Spitzer

[scaeagles]

Hmmm.....

Regardless of what thinks about the legality (or lack there of) of prostitution, I have to say.....what an idiot.

The man, as NY AG, busted prostitution rings and loudly proclaimed his success while belittling those who had participated, all the while participating in the same thing at the same time.

He has been the champion of (so-called) anticorruption and used his position as NY AG to intimidate and control others. He threatened his critics with ruin through his power. There are many people he ruined through charges of corruption that were forced to step down from their own positions, and then the charges were never even brought to trial.

I hope this man is indicted and goes to prison.

[innerSpaceman]

Another victim of hypocrisy.

Most other politicians, and I would have said, "meh." Oh a pol and a prostitute, huh? Front page news that's not.



Not usually.


But when you make a career based, in part, on vice-busting (prostitution in particular), you really must work hard to resist your natural urges to partake of those vices.

That's difficult. Because we usually rail against that which we hate in ourselves. We're all suck fvcking hypocrits. Let's just admit it and move on.


Too bad about Spitzer. A governor getting it on with a whore is hardly cause for him to resign, imo. Yawn.




But heh, first black gov. of NY (and first legally blind gov. anywhere). Not bad.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

It always seemed to me that those who most loudly proclaimed "evil," pointed fingers, threw stones... were trying to deflect attention from themselves. This is why, when it comes out someday that Fred Phelps liked assplay, I will not be surprised whatsoever.

[Alex]

Like I said in another thread when it broke, I don't care at all where he's putting his willy. That's an issue between him and his family (for all I know his wife was fine with it).

But at a more fundamental level I wonder about politicians who have such poor risk/reward evaluation skills. If they screw up such an easy one, how badly are they screwing up the really complex ones.

[Gemini Cricket]

I'm excited for Paterson. NY's first black governor and he's big on gay rights.

[blueerica]

Yeah, I basically could care less that he was with a prostitute. I think the ugliness comes from the hypocrisy of the situation, and for that he should should pay, IMO.

On the other hand, outside of the hypocrisy, I am still trying to figure out why it's become so sensational - I mean, watch some of the people on the news. You'd think they were jilted lovers. Maybe it's because the issue is a New York one, and that's where so many of these news orgs are based out of.

[Capt Jack]

But at a more fundamental level I wonder about politicians who have such poor risk/reward evaluation skills. If they screw up such an easy one, how badly are they screwing up the really complex ones.

that about says it, yeah.

can you trust someone to make the important choices for millions when they do such a craptacular job doing so in their personal lives?

[Isaac]

He brought prostitution to it's knees, one hooker at a time.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Spitzer? I hardly know her.

[scaeagles]

Of course, he has nothing on the Police Chief in Tehran, whom I just read was discovered in a brothel with 6 naked women. He claims they were praying. Um....sure.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Sounds like his prayers were answered.

[Kevy Baby]

Like I said in another thread when it broke, I don't care at all where he's putting his willy. That's an issue between him and his family (for all I know his wife was fine with it).From the clips I have seen of the press conference, she looked pretty wiped out.

[BarTopDancer]

Of course, he has nothing on the Police Chief in Tehran, whom I just read was discovered in a brothel with 6 naked women. He claims they were praying. Um....sure.

Why else would they be screaming Oh god... oh god... oh god...

[Alex]

I'd be surprised if she were ok with the prostitution. I'm just saying that the sex part of it is none of my business (and being ok with it in private certainly doesn't mean being ok with it being on the news).

[Morrigoon]

There is still an aspect of dishonesty to his dealings with his wife. That's why it's our business. Because if he'll be dishonest with his WIFE, why the fvck would he care about being honest with thousands of nameless constituents who don't keep his house or give him nookie?

So it IS a problem when a politician is proven to be a lying, cheating bastard, and I'm sorry but it's NOT just his family's business. If he wants to go cavorting with whores, then he at least owes his wife a divorce first. That's the honest way to go about it.

[scaeagles]

Personally, I think if an elected public figure charged with enforcing law chooses to violate existing laws it is our business. I'm kind of a Magna Carta kind of guy.

[Strangler Lewis]

There is still an aspect of dishonesty to his dealings with his wife. That's why it's our business. Because if he'll be dishonest with his WIFE, why the fvck would he care about being honest with thousands of nameless constituents who don't keep his house or give him nookie?

So it IS a problem when a politician is proven to be a lying, cheating bastard, and I'm sorry but it's NOT just his family's business. If he wants to go cavorting with whores, then he at least owes his wife a divorce first. That's the honest way to go about it.

Ancient history though it may be, I gather you won't be voting for McCain.

[Alex]

We all engage in personal dishonesties great and small and I don't see them as being in the same class as professional dishonesties. I've known dozens of people who were absolutely reprehensible people personally while being stalwarts of behavior and ethics professionally (and vice versa).

So no, I don't care if a politician is cheating on his wife. Like I said, I don't even know what arrangements they may have. Since I don't think prostitution should be a crime, I don't care if politicians do it. Just as I don't care if Bush is smoking weed every evening before going to bed or if Nancy Pelosi sells dildoes to her friends every time she's in Texas.

I do care about their decision making abilities however. And while I don't care about using prostitutes being caught doing so will, rightly or wrongly, have hugely negative consequences. And that is just poor decision making. And it is poor professional decision making (as well as, likely, poor personal decision making) and that isn't good.

[Boss Radio]

Larry Craig called to congratulate him on taking the heat off and to concede the "I am the biggest idiot award."

All he had to say was that he was working undercover on a case that had never been, in his mind, closed.

I'm also sure that if we conducted a poll, we would find that there would be very, very few politicians who were not having naked Toga parties with high priced hookers. Or pages.

Still, an astonishingly beautiful fall from grace due to bad judgement.

And the girl will get her own talk show.

[Kevy Baby]

And the girl will get her own talk show.Or a record deal (since that is what she aspires to).

I've heard snipets of a song by her. While I am generally not a hip hop fan, I kinda liked her song.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

There is still an aspect of dishonesty to his dealings with his wife. That's why it's our business. Because if he'll be dishonest with his WIFE, why the fvck would he care about being honest with thousands of nameless constituents who don't keep his house or give him nookie?

So it IS a problem when a politician is proven to be a lying, cheating bastard, and I'm sorry but it's NOT just his family's business. If he wants to go cavorting with whores, then he at least owes his wife a divorce first. That's the honest way to go about it.

I don't know that I'll ever understand this mentality. You can be good at your job *and* cheat on your wife. Furthermore, you can even be a decent guy and cheat on your wife, though I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who will disagree with me. It's a bigger issue when someone stands on a moral soapbox and then practices what he preaches against. I understand in this day and age it's difficult, maybe even impossible, to separate one's private life from one's public life, for better or worse. And though I don't think it wise to say "Whores bad," in public whilst secretly sticking your hand up a whore's skirt, it’s certainly not surprising. I don’t care that he cheated on his wife. Maybe their marriage is a sham. Maybe she’s a jerk. Maybe he’s a complete and worthless cad. I don't know, I'll never know, and I don't care; it's not my marriage. And I'm certainly not going to judge a marriage when I'm not exactly the marrying kind.

And I'm not advocating lying to and or cheating on your spouse, but marriage and/or cohabitation isn't easy and most people, IMO, are going to suck at it from time to time, albeit to varying degrees. But judging someone's ability to serve in office based on whether he or she can remain monogamous seems ludicrous to me. Lots of politicians have cheated, are cheating and will cheat, and whether they are crappy in office or not probably has nothing to do with the cheating. An infidelity doesn’t automatically make someone a crap politician or a crap human being.

I agree with scaegles that an elected official who chooses to violate an existing law is in the wrong, and maybe that makes him a bad politician. You can’t enforce a law by breaking it and you look like a schmuck. At the same time, I agree with Alex, too; I don't think prostitution should be illegal, so don't really have a problem with someone breaking that particular law. Dilemma.

The issue here isn’t what sort of man he is at home, but what sort of man he is in public.

Also, screwing a whore and then screwing her over by screaming VICE, VICE, VICE, makes him a crap human being. Heh. I care about the prostitutes. I want them all to be happy like the very real - not at all faking their happiness for the cameras - ladies on HBO’s Cat House.

[Strangler Lewis]

I disagree with a lot of what you say, but the issue here isn't the sex. It's the money. I doubt New York will go after him for solicitation, and if he's indicted by the feds it probably won't be for a Mann act violation. It will be for bank fraud, illegal structuring of cash transactions, money laundering, etc.

To the extent he resigned because the incident tainted his reputation, it wasn't because he had marital lapses. It was because he had very expensive, Neroesque marital lapses. It's a tone deafness that makes John Edwards's $400 haircut seem sober.

[€uroMeinke]

I"m just blown away by being able to spend $80k on prostitutes - Dang, I with I had an extra 80K - of course I suppose at $1k/hour it translates into one massive 2-week bender- but I still bet I could have way more fun on that kind of money and have hedons to share.

[CoasterMatt]

The man shows all the signs of being a sex addict, and hopefully this will shake him into getting help for that.

[Prudence]

I just laugh. I've been following his zealotry for awhile and wondered if something like this might happen.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I"m just blown away by being able to spend $80k on prostitutes - Dang, I with I had an extra 80K - of course I suppose at $1k/hour it translates into one massive 2-week bender- but I still bet I could have way more fun on that kind of money and have hedons to share.

2 weeks? With the right drugs, you could squeeze it into four days and still have time for a nice sit-down dinner.

[Stan4dSteph]

I move away from Albany, then all the fun starts...

[Kevy Baby]

2 weeks? With the right drugs, you could squeeze it into four days and still have time for a nice sit-down dinner.As I get older, I find that the nice meal starts to play a more important part of that opportunity.