Spitzer Day 2

Submitted by Bob Fertik on March 11, 2008 - 1:53pm.

Eliot Spitzer

Since the story broke on Monday, every corporate media headline has included this Big Lie: "Spitzer expected to resign." Well he hasn't, and there's no evidence he will. It looks like the Corporate Media tried to create a story rather than report it. Just another example of media bias against Democrats!

So now Republicans are talking about impeaching him. Impeachment for sex - where have we heard that before? Oh yeah - it was the only news story of 1998.

But what about impeachment for the murder of 4,000 Americans and 1 million Iraqis? What about impeachment for creating chaos in the Middle East and driving the price of oil from $30 to $110, and the price of gas from $1.40 to $4? What about impeachment for creating a Big Brother system to spy on the phone calls, emails, and mouse clicks of every American citizen? What about impeachment for outing a covert CIA operative and exposing herself and her spy network to murder?

Skeptics are starting to look carefully at the charges against Spitzer. What exactly is his crime? In DC, prostitution is a misdemeanor and you pay a fine, just like a speeding ticket. The Mann Act (interstate transport) is never used against johns, just pimps. "Structuring" and "money laundering" don't apply to hiding embarassing payments from your wife.

Skeptics are also asking what's behind the Spitzer investigation. Who tipped off the Feds? Was it a Spitzer-hating banker at Spitzer's own bank? Was Spitzer on an "enemies list" at the IRS? Why is the investigation being handled by the Public Integrity Section, which is at the center of the US Attorney scandal? Why was the investigation opened under the White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910?

And there are non-financial theories too. Linda Milazzo asks, Is Spitzer Being Targeted By The Anti-Abortion Right?

Isn't it odd that just when New York Governor Elliott Spitzer has introduced the RHAPP Bill -- the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act -- which guarantees women the right to choose or refuse birth control and abortion, he is simultaneously the subject of a highly publicized sex sting that threatens to destroy his career and possibly send him to prison? ... Spitzer's RHAPP Bill is highly controversial and the blatant target of the Catholic Church and anti-abortion groups nationwide. These groups are relentless in their efforts to thwart a woman's right to choose.

Save Spitzer? Really?

Submitted by daverobinsonworks on March 11, 2008 - 6:08pm.

Bob - do you really think Spitzer didn't break the law? If he didn't break the law, why isn't he fighting this? One thing Spitzer knows how to do is fight, but far from fighting, it looks as if he's making a deal. Do you really think that all this is one big Rovian strategy to hurt Democrats, as opposed to just a rich powerful guy who can't keep it in his pants? Where's your proof? Did Spitzer hire these prostitutes or not? Did he make those payments or didn't he? Is Karl Rove Inc. so big and bad they made Elliot Steamroller Spitzer, of all people, do anything he didn't want to do, let alone ruin his entire life and most likely destroy his family? Are you kidding me?

I want elected officials to not break the law - the ones that do, Democrats, Republicans, whatever, don't belong in office. I wasn't crazy about Rep. Jefferson with all that cash in his freezer either. Did Rove set him up too? I am sorry Spitzer apparently suffers from the same hubris we so often see in Washington, where the rules don't apply to people like him, where the law is for other people. Spitzer of all people should have known that powerful people would be gunning for him and acted accordingly, squeaky, squeaky clean. He owed it to all of us to never give them a thing. Instead, he gave away the store.

I hate to hear anything like "the bitch set me up" argument out of you. No one made Marion Barry hit the pipe, and no one made Spitzer hire prostitutes. Most professionals, and earlier this week one would have though of Spitzer as a professional, know full well if they are caught doing any number of illegal things on the job - and the governor is always on the job - their professional lives are over. People get a lot richer these days promoting compliance and transparency than from stealing, but there's always the asshole who thinks he's smart enough to get away with it. Spitzer is that asshole now.

Morevoer, Spitzer is the Governor of New York State, the chief executive. I am relieved that unlike Bush and Cheney he doesn't have the blood of hundreds of thousands on his hands. He hasn't killed anyone, tortured anyone, started an illegal war of choice for his corporate friends or trashed the Constitution. But he does have to go.

If the facts prove to be otherwise, I will happily give you Bob a gift certificate redeemable by any number of really friendly good looking people who appear weekly in the back pages of the Voice. However, until then, "my party right or wrong" is crazy no matter who says it.

With love in my heart,

Dave in Brooklyn

Which "laws" exactly has

Submitted by Bill Harding on March 11, 2008 - 7:39pm.

Which "laws" exactly has Spitzer broken? Has he been indicted by any agency, or a Grand Jury? Has he been convicted by a judge or a jury? Has the media replaced our legal system in this country while I was alseep? You sound like a person with a lynch-mob mentality, and speak as if you are holier-than-most.

I don't read anything in Bob's post that says, "my party right or wrong," or even a reference to Spitzer's political affiliation. I only see a call for Spitzer to defend himself against an obvious case of an overzealous, and politically-motivated, attack by the Religious Right and their theocratic "Christian" mullahs in Washington.

We'll see, Bill

Submitted by daverobinsonworks on March 12, 2008 - 12:34am.

Bill, if all this is just baloney then I'll be as happy as anyone that my governor has not engaged in the acts that as of yet do not constitute an indictment but certainly don't look too good. And no, Bob did not say "my party right or wrong". Smelled like it though.

This is a tiny outrage in the age of BushCo but it's an outrage nonetheless. We need to hold all our elected officials to some kind of standards. Spitzer is a useful diversion for all forces who don't want us to look at the current Constitutional crisis, or Iraq, or anything. The only trouble is, it kinda looks like our good governor broke the damn law in a big, stupid, unforgivable way. I really am glad he didn't kill anyone. Bush/Cheney have moved the goalposts on unacceptable executive activity. But come on - this is unacceptable from any chief executive. How the hell is he going to get anything done now? He's a complete hypocrite at the very least, and now he's a laughing stock. Maybe he's a criminal, we'll see. He needs to go.

Tell you what - if I'm wrong and he's innocent and it's all a hit job/look at the shiny thing and there's absolutely nothing there, I will get you a village voice gift certificate too all right?

Let's not fight too much about this. It's insane. You can read more of my lynch mob mentality here.

Dave in Brooklyn

The Petition to Save Spitzer

Submitted by ScottNYC on March 14, 2008 - 4:42pm.

Democrats.com's recent overnight effort to persuade progressive Democrats to sign a petition to save New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was misguided at best.

I am a progressive - but I do not believe that we should support politicians who advocate one position for the public and another position for themselves. The issue, I submit is hypocrisy - Spitzer aggressively prosecuted people for engaging in conduct that he himself engaged in. This hypocrisy cannot be condoned in public officials and is the reason that many people are losing faith in the democratic process.

I also point out that the incoming governor, David Paterson, is markedly more progressive on criminal justice issues than Spitzer, and has opposed capital punishment and the state's draconian drug laws. Patterson was arrested during protests against the New York City Police Department's shooting of Amadou Diallo. The bottom line is that Patterson is more progressive than Spitzer.

In the future, I suggest that Democrats.com poll its members before embarking on a major petition drive. Otherwise, Democrats.com risks appearing elitist, and out of touch with progressive Democrats for whom it supposedly speaks.

I do support impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney - and further believe that they should face charges in the criminal justice system.

However, I refuse to support a politician who is a hypocrite, even if that politician is a Democrat who may be progressive on some issues.

Respectfully,

Scott

For you law-n-order types...

Submitted by mariem on March 12, 2008 - 4:17am.

Let's cut the pious "Well, if he broke the law..." and "I want law-abiding elected officials..." huh? Your self-righteous postures are gonna give you cranio-rectal hernias.

The NeoCon RatF*ckers running our country into the ground are like one-trick lame ponies: Can not find any point-of-entry on treason? State secrets? National security? Public safety? Well, then, make up stuff on nookie and wieners. That always plays big with the pig people, don't it?

A guy like Spitzer, who took down Wall Street scum artists and who doesn't take a dump without a three-year master sting plan, doesn't stick his dick in the wringer. I sincerely hope at the end of this made-up scandal that the real ass clowns are deep sixed -- like the neocon Bush/Cheney robot squatting on the NYS senate. (Rhymes with mafia.)

Now, back to watching all those CSI crime shows for your "ethical and values" training.

Give no quarter, Elliot Spitzer!! We will not sleep until all republican neocons are surfing the east river ... in their cement sneakers. The morons just keep jumping in.