Spitzer is a victim and maybe even a cause worth fighting for?

[BurtWorm]

Is that what some of you truly believe?

He's a tragedy, I'll give you that. Classically.

[acmavm]

1. Yeah, some people here really have that idea planted in

their heads.

Yeah, he's a real worthy cause. A guy setting down the rules for everyone else but hey, it's all fair game when he gets a stiffy. That's a real good reason to do what you've been putting other people in jail for. He's just so SPECIAL!!

[cornermouse]

8. I know.

Let's go back and impeach JFK too. :sarcasm: Can you people hear yourselves?

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. Can "you people" see how obtuse you're being?

It has nothing to do with cheating on one's wife, sex, etc. It has to do with breaking a law (whether one agrees with that law or not) after prosecuting others accused of breaking the very same law, and while publicly expressing disgust. The man is no JFK, even in this.

[cornermouse]

28. Right-o.

:sarcasm: Off with his head. :sarcasm:

It's about sex and power not crime. It probably has something to do with all the spying on Americans as well. ...Hmm. Maybe I should return the personal insult in kind?

[ScreamingMeemie]

30. For me, it's about crime. And you are the one who began with the

"you people". Obtuse is a condition not an insult. I'm sorry he's a hypocrite and a criminal. I don't care who he's screwing. If you want to fall back onto personal attacks, go for it. I couldn't care less.

[acmavm]

51. Of course it's about crime. He broke the law. That means he

committed a criminal act.

[Thothmes]

26. If he were alive today and

knowledge of his health condition and his private life became known to the public, JFK could not get elected to the Presidency. JMO

[acmavm]

53. Nope, he couldn't. Which is too bad. But as long as people are

going to jail for shit like this, they guy putting them in the clink should know better. And should have to live by his own rules.

The end.

[burythehatchet]

38. methinks thou doth protest too much.

:rofl:

[acmavm]

49. Methinks that you regularly feed yourself a big dose of hypocrisy.

[niceypoo]

41. I would concur on one thing...

If he hadn't been 'Mr prostitution stopper' I would not care one bit, it would be a personal matter.

As it stands I have no sympathy for his plight

[acmavm]

50. Yep, the guy who was enforcing all the rules that everyone else

was supposed to live by apparently figured they didn't count for him.

[soleft]

2. It's not the sex it's the stupidity

Across state lines. If a governor who's a former attorney general doesn't know that that is breaking the law, then he cannot govern. If a govenor who's a former attorney general breaks the law, he cannot govern. If a chief executive officer has such a compulsion that he cannot control himself, he cannot govern.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. Not in this girl's book. The victim part.

I just know there was and is a whole lot of hypocrisy going on when it comes to our own.

He's crooked, unfortunately, and the fact that he didn't immediately resign in the face of this really disheartens me.

[DrDan]

9. I agree with you . . . unfortunately

How can we demand the resignation of Vitter and Craig and not do the same here.

[RB TexLa]

12. You really want a couple of pounds of flesh served up don't you?

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. No RG, I want what is right, across the board, on both sides. I am sick

of politicians getting away with this crap. It's disgusting and it makes their constituents look like fools. He sent others away for the very same thing. If I'm going to demand if of Republican politicians, I'm going to demand it of him. It's just very sad he, apparently, got caught up in the very same wiretaps he lobbied for. The man is a crook. Dem or Repub. Out with them all.

[Skidmore]

14. I agree with you. This party needs to be cleansed too.

[Junkdrawer]

4. So..why do YOU think they're doing domestic spying?

My concern is simply that this is EXACTLY the kind of dirt widespread domestic spying would turn up.

[Skidmore]

7. Interesting that a Republican caller to Washington Journal just said

that Spitzer was payback and there will be more to come before * leaves office in a few months. That he was just the first.

[Pale Blue Dot]

11. All of that is true, but he ADMITTED TO BREAKING THE LAW.

He is not worth defending, and he should not be used as the poster boy for why the domestic spying laws should be changed.

[Junkdrawer]

18. Well, I tend to doubt Rove will announce that he tapped Kucinich...

and found him clean as a choirboy.

Do you see the bind?

[Pale Blue Dot]

22. The "bind", as you put it, was caused by Eliot Spitzer, and the fact that he broke the law. nt

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. Especially since he pushed for them, and was right on board

with Bush.

[Breeze54]

42. He didn't admit guilt and everyone deserves a defense.

N.Y. Gov. Spitzer: 'I promised better'

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-eliot-spitzer-prostitutionmar11,1,6006877.story

Declining to take questions, the first-term Democrat did not specify the reason for the apology nor raise the possibility of resignation.

snip-->

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong," said Spitzer, 48, who swept into the governor's office in January 2007 on pledges to restore ethics to state government.

"I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better. I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family," said Spitzer, who made many enemies on Wall Street for his hard-charging ways and relentless investigations during his two terms as state attorney general.

Spitzer, who ended his remarks with a promise to "report back to you in short order," did not make any reference to a prostitution ring in his comments.

more...

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. It is highly unfortunate, and sort of ironic, that Mr. Spitzer applauded and

pushed for widespread spying when he was AG.

[BurtWorm]

23. Domestic spying is more serious and subtle. It targets not the rich and powerful

but the unpowerful, which is why it is so dangerous to a republic based on consent of the governed. People seem to be confusing things with the Spitzer case, making the mistake of thinking that because he is political and is accused of a crime, some kind of political crime is going on here. It could just be a lot of cognitive dissonance going on--people not wanting to believe one of "ours" is no better than "them."

[Junkdrawer]

33. Historically, Domestic spying targets administration enemies...

CointelPro

Watergate

[BurtWorm]

37. CointelPro targeted hippies, lefties, the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement...

If Spitzer used the state police to spy on Bruno, who was the victim there?

[Junkdrawer]

40. It was the outrage over John Lennon, Martin Luther King et al

that made CointelPro famous...

[BurtWorm]

55. Was spying on those public figures worse than it was on the Joe and Jane Q. Birkenstocks?

In some books maybe...

[BadgerLaw2010]

47. Being busted for this does not require spying. Don't call investigation targets.

[jeffrey_X]

56. Prostitution rings are often linked with organized crime.....

they could have been gathering information for gambling, money laundering or anything connected with mob-related activities. Spitzer might have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Why didn't he watch TV during Bill Clinton's Political Crucifixion?

Laws are for democrats. "NO DEMOCRAT is above the law!"

If he was a GOPer he would have gotten him some at the Watergate POKE-HER games!

[Pale Blue Dot]

6. He's an asshole hypocrite.

He put his need to "get off" above the need to uphold the law and his office. The people of New York and, to a lesser degree, the U.S., will suffer because of it.

It really hurts our credibility when we defend someone like Spitzer.

[RB TexLa]

10. It's just there is no reason for him not to fight it and try to keep his position

when did being charged with something become a reason to resign?

[BurtWorm]

27. He admits he did something that hurt his family.

Do you think he means he committed a crime or two? If so, he should resign now and let David Paterson, a real progressive, take over. The sooner the better. (Aside: How long will it be, I wonder, before someone begins to suspect that Paterson and the progressives are behind Spitzer's downfall.)

[anniebelle]

13. What was he thinking?

He wasn't. Unfortunately, a human's achilles heel IS sex. It'll trump anything and everything with humans. It's in their DNA. The drive to keep the species going, if you will. I still believe he was targeted because of all the grief he caused corporations there in NY. What about John #1-8 and #10-whatever? Who are they? Why was his bank account being monitored? Is that legal? No warrants were issued, as near as I can tell by reading the Charging Documents, NY Southern Dist. Many questions to be asked and answered, in my opinion.

[bullimiami]

16. what he did is so stupid its beyond belief.

what the hell.

[KharmaTrain]

20. You Can't Defend Breaking The Law

There's no moral equivelency or conspiracy here...and Democrats should tread lightly here in trying to play the "well they did it, too" game. If anything, here's a chance to rise above the sleeze and show that Democrats stand for both the rule of law and fairness.

If the reports are to be believed, Spitzer broke federal laws...ones he, as Attorney General, would have prosecuted someone for. He played fast and loose and got "Harted"...tried to portray himself as being a reformer. It truly is a tragedy as here's yet another powerful man who thought with the wrong head and then thought he was smarter than anyone else.

Honestly, I can't see him being a victim...we could say the women were the victims...and even if he was being blackmailed, that's even worse as it shows how compromised he was.

Again, the caveat here is innocent until proven guilty...let's see how this situation plays out. Bottom line is if he willingly flaunted the law, there's no fighting here...this isn't a Siegleman...sadly just another flawed soul.

[BurtWorm]

35. I think a lot of people are having trouble squaring Spitzer the supposed hero

with this guy suddenly in the news. That is a pretty inexplicable discrepancy. But I've been realizing how little I really knew of Spitzer all along. I only knew his hero image. I hadn't even heard him speak until I happened to catch him on Colbert one night. And I live in New York!

[KharmaTrain]

39. Reminds Me Of Gary Hart...

I liked what I saw of Spitzer as well...and what's happened to him is a tragedy...but one of his own making, and the sooner people realize it and put down the tinfoil hats and partisan filter, maybe we can look at this more objectively.

Again...innocent until proven guilty, but he didn't even try to deny the charges yesterday, and I suspect, he knows he's been caught. It doesn't matter who did it or why...he appears to have violated laws that he, himself, had previously been in charge of protecting. If one can't see the contradiction and hypocrisy there, they are hurting both Democrats and fair and honest government.

I love New York...(sorry I won't sing it), but just because someone has a (D) by their name doesn't make them a superhuman...and its times like these that we see how mortal they really are...in their actions and how they handle them.

Cheers...

:hi:

[screembloodymurder]

21. His wife was aging. He was being pursued by much younger women.

How can a man resist sexy, young, beautiful women? You get a temporary fix, that's how. He did it for his family.

[Hubert Flottz]

24. If he'd go to rehab Gawd would clear the books on him.

Oh...I forgot he was a democrat.

[belpejic]

29. He's a douchebag n/t

[Perry Logan]

31. Yea. Republicans never set Democrats up. It can't happen here.

[MinM]

32. Spitzer? No. Exposing the DOJ's modus operandi?

Yes!

[Junkdrawer]

34. EXACTLY!

:hi:

[vi5]

36. I'm blown away by people defending him...

I don't think it should be illegal. That's beside the point. It IS illegal and he did get caught and therefor he needs to be subjected the same laws that he prosecuted.

Also, particularly the Clinton supporters who have been so quick to decry even the slightest words or actions as sexist now rallying around a man who treated women's bodies as commodities to be purchased to please his own whims is just beyond my comprehension.

[calico1]

43. I am a Clinton supporter.

And I think Spitzer should resign immediately. He is not worth defending and I for one won't. This man was a State AG who promised to clean up Albany when he took office. Yes, a lot of men use protitutes but they don't hold public office. What Spitzer did was worse than Bill Clinton or Gary Hart. They fooled around with consenting adult women but he paid for protitutes and I hear there was money laundering involved, among other things. He is either incredibly stupid, incredibly arrogant or both. Everything I have heard about Paterson is good. Spitzer needs to step aside as soon as possible so that Paterson can take over. Nobody forced him to pay prostitutes for sex. He did this all to himself and he needs to go.

[vi5]

45. Thank you...

..making this about wiretaps or the DOJ or anything else is just ridiculous. We can argue that stuff until the cows come home but he did this, he got caught, and it's a crime. All these people defending him are just driving me crazy. I can't believe how far we've fallen that we're allowed to think this is o.k. just because republicans did it too.

[Orsino]

44. The * DOJ is tainted, perhaps irretrievably.

Suspicion is mandatory, even in a case like Spitzer's that seems perfectly clear.

[SoCalDem]

46. Nope.. he's an idiot n/t

[Medusa]

48. There are no victims, just volunteers

he freely volunteered for this.

His wife and kids didn't though.

[Ganja Ninja]

52. He's on his own. n/t

[Avalux]

54. Nope. He's responsible for his actions and should resign immediately.

Maybe he was targeted, maybe it was a sting operation...he was the one who made the wrong decision. He is the very person he would go after in his public life and at this point he no longer has any credibility.