just talk about what he wanted to do, he actually implemented his plans

Spitzer went after greedy, corrupt Wall Street movers and shakers, corporations, individual CEOs, etc, and prosecuted them for their corrupt abuses

He succeeded in reining in corporate power, investigating thoroughly and then forcing corporations to abide by the rules, sometimes even changing the rules to make them more citizen-friendly

Spitzer has a solid record of great deeds

alas, he acted foolishly in his personal life, and jeopardized his brilliant career

sad for all, since he would have made a great President

alas, we live in a puritanical nation obsessed with the private lives of politicians

this would not have been a story anywhere else in the world

granted Spitzer acted immorally, and foolishly--all the moreso since it was a given there was a protracted witch hunt to get him

Dems have lost a great guy

[xultar]

1. Not GD:P material. Good post though.

[Bucky]

8. With a small edit, this can be turned into GD:P material, however

To wit: Elliot Spitzer Accomplished what Edwards Promised... and it's all fucking Howard Dean's Fault!!

[xultar]

12. And you put in the GDP attitude for extra flavor. DAYUM you are good.!

:yourock: I love it!

[midnight]

2. His great record and his ability to become a future President

was cut short via syping....So useful in weeding out potential opponets...Two gov. down...How many more????

[2rth2pwr]

3. That old canard that this type of story would not have been a story anywhere else is

ridiculous on its face.

Sarkozy and his trysts, his ex-wifes love affairs have been front page news all over Europe.

[amborin]

10. but haven't interfered with his political chances, right? +, that coverage is new, to France

[2rth2pwr]

14. He didn't break any laws getting laid. nt

[amborin]

18. true, but prostitution's illegality in the us is not nec good and that's Spitzer's only crime

they flagged the case b/c it appeared as possible bundling

(repeatedly sending small packets of money, under, say, $5K, to a single account)

but it wasn't terrorism, or money laundering

and it wasn't structuring either

i.e. if any "structuring" actually occurred, it was purely accidental...Spitzer was simply trying to hide his activities from hiw wife

[2rth2pwr]

21. and prostitution rings were feverishly pursued and prosecuted

by Spitzer. He said they made victims out of the women.

[leftynyc]

33. Exactly

Until he has to resign because of a messy personal life, there is simply no comparison. Also, Spitzer allegedly broke the law.

[SharonAnn]

4. Actually, his belligerence and self-righteousness aren't what the U.S. or Democrats need.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. Spitzer was on track to be either the next AG or Supreme Court Justice... they targeted him.....

Spitzer scared the shit out of the corporate Rethugs and the Wall Street Crooks.

[amborin]

11. exactly, and the market rebounded slightly on his misfortune

[Sanity Claws]

6. Spitzer was a hypocrite

He prosecuted at least one prostitution ring as an AG. Clearly he was creating a public persona that this type of activity was illegal and he was going to go after such folks to the full extent of the law. In this respect, he's no different from the Republican hypocrites who preach the sanctity of marriage yet have affairs.
If Spitzer had not prosecuted prostitution or other so-called victimless crimes, had pushed for reform of laws on victimless crimes, or had shown greater compassion to people, I would feel differently about him. In fact, I would have argued that it was a matter between him and his wife.
His holier-than-thou attitude is what really did him in. He created a lot of enemies, many of them very powerful.

[amborin]

13. don't you think he created enemies b/c he so vehemently went after corp crime?

[Sanity Claws]

25. Yes but that was not the only reason

He was quite abrasive and self-righteous. For example, he tried to ram through a law regarding the issuance of drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants. He made no effort to court people or build a consensus. He just wanted to ram his bill through. He lost and it was due to his manner.
He pissed off many people, not only corporations.

[leftynyc]

34. Yes, of course

But like Bill Clinton he handed his enemies his own ass on a silver platter.

[Nia Zuri]

27. Isn't everybody?

[Sanity Claws]

31. Not to that extent

Prosecuting people for what he himself is doing? That takes a special kind of hubris and hypocrisy.
Many people know they have foibles and show compassion toward others for their foibles. Not Spitzer. He showed no compassion toward anyone. He considered himself a steamroller, steamrolling over anyone or anything that got in his way.

[BeyondGeography]

7. He wasn't a great guy, even if he had good intentions

There were warning signs with Spitzer, who was getting into blow-ups with people he needed to get along with all the time. He warned one of adversaries in the Republican leadership on his third day as governor that he was a "fucking steamroller." That's juvenile, and there was a lot of other stuff like it. So when the shit hit the fan, no one would defend him, even if what he did haad so many layers of "bad" to it (money laundering, transporting across state lines) nothing could have been done to save him, anyway.

That's another way of saying the man had no friends on either side of the aisle.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. I disagree....I know he was a GREAT guy that's why corp rethugs and WS had to take him out

of the running for AG or Supreme Court Justice when the Dems take over the WH


Spitzer has many friends in the Dem party and he wasn't money laundering he was a fucking John...which in every normal situation only gets you a ticket.

[amborin]

15. agree, fact he was named in this is highly unusual

imagine the feds getting called in to this

then, even after realizing there was nothing truly sinister in the money transfers (which allegedly is how this thing got flagged, as a possible instance of bundling), they went ahead and publicly identified him


where is Dem outrage over this?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

16. There is Dem outrage you just won't see it here on DU because Spitzer was a Clinton supporter

[Occam Bandage]

20. I liked Spitzer before this broke. I like many Clinton supporters.

I like Schumer. I liked Ferraro 72 hours ago. I like Sheldon Whitehouse. I just think that Spitz is a scumbag, half because of his hypocrisy, and half because of the way he dragged his poor wife out for the cameras.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

23. she chose to be there...she was there for her own reasons which you nor I know not....

Spitzer could not "drag" her anywhere...she is her won women and a strong one at that.

and it is really none of our business why she stood beside him

[Occam Bandage]

26. She "chose" to be there? How, exactly, do you know that? And how, exactly,

can anyone "choose" to do anything less than one fucking hour after their husband told them that they had spent the last few years fucking $4000 prostitutes, our career is over, please change into your nice clothes so we can face the media?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

29. Slida's a Harvad attorney in her own right & she is the one who told him "NOT to resign so quickly"

The governor's wife advised him to weigh his options - and she is surely doing ... was one of the few voices who advised her husband not to hastily resign.


she doesn't need nor want our pity


The governor's wife advised him to weigh his options - and she is surely doing the same.



The details of her life, however, paint a portrait of someone who is anything but a victim. A Southern-bred woman who keeps her private life close to the vest, Silda was one of the few voices who advised her husband not to hastily resign. Instead, she said, he should take his time and rationally figure out the strongest strategy on which to build his future. And yesterday, it looked like she was taking her own advice.

[BeyondGeography]

28. He has wrecked any chance of reforming NYS government for many years to come

Silver and Bruno will run circles around David Patterson for the next two years because your boy couldn't control himself. The Republicans will likely win the governorship back in 2010.

There's outrage because he screwed the Democratic Party, not because he supports your second-place candidate. Wake up.

[BadgerLaw2010]

32. I don't think anyone other than Jim Cramer (lifelong friend) would call him "a great guy."

Spitzer was vicious, and prided himself on being vicious.

[Occam Bandage]

17. Part of the reason we live in such a "puritanical nation" is men like Spitzer.

He went after prostitution rings. He took down plenty of otherwise-law-abiding people for involvement with organized prostitution. He's a victim of himself.

[CreekDog]

19. I'm not sure Edwards wants the credit for that title

:rofl:

[amborin]

30. LOL....

[Zookeeper]

22. For me, the betrayal of his wife and family, reflects on his...

character. (If he were a single man, I would hold my nose and overlook it.) The look on his wife's face indicates that this was a painful surprise, not an agreement.

He has done some good, going after Wall Street. But, overall this reflected a disturbing degree of hubris.

[Spazito]

24. He broke the law, he didn't work to change the law when he

had the power and influence to do so. He prosecuted those who broke the law while willfully enabling others who were breaking the same law.

I am very strongly FOR legalized prostitution, regulate it, provide safety and security to it's workers and tax it like any other business. If Mr. Spitzer believed as I do then he should have worked within the law to change it. If he believed the law should stand as it currently exists then he should not have broken it. What he did was hypocritical, imo.

As to him being a target of a witch-hunt out to get him, I am VERY sure of that and have NO doubt he, too, knew that and yet he provided them with the torch with which to burn him at the stake. Not smart.

Edited to add missing words.