I really don’t have time to write today but this was too important to let slide. According to this story in The New York Times Eliot Spitzer, Democratic Governor of New York, has been caught by a Federal wiretap making arrangements to meet with a high priced prostitute. Spitzer has already held a press conference and indicated he is taking some time to focus on his family and will return. There was no indication from Spitzer that he would be stepping down, but this didn’t stop Fox News from reporting it.
“I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong,” said Mr. Spitzer, who appeared with his wife Silda at his Manhattan office. “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.”
I’m of mixed opinion on whether I feel Spitzer should step down. On the one hand I feel that our elected officials should at the very least abstain from breaking the law while in office, while on the other I feel that sleeping with a prostitute is a minor offense that does not necessarily warrant such a harsh punishment. It may seem hypocritical but it does make a difference to me that Spitzer has not made a career out of attacking those who did the same thing he does (See basically all Republicans).
In the end I hope that Spitzer listens to those who put him in office and carries out their wishes. I am interested to see the news coverage and read the right wing blogs. It wasn’t too long ago that David Vitter was caught doing the same thing and the Republicans rose up to defend him. We will see how this one goes, anyone want to take a bet on how many Republicans defend Spitzer?
Update: I may have to take back that bit about not being a hypocrite. Summer seems to recall him running on his success at busting prostitution rings. If I can find time Ill update tonight with more. William 3/10/08
If this trangression were in the distant past I would forgive him. It is unfortunately a recent criminal act. Governor Spitzer should resign and make amends for this problem. No excuses. No blaming the republicans. Take responsibily, be the man and step down. He can concentrate on healing his family. He can run for office later after settling this problem.
I have read several dozen blog and news stories on this and have yet to see anyone blaming the Republicans or making excuses. Well, unless you count Dr. Laura blaming Eliot’s poor wife.
I feel its a decision that needs to be left to him and the people of New York. In any event committing a class B misdemeanor, even if found guilty in court, would not in itself be sufficient to force him out of office. Our current president has admitted to worse, but I guess thats just drugs. Sex is much worse than drugs apparently.
I really shouldn’t care since he’s the governor of NY, not Virginia, but he’s a democrat and republicans love making political hay out of how democrats can’t keep their pants up. Let’s ignore for a second that this is just plain hypocrisy, as this type of bedroom shenanigan is an apolitical in nature and practice (well, except for the current crop of ultra-rich people who form the core of the republican hate machine) and more attracted to power and money than anything else. And it’s power that concerns me the most here.
It’s not that he has power but that to my computer security mind this is a terrible security risk. Imagine the types of secrets someone can learn. Of much more concern, imagine the type of blackmail that could be used against someone by the nefarious, such as many wall street corrupts would have loved to use against Spitzer. “Elliot, it looks like I might be investigated for securities fraud. Can you do something about it? NO?? Well, let me tell you that I know about your little secret! You’d better get me off the hook or else!”
You can see the problems that arise from this. For this reason alone, he needed to resign. And he did, perhaps proving he is above some types of pressure. Too bad for us. For if his actions hadn’t been a real crime, say, he just got together with this girl and there was no money exchange – a routine affair, he could have stayed in office, no matter how much of a dog he was in his personal life. It’s the potential power he gave his enemies and potential enemies of NY and the US that give me greatest pause here. He gave them a weapon to use for all sorts of horrible crimes. That’s inexcusable.
So, he should have resigned as he did. But viewing his past, I’d also like to state that it appears someone dropped a dime on him and set him up for a fall. I think either the enemies in Wall Street had a hand in his downfall (likely) or someone in the Shrub administration did (much less likely, however vindictive they are, they tend to be clueless in many areas). As always, it wouldn’t hurt someone to follow the motives and follow the money. I think his lawyer may bring some of this out if/when he is prosecuted.
Lastly, let’s compare Spitzer’s actions with Bush’s. Spitzer got off with a beautiful woman but paid to do it and used an illegal business to accomplish this. Bush and his entire administration, lied, created “facts” and as a result, threw the entire US from profitability (trade surplus and positive budget balance) into debt (recession, trade deficit, budget deficit) while giving money to his friends under the table (KBR, Halliburton, oil and defense industries et. al.) destroying environmentally sensitive habitat, purging defense officials who didn’t cow-tow to his every whim and destroying the professionalism of the armed services, turning them into a praetorian guard, and took actions which resulted in increased poverty to millions of people (a new deadly sin according to the Vatican
and resulted directly in the deaths of 100s of thousands of people. WOW! Spitzer would have to go a long way to do that with just one hooker!
So, why then, aren’t there consistent, loud outcries for Bush and his staff to resign or be impeached? The answer, my friend, is two-fold. 1) Neo-cons run most all media services right now and they are profiting from Bush’s actions, even if they don’t agree with him or like him and 2) Timid, possibly corrupt democrats in the house and senate can’t figure out pointing out Bush’s evil actions are destroying this nation, which, by the way, no longer exists if you feel that a nation must exist only under its constitution, which we’ve broken and ignored for the last few years (no habeas corpus for just one).
Geesh. I did it again. I’ve run on about boring stuff anyone who thinks has already figured out. Ah well, no one will read this anyway…
Cheers!
Excellent reply, and despite my best efforts we actually get quite a bit of traffic so I’m sure it will be read. I find the more interesting parallel to be the response when Republican David Vitter was caught having visited prostitutes. He was given a standing applause on his return by the same people who demanded Spitzer’s resignation.
There you go again, William. Instead of sticking to the relevant issue of Spitzer’s follies you get off task and take shots at republicans. The fact is Spitzer did something pretty bad and he should be condemned. He did the right thing by resigning. I don’t think it is fitting to implicitly excuse his behavior by promoting this idea that everybody does it, especially the republicans. I hope that makes sense.
Sean, as usual your comment doesn’t make sense. If I knew what you were referring to I could maybe figure it out. There is a nifty “Reply to this comment” link inside each comment that will help keep your comments in context.
In any event nothing I have said could be construed as excusing his behavior. I have pointed out the normal Republican hypocrisy (reactions to Spitzer vs. Vitter) and vileness (Dr. Laura) but nothing resembling an excuse. I surely never said anything about everyone visiting prostitutes.
On a side note, you know who else had a fondness for prostitutes besides Republicans? Jesus. And everyone said I would never find a connection between the two. Ha!
Yes you are right to say that Jesus had a fondness for prostitutes, that is in the sense that He ate with sinners, tax collectors, etc., etc. The jewish leaders felt scandalized by this, for they saw this as unclean. It is probably appropriate that you interject Jesus into your posts every now and then to keep up appearances and to remind yourself of your blog’s name (who would jesus vote for?). I say that because I am not sure what you and Jesus have in common, except you borrowed His name for your blog.
PS Yes and Yes. That is the answer I arrived at when I pondered what would Jesus do if asked the question you posed in the google ad below, ‘Should Hillary quit’. I strongly feel that Jesus would respond Yes, you should quit Hillary and this one free of charge, Yes, you should quit, Obama.