New York Governor Elliot Spitzer has informed his advisers today of his connection to a prostitution ring.
According to news accounts, Sptizer has been identified in court documents as a client of a high-end prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP. High-end prostitutes associated with this group charge up to $5,500.00 an hour.
What a disgrace. Spitzer should resign.
Update by Flipper: According to the New York Times, Spitzer had been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month.
But on a serious note, what a sad turn of events. Spitzer certainly had a bright future ahead of him.
But the hypocrisy of his public life versus his public life is appalling.
These days the bar for what sorts of sexual escapades would require resignation seems to be set pretty high.
Larry Craig shouldn't resign because he didn't do anything illegal. In fact Larry Craig should be the poster child for overzealous law enforcement bullying people into confession. Making a discrete pass at someone in a public place is not a crime.
And, for the record, I'm no prude.
On top of the hypocrisy is the amazing lack of judgment and utter recklessness. From a purely cold-blooded political context, what was he thinking? Okay, maybe he wasn't thinking. Maybe that's the problem.
Ninety-nine percent -- okay, ninety-five -- of the stuff that comes out of politicians' mouths are gobbledegook platitudes, political triangulations and strategy points written by speechwriters. But if we are to know who these people really are, as human beings, in their heart of hearts, what truer way to assess their character than through the manner in which they conduct their private lives?
On the other hand, condemning someone's worthiness as governor or president solely on the basis of their personal behavior, specifically sexual foibles, ain't too smart either. History is replete with great leaders and doers and thinkers whose extraordinary achievements are not readily diminished by what society might view as their unacceptable sexual lapses.
On the other other hand, there's a case to be made that President Clinton's, umm, errh, well, okay, bj is likely the most expensive bj in the history of mankind. Because the case can be made that if President Clinton had managed to practice a more conventional adult level of personal discipline, then Gore wouldn't have spurned his support in the 2000 elections. And if, as a result of President Clinton campaigning for him, there had been a hard working President Gore at the helm, rather than Alfred E. Neuman, there would have been a decent back-to-the-future chance that 9/11 wouldn't have happened. And even if it would still have happened, we most certainly would not be in Iraq. So, yes, people's public and private lives sometimes do intersect to the detriment of all of us.
We'd have to exclude George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, FDR, JFK, just mention a few. And I haven't even gotten to European leaders.
But in today's world of rapid communication where there is no "gentlemen's club" among the media that looks the other way as in the past, all this stuff always gets exposed.
What makes it so damaging for Spitzer is that he was a prosecutor who prosecuted clubs like this. That's the double standard that raises it above the level of mere private transgression.
I don't see how he survives politically. In addition, he could still be charged under the Mann Act of 1910 for transporting a prostitute across a state line. That is a serious offense that carries serious jail time. If he escapes prosecution for that, he should call it a day and consider himself lucky.
And yes this saddens me enormously. He was a hero of mine.
Hillary Clinton's unofficial surrogates in New York City have wasted no time trying to smear Barack Obama with the alleged involvement of Eliot Spitzer with a prostitution ring.Specifically, less than 30 minutes after news of the Governor's alleged involvement with the high-priced Emperor's Club broke on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, I received an e-mail from one of the most persistent Hillary backers in New York.
To wit, "As a reminder that a scandal can always be brewing around the corner -- especially for those politicians who like to project that they are 'above it all' -- see Eliot Spitzer. The hypocrisy is rich."
Really, if you're going to throw around an allegation like that on a blog, attach a name to the e-mail. Otherwise, it is meaningless.
If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.
Once again, a new threshold for shameless chutzpah. (Yes, that would be redundant if applied to anyone but Hillary Clinton.)
We need to find out just what Geraldine Ferraro is doing these days and demand that she resign from it, immediately.
Is Hillary Clinton going to reject AND denounce this rancid trash?
Of course, SHE didn't get where she is by being "very lucky," did she?
No, she was absolutely, positively the best qualified person to be the wife of an Arkansas governor and president.
If there's a sex scandal brewing around the corner, it would be Bill -- per David Geffen, who should know, having personally hosted Bill on many of his sojourns in Hollywood.
"I don't think anybody believes that in the last six years, all of a sudden Bill Clinton has become a different person," Mr. Geffen says, adding that if Republicans are digging up dirt, they'll wait until Hillary's the nominee to use it. "I think they believe she's the easiest to defeat."She is overproduced and overscripted. "It's not a very big thing to say, 'I made a mistake' on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can't," Mr. Geffen says. "She's so advised by so many smart advisers who are covering every base. ..."
... Can Obambi stand up to Clinton Inc.? "I hope so," he says, "because that machine is going to be very unpleasant and unattractive and effective."
Once, David Geffen and Bill Clinton were tight as ticks. Mr. Geffen helped raise some $18 million for Bill and slept in the Lincoln Bedroom twice. Bill chilled at Chateau Geffen. Now, the DreamWorks co-chairman calls the former president "a reckless guy" who "gave his enemies a lot of ammunition to hurt him and to distract the country."
They fell out in 2001, when Mr. Clinton gave a pardon to Marc Rich after rebuffing Mr. Geffen's request for one for Leonard Peltier. "Marc Rich getting pardoned? An oil-profiteer expatriate who left the country rather than pay taxes or face justice?" Mr. Geffen says. "Yet another time when the Clintons were unwilling to stand for the things that they genuinely believe in. Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling."
Pardon me, but your double standard is showing once again, turning off more would be Obama supporters who are catching on to the tactic.
If that's how you want to make your decision on whom you support at this juncture, that's your prerogative. But I'll admit it doesn't make much sense to me to do so.
But AIAW does have a very good point: Obama supporters should try to live up to the unity that Obama talks about.
If Civil Rights activists back in the 1950s and 1960s were able to look after people who were violently attacking them, we should look after Hillary supporters.
And for reminding us about this responsibility, I am grateful to AIAW.
I do not believe that Ferraro is a racist any more than I believe Samantha Powers is a misogynist. But just as Powers stepped down, so should Ferraro after making that statement.
I always seem to bite the hand I try to support. But wrong is wrong, regardless of which side says it.
God, I hope this thing is over soon.
Granted, a man who has made so many powerful enemies should not have been so incredibly stupid as to fall into this trap. But in politics, not a whole lot happens just by dumb coincidence. FBI agents who should be chasing down terrorists, murderers and drug lords were being used for something else here, and I don't think it's because they were hoping to finally put to an end the world's oldest profession.
I smell a rat...
It seems rather stupid, boneheaded, and frankly hubristic for a man that made his name taking down big banks and investment houses in the big city to not think that his transactions would be watched.
Scott Horton at Harper's (a daily must-read blog, for me) follows your thought process:
Still, whoring is whoring, and whoring is illegal. Dude, Eliott, just go to Amsterdam -- you can do whatever in the hell you please over there. Especially if you can afford $5500/hour.
I am constantly amazed at what people in positions of power think they can get away with.