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.")

Comments

Episiarch | March 10, 2008, 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.

Pulsamsara | March 10, 2008, 4:37pm | #

Hillary's Big NY Supporter ! Hillary's Illegal Immigrant Drivers License buddy!

Hillary - you really are Experienced!

brotherben | March 10, 2008, 4:45pm | #

yah yah yah,
and Farrakhan backs Obama. and anti-torture Mccain gets the backing of pro-torture Bush. Bigh fuckin whoop.

Dee | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 4:50pm | #

Obama should now play the Spitzer-Clinton line like Rudy used 9-11 in every other sentence.

zig zag man | March 10, 2008, 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.

Ali | March 10, 2008, 4:58pm | #

Jon Stewart is going to have a field day with this.

Dee | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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.

wolf | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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.

Will | March 10, 2008, 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.

brotherben | March 10, 2008, 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.

Matt J | March 10, 2008, 5:07pm | #

Where's Tom Hagen when you need him?

Pro Libertate | March 10, 2008, 5:08pm | #

Isn't the Emperor's Club owned by the Corelones?

Pro Libertate | March 10, 2008, 5:08pm | #

Matt J,

Beat me to it, you rat.

BakedPenguin | March 10, 2008, 5:13pm | #

PL, Matt J - Tom just wasn't a wartime consigliere.

Mary Mc | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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?

Pro Libertate | March 10, 2008, 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.

brotherben | March 10, 2008, 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.

Matt J | March 10, 2008, 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.

zig zag man | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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.

Matt J | March 10, 2008, 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.

Pro Libertate | March 10, 2008, 5:39pm | #

I'm surprised that more of these wives don't do a Jeri Ryan and, um, leave.

Jonathan Hohensee | March 10, 2008, 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.

Jonathan Hohensee | March 10, 2008, 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"?

brotherben | March 10, 2008, 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.

Matt J | March 10, 2008, 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.

Jonathan Hohensee | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 6:13pm | #

Paul | March 10, 2008, 6:14pm | #

particularly how he called himself "fucking steamroller."

Mmmno, I think that's what Girl #6 called Client #9.

Isaac Bartram | March 10, 2008, 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.

Isaac Bartram | March 10, 2008, 6:17pm | #

Although, I suspect she's Senator for Life from NY. But I don't think she needs bubba for that anymore.

Teri B. | March 10, 2008, 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?

Hillary Clinton | March 10, 2008, 6:21pm | #

Governor Spitzer is just another victim of the vast, right wing conspiracy.

Pro Libertate | March 10, 2008, 6:22pm | #

Chief Justice Bill "Reinstated in Arkansas" Clinton.

Ali | March 10, 2008, 6:26pm | #

Clinton Yanks Spitzer Endorsement Faster Than A Hooker Yanks... Well, You Get It

smartass sob | March 10, 2008, 6:33pm | #

Clinton Yanks Spitzer Endorsement...

I guess things are different when it's not her husband, Cigar Bill.

Episiarch | March 10, 2008, 6:38pm | #

Can this actually get more entertaining? I say yes. The next few days could be great.

ChrisO | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 6:42pm | #

Any pictures yet of his children crying on stage? Cause that would be sweet.

[/crassness]

Jennifer | March 10, 2008, 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.

zig zag man | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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.

ChrisO | March 10, 2008, 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.

edna | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 7:09pm | #

I hope it comes out the SOB paid the hookers to role play his daughters.

Joe Strummer | March 10, 2008, 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.

smartass sob | March 10, 2008, 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!

Anonymously Analogous | March 10, 2008, 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.

Matt J | March 10, 2008, 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.)

Justin Slotman | March 10, 2008, 8:22pm | #

Except they call them "whoahs."

CHOWDAH! SAY IT RIGHT!

smartass sob | March 10, 2008, 8:29pm | #

Except they call them "whoahs."


I thought it was "whoors" when one is of Irish ancestry.

Dave72 | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 9:19pm | #

I thought it was "whoors" when one is of Irish ancestry.

She was a fuckin' whoooor, Tony....

John-David | March 10, 2008, 9:24pm | #

Hey! Call Eliot himself and ask him what he should do!

Zabasearch is wonderful.

[phone]

Google the phone number if you don't believe me. I'm guessing he's not answering the phone right now, though.

Jeff Wartman | March 10, 2008, 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

edna | March 10, 2008, 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.

edna | March 10, 2008, 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.

Ali | March 10, 2008, 9:50pm | #

TWC- Ah, you're sure welcome :-)

Matt J | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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 Lose His Job | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 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!

Matt J | March 10, 2008, 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 | March 10, 2008, 11:33pm | #

She will reject him, denounce him, and accept his superdelegate vote.

TallDave | March 10, 2008, 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.

brotherben | March 11, 2008, 12:19am | #

quick show of hands.

Who would do hillary for 5 large?

a Duoist | March 11, 2008, 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.

Matt J | March 11, 2008, 12:58am | #

quick show of hands.

Who would do hillary for 5 large?

Fuck that. She's packing a snuke.

The Wine Commonsewer | March 11, 2008, 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 | March 11, 2008, 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?

lhummer | March 11, 2008, 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.

Alfred Hitchcock | March 11, 2008, 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.