Reason TV's Anthony Fisher on HuffPost Live Talking DNC with Eliot Spitzer

Reason TV producer Anthony Fisher appeared on HuffPost Live alongside Fmr. Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) and others for a wrapup discussion of the Democratic National Convention.

Here's a link to the segment, where Fisher challenged Spitzer's characterization of "crazy libertarians," and even got the former governor to agree that the Democratic Party has abondoned it's earlier commitment to civil liberties and that political speech before an election is nothing to fear.

Comments

[John]

Just once a Reason staffer needs to ask Spitzer if he still likes to get rough in the sack with his teenage former runaway hookers. Is he still marked as a "problem client" or did the scandal make him more cuddly?

[sage]

The term is "companion".

[Paul.]

Eliot Spitzer isn't in jail why?

[John]

Because laws are for commoners.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

get real.

do you think first time offenders get jail time for paying for a prostitute's services?

no

the usual sentence is a fine and probation

sure, they drummed up some crap "money laundering" charge, but all he did was pay money for sex.

there's a lot of shaming going on (newspapers will print names of arrestees in some locales), but jail time for first offense would be a DOUBLE STANDARD *against him*

feel free to check at your local courthouse and talk to a defense attorney as to the average penalty a first time offender gets for paying for some ass

[John]

the usual sentence is a fine and probation

And Spitzer got that? No he wasn't even prosecuted. Try again.

[Paul.]

do you think first time offenders get jail time for paying for a prostitute's services?

No, but they do get arrested, they do have to go to court, and they do get convicted of something.

Sample scenario:

Perpetrator stands up in front of the judge to make his plea, and instead says to the judge, "Your honor, I really consider this whole thing a personal family matter..."

there's a lot of shaming going on (newspapers will print names of arrestees in some locales), but jail time for first offense would be a DOUBLE STANDARD *against him*

No it wouldn't it would hold him to higher standards.

But even if we hold him to the same standards, he wouldn't have walked with a new television show.

Yeah.

[Pro Libertate]

The Fucking Steamroller? Why would anyone here want to talk to him? He's an authoritarian, statist scumbag, without morals and with bad hair.

[Paul.]

Easy on the bad hair. But what you said.

[Pro Libertate]

He earned his baldness.

[John]

He is as physically repulsive as he is morally repulsive. No wonder he had to pay for it.

[BakedPenguin]

This. What a piece of shit.

[John]

I think Reason should refuse to allow their staff to appear with the piece of shit.

[Pro Libertate]

No, I don't quite agree. They should refuse to allow their staff to appear with him unless they have this person there, too.

[John]

I could agree to that.

[Pro Libertate]

She had a column in a New York paper for a while. Wonder what she's doing today?

[John]

If I were the secretive billionaire villain I deserve to be, she would be on my payroll with the single duty of following that fuck around with a card board sign that read "I am the woman Spitzer broke federal law to have sex with".

[Greg]

She was on some reality show where a bunch of, oh, maybe G-list celebrities had to compete and open a restaurant. I can't remember what it was called but I randomly saw one episode and parts of two others and thought that Ashley was totally likable. One of the episodes I caught part of was the final one and I was totally rooting for her (I mean, as much as you're rooting for anyone on a show that you don't really watch).

[Pro Libertate]

I completely forgot about it. I saw it for about ten seconds when surfing the channels, noticed her, and called out to my wife, "Hey, Spitzer's whore got a TV show!"

[Greg]

Yeah to her credit from what I saw she was the only one that was taking it really seriously, she actually seemed like she was annoyed that she had to do the job on TV with a bunch of people that just wanted to be on camera (while probably understanding that without it being on TV there'd be no job). I got the impression somewhat that she'd learned from her experience that not all media attention is good attention. The fact that we haven't heard much from her might back this up, I mean if you think about it there are lots of women dumber and less interesting than her with reality shows that no one watches, I'd think she could get work.

[Not an Economist]

I believe it was just announced a few weeks ago she is pregnant with her fiancee's baby. If so good for her.

[Drake]

Don't forget to thank him for putting responsible leaders in charge of AIG 7 years ago.

[The Late P Brooks]

You people are just too fucking dumb to know what's good for you. You NEED a guy like Elliot to look out for your best interests.

Crazy libertarians.

[Caleb Turberville]

"Crazy Libertarians"? Wow, I didn't know Spitzer was a Freethoughtblogger!

[Caleb Turberville]

http://blogs.discovermagazine......new-day-2/

By the way, Bad Astronomy post-2008 election.

[Pro Libertate]

I used to read his blog pretty regularly, but his frequent political posts are ridiculous and really make it not worth the visit.

"Skeptic" and "partisan hack" can't share the same brain, sorry.

[Caleb Turberville]

I like Plait's taste in movies.

[darius404]

http://blogs.discovermagazine......a-new-day/

....Aaand, Bad Astronomy at the beginning of 2009.

[The Late P Brooks]

the Democratic Party has abondoned it's earlier commitment to civil liberties

The bipartisan consensus is well established:

The Constitution is not a suicide pact!

[Paul.]

It's an impediment to our suicide pact!

[Killazontherun]

It is the way progressives have rewritten it.

[Killazontherun]

OT
I recall John writing about the obtuse Seal culture about a month ago in a highly entertaining post.

Here is more kindling for the fire.

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....written-o/

"The guys who run their mouths are typically not invited back to these things," a retired senior Navy officer familiar with the SEAL culture told The Times.

"These guys are not really welcomed in many places in the 'spec' war community. The entire SEAL community has made these guys unwelcomed at their gatherings."

The officer asked not to be named because he maintains contacts with the special operations, or "spec," community.

Oh, really? Then what are you doing mouthing off about this matter when you know there is a political angle being served, officer who asked not to be named?

The entire premise is bullshit. Osama bin Laden's death is not even a millionth of a fraction as important as the Invasion of Normandy, but only a dickweeded asshole would ostracize a grunt who wrote about his experience a year later. Fucking priorities of these guys is not only backwards but less than useless and serve to reinforce the worst aspects of the national security culture.

[John]

My problem with the SEALS is they want to have it both ways. They want to be all secret warrior but then they want to whore themselves to the media about it at every opportunity.

And yeah, the guy who shot Bin Ladin was going to get a book at some point. But couldn't he have waited until he left the service or at least a few years? To take your Normandy example, the paratroopers who took Pegasus Bridge didn't write books in 1945.

If I were elected President I would put the seals on shit duty for a couple of years and leave it to the Marines and the Army. Let the the Seals serve as an example to shut the fuck up once in a while.

[LTC(ret) John]

IIRC, the dude who wrote the book did leave the service. I suspect he has considerable backing from his mates still in "the community" too - they wanted to make sure of two things - that O! got pimp slapped for taking all the credit (and showing H'wood types around and leaking info) and that everyone knew what badasses they were.
Hard to compare this to WWII as well, as the media cycle, publishing and such has sped up so much (O! had his pet movie project all lined up for October, remember?).

[Killazontherun]

The ostracization of this guy, assuming it is occurring as described, is political. It is done to curry favor of those who stand to loose if their preferred selective retelling on their prefered time line is dashed because the story is already out there. Otherwise officer who asked not to be named would not have spoken to the press.

[blackjack]

I have SHELVES of military history books, and a great many of them were started almost immediately after the campaigns they describe. Many from WWII. I'd guess it's to tale advantage of the freshness of the memories.

[LTC(ret) John]

Yeah, when you hear from an officer in the SOF field, take one big grain of salt. I'd rather hear from NCOs as to what they think.

I am damned glad I was an enlisted guy first, and know the differences.

[The Late P Brooks]

I think Reason should refuse to allow their staff to appear with the piece of shit.

I think reason writers should refuse to appear by video link. I want America to see Elliot get punched in the nuts on live television by a "crazy libertarian". I believe a large proportion of the home audience would cheer wildly. Maybe Lucy would volunteer.

[John]

If Lucy did that, I would divorce my wife and dedicate my life to marrying that woman.

[LTC(ret) John]

Make it a flying snap kick. I'd applaud until my hands bruised.

[Pro Libertate]

Or a space karate chop.

[Fluffy]

If I was Fisher I would have said:

"America was not governed by libertarians back then, Elliot. Libertarians think prostitution should be legal."

Sputter.

"Legal for everyone, that is. Not just for governors of states."

[Dunphy (the real one)]

interestingly, at the time of spitzer's interludes, prostitution WAS (technically) legal in rhode island as long as it met certain criteria.

RI recently changed their law

🙁

[Greg]

Taryn Mitchell. Anyone know who she is? I know this line gets used here a lot, but holy shit that is a painful level of stupid.