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So... Will Clinton Reject or Denounce Him?
Not long after Eliot Spitzer took office, Radley Balko wrote in disgust about Eliot Spitzer's arrogance—particularly how he called himself "fucking steamroller." If the metaphor police got another crack at him, they'd probably label him a "fucking tar pit." Spitzer endorsed Hillary Clinton, his home-state senator, only a few months into her presidential bid. Two months later Spitzer was exposed for using state resources to spy on his political archenemy. A few months after that Spitzer tried to ram through a driver's licensing program for undocumented workers: When Clinton was asked about it in an October debate, her fumbling answer started her decline in the polls.
Obviously, Clinton had nothing to any of Spitzer's transgressions, crimes, and stumbles. When Spitzer was riding high, on his way to winning a 40-point landslide to become governor of New York, I analyzed his autocratic style and tried to see experimental federalism. I'd say this scandal—assuming Spitzer did not abuse his power to cover it up—is the least of his offenses. New York and national Democrats should still feel a twinge of shame for enabling his antics.
Much-discussed GOP fixer Roger Stone warned us about Spitzer
back in December, in a video you can see at Reason.tv.
For a sample of the sanctimonious promises that led Spitzer to this
place, here's one of his 2006 ads.
The ad's producer, Jimmy Siegel, now works for
Clinton. (Spitzer promised that government would change "on Day
One" of his reign. Clinton, of course, is "Ready on Day
One.")
Episiarch|3.10.08 @ 4:31PM|#
Spitzer promised that government would change "on Day One"
of his reign
It did--it achieved the absolutely amazing feat of getting more
corrupt. Pataki was a douche but nothing compared to this.
|3.10.08 @ 4:37PM|#
Hillary's Big NY Supporter ! Hillary's Illegal Immigrant Drivers
License buddy!
Hillary - you really are Experienced!
|3.10.08 @ 4:45PM|#
yah yah yah,
and Farrakhan backs Obama. and anti-torture Mccain gets the backing
of pro-torture Bush. Bigh fuckin whoop.
|3.10.08 @ 4:45PM|#
And now the Emperors Club.. Chaulk up another one for
hypocritical basturd politicians. Oh how I love to see the high and
mighty fall.
When will people learn that those with the most to hide are the
very same people that want to control every aspect of our lives as
they see fit. You should never give power to someone so hungry to
take over everything as they are most likely the biggest perps of
their own laws to be found.
KW64|3.10.08 @ 4:49PM|#
Maybe Hillary failed to vet him properly before accepting his endorsement. Same problem as with Hsu before taking donations or when Rudy recommended Kerik. Association with people are dangerous.
Ali|3.10.08 @ 4:50PM|#
Obama should now play the Spitzer-Clinton line like Rudy used 9-11 in every other sentence.
|3.10.08 @ 4:54PM|#
"When will people learn that those with the most to hide are
the very same people that want to control every aspect of our lives
as they see fit. You should never give power to someone so hungry
to take over everything as they are most likely the biggest perps
of their own laws to be found."
Too bad he wasn't photographed in a rubber wetsuit or an adult
diaper with a dildo up his ass.
|3.10.08 @ 4:59PM|#
FWIW- Why is it when a politician gets caught with his panties
down its suddenly a "Private matter"? As if no law was broken and
he only need reconcile with his family and or course his
lord.
This happens time and time again Sen Vitter now this sting. You
would think a former Prosecutor of prostitution rings would know
someone might be watching, after all HE DID it to other
people.
But really IMO selling sex is like illegal drugs you really have no
victim if its all consented to. But if a politician gets caught
sticking his pecker in unlawful places its a private matter not a
crime.
OK then why isn't someone's personal decision to do drugs looked at
the same way (besides them being life long hypocrits)? I mean in
the drug use instance nobody else is even involved like in the
hooker cases. So if anything I would see it as a worse offense then
drug use by the individual. Where are the COPS to arrest these law
breakers thats what I want to know?
Episiarch|3.10.08 @ 5:00PM|#
Too bad he wasn't photographed in a rubber wetsuit or an
adult diaper with a dildo up his ass.
Oh, there's still time. Just you wait. Just think what the hookers,
who just lost their jobs, are negotiating with news sources as we
speak.
|3.10.08 @ 5:01PM|#
This isn't just ANY Hillary supporter. This is the governor of
her state --- the man she works with closely on day to day
issues.
His popularity has been so low in NY here for so long, and yet
Hillary has been propping him up and he her. Where exactly is this
judgment of hers? Is this kind of person her cabinet would be
filled with? Heaven help us all.
Colin|3.10.08 @ 5:04PM|#
The funniest part about this whole thing was that he was
shortchanging his whores. In the tapped conversations, he was told
to pay a deposit so that the unpleasantness wouldn't happen
again.
Man, you couldn't make this stuff up.
|3.10.08 @ 5:05PM|#
I'll bet Roger Stone (old hat dirty trickster) had a hand in this. Of course like Bill Clinton if Gov. Spitzer has just kept his penis exclusive to his wife none of this would have happened.
|3.10.08 @ 5:06PM|#
Hillary is definately the victim here. She apparently has a purity of heart that leads her to believe that men of great power are also men of fine character. Give her a break. She is just too naive and trusting.
|3.10.08 @ 5:16PM|#
Yes brotherben
She is just what we need on Day 1 , a Commander-in-Chief who is a
victim with a pure heart who is naive and trusting-of powerful men.
Give me a break.
St. Hillary-It's a joke right?
Mary Mc
Other Matt|3.10.08 @ 5:18PM|#
Oh, there's still time. Just you wait. Just think what the
hookers, who just lost their jobs, are negotiating with news
sources as we speak.
Good point. Jennifer-You putting your number out?
|3.10.08 @ 5:18PM|#
BakedPenguin,
Perhaps not, but he did get that senator in line without much
trouble. I think Hagen is underestimated in his ability to crush
opposition outside of the Five Families.
Certainly, George "I'm Tan" Hamilton wasn't a wartime
consigliere.
|3.10.08 @ 5:22PM|#
Mary mc,
yes, of course it's a joke. Even I, a fat balding middle-aged
southern baptist alabamian egalitarian, am not that stupid.
|3.10.08 @ 5:27PM|#
This girl has no family, nobody knows that she worked here. It'll be as though she never existed. All that's left is our friendship.
|3.10.08 @ 5:34PM|#
This guy had his beautiful wife standing next to him while he
read his prepared statement and had the standard, "I'm going to
spend time with my family and I'll be taking no questions."
/she must be so proud
//he is a dirtbag
//she should kick his sorry ass to the curb
Governor Spitzer|3.10.08 @ 5:36PM|#
I do remember that she was laughing. . .we'd done it before--and I know that I couldn't have hurt--that girl.
|3.10.08 @ 5:38PM|#
I think Hagen is underestimated in his ability to crush
opposition outside of the Five Families.
Ask Woltz.
If only he were Italian. He could have been Don. Instead, Michale
ends up with George fucking Hamilton.
Christ, Part 3 really did suck.
|3.10.08 @ 5:41PM|#
The funniest part about this whole thing was that he was
shortchanging his whores. In the tapped conversations, he was told
to pay a deposit so that the unpleasantness wouldn't happen
again.
Man, you couldn't make this stuff up.
I always assumed that hookers got the money up-front. What's to
stop Johns from taking the hunny and run?
This guy had his beautiful wife standing next to him while he
read his prepared statement and had the standard, "I'm going to
spend time with my family and I'll be taking no questions."
/she must be so proud
//he is a dirtbag
//she should kick his sorry ass to the curb
But they never do, for reasons that I would have to retreat into
the dark, cynical portions of my brain to truly understand.
|3.10.08 @ 5:42PM|#
Didn't GQ Magazine do a fellitio job on this guy a couple years ago declaring Spitzer to be "the man who should be president"?
|3.10.08 @ 5:43PM|#
Pro Lib,
I'm thinkin that she had more assets than most.
But more probably that some women seem to be attracted to men that
devalue and demean them. They don't feel they are capable of
leaving, even if a first year law student could set them up for
life financially in a divorce.
|3.10.08 @ 5:46PM|#
I always assumed that hookers got the money up-front. What's
to stop Johns from taking the hunny and run?
If it's a professional operation there is usually a large, neckless
gentleman waiting downstairs in the car who is well versed in the
art of applied violence.
|3.10.08 @ 5:51PM|#
Eliot Spitzer - Street-Fighting Man
Here, at last, is a Democrat who truly stands for, rather than
against, something. Eliot Spitzer, who will most certainly win New
York's governorship next year, has often, during his tenure as the
Empire State's attorney general, been depicted as a superhero.
Stock analysts who tout stocks they privately dismiss as "shit"
because they want that company's banking business? Busted!
Mutual-fund managers who let favored clients trade after hours?
Blammo! Bid-rigging insurance brokers? Kapow! Recording-industry
execs who pump radio playlists with payola? Kazam! Such portrayals
amuse, yes. But they also reflect that he is the kind of man
children imagine their fathers to be (brave, knightly, omnipotent)
and the kind of leader Americans have come to expect only on-screen
(intelligent, incorruptible, impish). He is perhaps the only
American politician who can say "I just have a desire to
force people to be honest" and be greeted not with
laughter but amens. -Andrew Corsello
Oh, fuck this, I'm canceling my subscription to GQ and from now on
getting all of my political news from Mother Jones and fashion
advice from National Review.
Paul|3.10.08 @ 6:14PM|#
particularly how he called himself "fucking steamroller."
Mmmno, I think that's what Girl #6 called Client #9.
|3.10.08 @ 6:16PM|#
Pro Lib
I think it might have something to do with having some kind of self
respect and having achieved something for oneself.
I don't know about Spitzer's wife, but Hillary is nothing without
Bill except a shrew filled with ambition.
Although to be sure, he hasn't been as much help lately.
Actually if she fails in her goal to become mommy of the free world
I suspect she might go her own way. After all she's gotten enough
bribes book advances to keep her for life, financially
at least. If she doesn't make it in 08 she's finished and so I
think is Bill.
|3.10.08 @ 6:17PM|#
Although, I suspect she's Senator for Life from NY. But I don't think she needs bubba for that anymore.
|3.10.08 @ 6:18PM|#
When are these Dem-on-Dem hate crimes going to stop? Now the
Obamamaniacs are after Spitzer because he dared to endorse Clinton?
Is there anyone they won't mow down in their bid to seat their
nominee, whether the majority of Dems agree or not?
Given the remaining primaries, even with revotes in Michigan and
Florida, it doesn't look like either Dem may have the delegates
necessary to outright take the nomination. But if Clinton's ahead,
well to hell with the rest of us seems to the battle cry.
The entire discussion is completely polluted with constant, vicious
mud slinging, and contrary to what they like to believe, Obama and
his crew of surrogates and supporters are just as bad as Clinton,
maybe worse, because they don't appear to have loyalty to ANYONE
but him, not the party and not the country.
I don't like that Obama gives his supporters permission NOT to vote
for Clinton if she wins, and slams the door on working out a deal
between he and Clinton. Who's side is he on? His own apparently. At
the rate it's going, neither of them will have the necessary
delegates, and the super delegates will pick Obama because they'lll
be too afraid of what his supporters will do if they don't. THAT'S
JUST WRONG! And I think everyone knows it.
Is it Oba-black-mail?
Oh, and just remember in your glee to trash Spitzer, that Kennedy
was known to have some interesting extraciricular activities. Is
Obama going to "reject" or "denounce" HIM?
Ali|3.10.08 @ 6:26PM|#
Clinton Yanks Spitzer Endorsement Faster Than A Hooker Yanks... Well, You Get It
|3.10.08 @ 6:33PM|#
Clinton Yanks Spitzer Endorsement...
I guess things are different when it's not her husband, Cigar
Bill.
Episiarch|3.10.08 @ 6:38PM|#
Can this actually get more entertaining? I say yes. The next few days could be great.
|3.10.08 @ 6:42PM|#
"The Emperors Club." Love it!!
You couldn't make that shit up if you tried.
I have to say, though, that this sounds like a "club" more likely
to be frequented by the dudes with hair plugs and overly large
Rolexes, and not the geeky governor. Maybe he started getting so
obsessed with prosecuting the Wall Street "masters of the universe"
that he became one of them.
Rimfax|3.10.08 @ 6:42PM|#
Any pictures yet of his children crying on stage? Cause that
would be sweet.
[/crassness]
Jennifer|3.10.08 @ 6:46PM|#
Good point. Jennifer-You putting your number out?
Alas, no. There has been great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the
office today, most of it from me screaming "If he were just 100
miles east, he'd be in MY CIRCULATION ZONE and I could HAVE A FIELD
DAY this!"
Oh. Oooh. What I couldn't do ... mmmm, mama ... sex and political
hypocrisy ... why couldn't it be me ... the envy is shredding me
inside.
|3.10.08 @ 6:48PM|#
"Oh, and just remember in your glee to trash Spitzer, that
Kennedy was known to have some interesting extraciricular
activities. Is Obama going to "reject" or "denounce"
HIM?"
I don't remember JFK going after prostitution rings and then
hypocritically using hookers. JFK was classier than that, he used
Marilyn Monroe.
Rimfax|3.10.08 @ 6:49PM|#
Spitzer probably figured that DC was just like New York in that VIPs always got what they wanted and never got busted for anything. DC is corrupt and is home to our two houses of spoiled brats, but it's tiddly-winks in comparison to New York in terms of unequal treatment. New Yorkers have never understood how Mayor Barry ever got busted for possession and soliciting. In New York, the officers on the scene would have apologized and begged not to be fired for interrupting his fun.
|3.10.08 @ 7:02PM|#
I don't remember JFK going after prostitution rings and then
hypocritically using hookers. JFK was classier than that, he used
Marilyn Monroe.
No, but he (or more accurately Daddy Kennedy) did use the mob in
order to get elected and then let little brother go after them. And
we all know how that worked out in the end.
I suspect there is a lot more to this story than we know so
far.
|3.10.08 @ 7:04PM|#
Too bad he wasn't photographed in a rubber wetsuit or an
adult diaper with a dildo up his ass.
i've got 'em. and with the twins, too. (jesus, for $4300 an hour,
there's not much i wouldn't do...)
Schadenfreude|3.10.08 @ 7:09PM|#
I hope it comes out the SOB paid the hookers to role play his daughters.
|3.10.08 @ 7:09PM|#
"New Yorkers have never understood how Mayor Barry ever got
busted for possession and soliciting."
It was a joint FBI-DC operation that got Barry, and it was
initiated by an FBI informant. So local corruption didn't have
anything to do with it. Same as here: federal wiretap got
Spitzer.
|3.10.08 @ 7:14PM|#
I don't remember JFK going after prostitution rings and then
hypocritically using hookers. JFK was classier than that, he used
Marilyn Monroe.
Yeah, and he had his own privae procurors in the persons of his
brother-in-law, Peter Lawford, and his friend, "Frankieee" Sinatra.
His very own personal pimp - now that's class!
|3.10.08 @ 7:20PM|#
Ya gotta love the parallel between Spitzer prosecuting
prostitution operations and then getting busted as a john, and Bill
Clinton promoting draconian sexual harassment legislation and then
getting caught having sex with a very junior employee.
All you can do sometimes is get out the popcorn and enjoy.
|3.10.08 @ 7:44PM|#
Forget JFK. He banged whores. Teddy bangs them and drowns
them.
(I know she wasn't a whore. I'm just using whore because that's how
the Kennedy men most likely refer to all women.)
|3.10.08 @ 8:29PM|#
Except they call them "whoahs."
I thought it was "whoors" when one is of Irish ancestry.
|3.10.08 @ 9:02PM|#
Hey, Hillary can help Mr. & Mrs. Spitzer through this crisis. She has extensive experience in controlling Bill's bimbo eruptions. Wasn't Elliott her U.S. Attorney General-to-be??
The Wine Commonsewer|3.10.08 @ 9:08PM|#
Ali, thank you for the link. LOL. Great stuff. Made my
afternoon.
And the rest of you? Thank you for beating the crap out of Spitzer.
Got some laughs from that too.
Ralphie|3.10.08 @ 9:19PM|#
I thought it was "whoors" when one is of Irish
ancestry.
She was a fuckin' whoooor, Tony....
|3.10.08 @ 9:24PM|#
Hey! Call Eliot himself and ask him what he should do!
Zabasearch is wonderful.
(518) 398-7590
Google the phone number if you don't believe me. I'm guessing he's
not answering the phone right now, though.
Jeff Wartman|3.10.08 @ 9:40PM|#
It's getting to the point where we can no longer trust any
ethics reform proposals for our public servants which come from a
member of a major political party.
http://www.jeffwartman.com/2008/03/new-york-governor-eliot-spitzer-linked.html
|3.10.08 @ 9:46PM|#
it's getting to the point where we can't trust the commenters to be honest and not flog their pitiful little blogs.
|3.10.08 @ 9:47PM|#
I hope it comes out the SOB paid the hookers to role play
his daughters.
from what i understand, his particular "requests" had to do with
condom-free playtime.
ewwww. i'm going to have to wash my brain out after the unbidden
visual.
|3.10.08 @ 9:57PM|#
Damn me for not typing whooor!
A little dialect would have elevated my lame Kennedy joke to
mediocre.
Ralphie,
First, she slipped. Second, she was a whooah!
JM|3.10.08 @ 10:27PM|#
I worked at Microsoft during the Antitrust trial, when Spitzer
was one of the AGs going after us. I was pretty low on the totem
pole at MSFT, but I got to spend some quality time with Spitzer and
his minions, 'splaining some techinical details. He was one of the
most unpleasant people I've ever met, and his aides were cut from
the same cloth. It was clear they looked at everybody and
everything as meat. They weren't interested in fairness, or
justice, or customers, or even the law. They were looking for the
angle to lever their own power and position.
So it doesn't surprise me to find this out. Fact is, the only real
surprise is that he actually paid the girl. I'd have expected him
to stiff her (though from the released docs, it sounds like he was
pretty shady on the financial deals).
Good riddance to Spitzer. Can someone bag Blumenthal next? He's the
same sort.
Someone Who Doesn\'t Want to L|3.10.08 @ 10:35PM|#
Pro Lib:
I'm surprised that more of these wives don't do a Jeri Ryan and, um, leave.
Jeri Ryan is in kind of a unique position as far as that goes. Any
human, klingon, or whatever she's with obviously needs her more
than she needs him. Other political wives, while they might
possibly do fine on their own, don't have men lined up around the
block waiting on them to divorce their husbands.
Jeri Ryan - unique position. I think that's what made her divorce
Jack.
The Wine Commonsewer|3.10.08 @ 10:55PM|#
it's getting to the point where we can't trust the
commenters to be honest and not flog their pitiful little
blogs.
Hey, I resemble that remark. Click my name for the WHOLE STORY!
|3.10.08 @ 11:31PM|#
I think a lot of them stay because of kids and the fact that they now get to assume the power position in the relationship. At that point she basically holds what's left of his career in her hands. Now she gets the sympathy, a tighter leash, guilt gifts, free license to bang her tennis pro and if she really plays her cards right - the Democratic nomination.
TallDave|3.10.08 @ 11:35PM|#
Although, I suspect she's Senator for Life from
NY.
Only till she, too, gets caught with a $5000 hooker.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
a Duoist|3.11.08 @ 12:25AM|#
Every moralizing left-wing socialist and every moralizing right-wing priest wields a whip; they enjoy inflicting (sadism) or being inflicted (masochism) with pain. Lordy, the million dollar book deals for the true confessions of the whores who took a whip to 'the Whipper,' Client Number Nine.
|3.11.08 @ 12:58AM|#
quick show of hands.
Who would do hillary for 5 large?
Fuck that. She's packing a snuke.
The Wine Commonsewer|3.11.08 @ 1:54AM|#
Who would do hillary for 5 large?
OK, Brutha, let me put it this way.
I wouldn't do her with your wee knee.
some guy|3.11.08 @ 8:04AM|#
By "large" do you mean dollars? I would get to do Hillary
and get paid five dollars?
What kind of heaven are you selling here?
|3.11.08 @ 9:06AM|#
It has always been a mystery to me why any self respecting wife would stand at the side of her husband after being publicly humiliated. I think you nailed the answer, Matt J.
|3.11.08 @ 1:19PM|#
I am a college classmate of Spitzer, Princeton 1980. I only met
him a few times, but I sure didn't want to know him any
better.
Scary-dead eyes like a shark even at 18 years of age. Obviously out
only for himself. He was one of those student-council-president
jerkoff types, always scheming, always trying to grab some little
bit of stupid "leadership" turf and try to "run things."
Yesterday's developments don't surprise me a goddam bit.
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