The Spitzer resignation countdown clock; Update: Spitzer t-shirt-mania!; Update: Reports say resignation effective Monday; Update: O.J.-like media circus awaiting 11:30am presser; Update: “I have begun to atone.”
My reaction to the Spitzer statement: The words did not match his still-defiant attitude. The continued emphasis on “private failings.” The continued lack of humility. The continued emphasis on his commitment to the “public good.” He’d best serve the “public good” by staying out of the public eye and quit his do-gooder crusading.
As for Silda Wall Spitzer’s presence next to her cheating hubby again, Maggie Gallagher asks: “…can we at least end this barbaric practice of dragging your wife before the cameras while you confess your shameful guilt? If she wasn’t there in the hotel room when you did your crime, don’t ask her to do your time.”
Well, nobody forced her to stand there. We have free will. Silda made her choice.
Here’s the vid. Here’s the transcript.
One last thought: Notice how the coward Spitzer can’t bother to look at his wife.
11:48am Eastern. Rough transcript: In the past few days, I have begun to atone for my private failings with my wife Silda, children…remorse will always be with me…words cannot describe grateful compassion they have shown me…i am deeply sorry that i did not live up to what was expected on me…to every new yorker…i sincerely apologize…i look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been…i…have accomplished a great deal…cannot let my private failings interrupt…work…i am resigning from the office of governor…march 17…as i leave public life, i will first do what i need to do to help and heal myself and my family…will try to work outside of politics to serve the public good. I hope all of new york will join my prayers for David Paterson…
***
***
Scroll down for updates…resignation reportedly effective Monday…11:11am Eastern: Media stakeout, black SUV outside Spitzer’s apartment…Fox reports that Mrs. Spitzer will accompany Eliot Mess…
***
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
He’s been riding his high horse so long, he can’t make himself dismount quick enough. The WSJ reports:
New York governor Eliot Spitzer resisted mounting calls for his resignation Tuesday, as he first tried to work out an agreement with prosecutors not to file criminal charges against him…
…Mr. Spitzer’s lawyers argued Tuesday that the governor didn’t violate federal money-laundering or structuring laws because he didn’t hide the transactions, which were in his name and from his bank accounts. In negotiations with prosecutors of Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney’s office, his lead lawyer, Michele Hirshman, a partner at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, said it would be unfair to charge Mr. Spitzer. People familiar with the legal team’s thinking say Ms. Hirshman argued that men who use the services of prostitutes rarely get charged with crimes, even when prostitutes and ringleaders do.
Mr. Spitzer won’t resign until he reaches an agreement with the government not to pursue charges, say those familiar with his legal team’s thinking.
A poll released late Tuesday found that 70% of New Yorkers think Mr. Spitzer should resign, while 66% believe he should be impeached and removed from office if he doesn’t. “It’s a big thumbs down,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the poll. “It points to just how politically untenable his position is right now.”
Even if Mr. Spitzer resigns, 49% of New Yorkers said he should face criminal charges. The telephone poll conducted Tuesday surveyed 624 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
Any legal case could be significant for Mr. Spitzer’s future. Whether or not he remains in politics, the 48-year-old Mr. Spitzer likely would lose his license to practice law if convicted of a felony.
Robert Bidinotto weighs in on the moral transgressions of Eliot Spitzer that the media continue to ignore.
And my friends at The People’s Cube, who lampooned Operation Corner Office two years ago, have the photoshop of the day:
Get gone, already.
***
Update 9:30am Eastern. It was inevitable: Spitzer t-shirt-mania!
Hot apparel: Client #9 shirts.
I like these better from The People’s Cube:
Update 10:00am Eastern. Still waiting…
Update 10:05am Eastern. Fox and AP say resignation will be effective Monday.
Update 10:12am Eastern: New word via Derb - Spitzenfreude.
Update 10:16am Eastern. Speaking of Spitzenfreude, Lone Star Times photoshops The Playas’ Ball.
Update 10:30am Eastern. Allah’s on Spitzer Watch. CNBC apparently got the scoop that the actual resignation will come down at 11:00am…now closer to 11:30am.
Update 10:46am Eastern. More Spitzenfreuder from the brilliant Iowahawk.
Update 10:56am Eastern. There’s an O.J.-like media swarm outside Spitzer’s high-rise apartment. In Albany, Republican State Senate majority leader Joe Bruno called on NY to move forward and prepare for transition.
Update 11:01am Eastern. A zinger from Michael Ramirez.
Update 11:13am Eastern. Watch the “Apartment Stakeout Cam” at FoxNews.com.
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Trackbacks
- Dave Lucas: A Watched Pot Never Boils
- THE SPITZER COUNTDOWN CLOCK « The Catskill Commentator
- JammieWearingFool
- Neocon News » Rushing to conclusions on Eliot Spitzer?
- A Blog For All
- Jules Crittenden » Spitzer to Resign
- Eliot Spitzer: Thug | BitsBlog
- Eliot Spitzer Resigns…REALLY! » The American Mind
- Reformed Hippie
- Eliot Spitzer Resigns: “I have begun to atone for my private failings” - Shallow Nation
- Oblogatory Anecdotes - Hillary and Client # 9
- The McCain Mutiny » McCain News
- Eliot Spitzer Resigns « Axis of Right
- HASTA LA VISTA, SPITZ « Texas Hold ‘Em Blogger
- HASTA LA VISTA, SPITZ « Texas Hold ‘Em Blogger
- SPITZER’S SUCCESSOR MAY EVEN BE WORSE « Texas Hold ‘Em Blogger
- Brass Knuckles › Spitzer was Framed!
On my broken record kick again. Bring on the moving trucks and I will START to begin to believe.
Make a believer out of me John Spits-er.
Don’t prosecute me, bro!
I agree with on-my-soap-box. He won’t resign.
He will need to be forced out of office…and if an impeachment fails, well, he’s just like another elected official that had some indiscretions and refused to dismount his high horse.
The People’s Cube photoshop says it all.
I echo the above. Spitzer won’t resign. From what I know of him, he’s a vindictive, power-hungry little man who will let nothing get in the way of furthering his ultra-liberal political agenda.
Indeed, he makes Wisconsin’s corrupt governor - Jim Doyle - look positively angelic.
While it may be going where angels fear to tread, I think I need to get involved with politics. Run for office. Try to restore at least a shred of dignity to American government.
If Eliot Sphincter did indeed pay for the train ticket for the young lady to travel from DC to NY to “service” him that, I think, is a violation under the Mann Act which is a Federal crime.
Considering how ES has messed with other people’s lives he needs to do some serious Federal time for this.
Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it Eliot.
If I understand this correctly, the Feds aren’t after him for “dropping trou”, but for currency violations. He was playing games to avoid reporting the “Modeling fees” he was paying.
(I may be mis-remembering this)
If that is the case, my guess is there won’t be any such deal. The Feds don’t care who he was playing footsy with but when it comes to cash…
Eliot, meet your new friend, Rocco.
I also saw how the market went through the roof yesterday. My father is a broker and he told me the Fed had dumped cash into the system.
I told him that it was the fall of Spitzer that was causing this.
That noise you heard on Wall Street was the sound of brokers, investment bankers and finacial advisors crying out one word:
YES!
I’m waiting for the ticker tape parade for the “Fallen Women” who helped to bring this thug down.
Totally tawdry! Here’s an indivual who has used the levers of the law for his own gain, and now is hiding behind his own lawyers to avoid prosecution. Makes one think about sticking the finger in the mouth to hurl!
From the Washington Post:
Add one more colorful detail to the case of New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer: Structuring a transaction — the financial crime for which he is under investigation — is also known in the prosecutorial world as “smurfing.”
Structuring transactions became known as smurfing because, like the sky-blue cartoon characters made famous in the 1980s NBC series “The Smurfs,” the transactions resemble one another, are small and call attention to themselves through their multiplicity.
Our ‘Love Gov’…Client #9 is PAPA SMURF!
These idiots never cease to amaze me …
Why should he resign, Democrats don’t have to they are given a pass by their own and the msm.
Now his embattled wife is urging him to fight on!?
I wonder how much money she’s been offered in the perfect PR political payoff?
Truly, the Spit-man is the embodiment of power corrupts.
Hey John Spits,
Might I make a few suggestions?
Moving Company
Moving Company
Moving Company
I sure wish I had made this stuff up!
Just rememebered a song, somewhat popular in the early 70’s, can’t recall the artist/group, but it was a soul song which goes, “Mr. Big Stuff, who do you think you are?”
Seems appropriate.
Mrs. Spitzer wants him to stick it out…
so SHE can cut it off!
Look for Spitzer to maintain that he is a victim of President Bush’s illegal domestic surveillance.
Michelle, watching you on Fox & Friends right now - I miss seeing you on the tube. Great job.
Ex-expat:
Mr. Big Stuff
His wife is urging him to fight?!?!?!?!
She no longer has any sympathy from me. She has crossed over from victim to accomplice.
I think she knew what was going on. They deserve one another.
I agree with #14… (when it is NOT Bush’s fault??)
3…2..1…
While I join in the high glee at the hopefully impending fate of this slug, let me call your attention to the implications of this little pull-quote. Congress has made it mandatory that your bank report any and all transactions that you make of $10000 or more, or that reflect a pattern of trying to move money while avoiding the 10 grand trigger (which I gather is what they refer to is “smurfing”). Big brother is still peering suspiciously over your shoulder, too.
I think his wife only wants him to stick this out to use as leverage to not face criminal charges.
What is the source that Mrs Spitzer is urging him not to quit? This man is loathesome at best for trying to clutch his power. His power has been vanquished as it should be to this serial abuser.
She wants him to “stick it out”?
He already did that……so that’s what led to his troubles.
I heard one of the attorneys(on fox I believe) say that…
OH - It was Greta I THink…
You guys need to take it easy on Spitzer’s wife. She did not ask for this. They have children and I would say that she is not having a good day. “Kick him to the curb” sounds just fine on Jerry Springer but if you love someone that complicates things. Keep your focus on the democrat in office.
FWIW, Maria Bartiromo on CNBC just reported that Spitzer definitely will resign today.
Resignation in disgrace is adequate punishment if his only transgression was philandering.
If he abused the public trust in any way (using government personnel, resources or time) to effect his liaisons, then he needs to be prosecuted.
Charlie T (#28),
He did violate the public trust. He prosecuted others for the same crimes that he was committing. That goes beyond hypocritical. I do not necessarily believe that he has to be held to a higher standard, just the standard at which he set for others.
So if I’m not breaking the law, why does that bother me?
Seriously, if I’m keeping records of my transactions and what I’m doing is legal, why should I give a rat’s patootie if the Feds want to look at that info?
On the other hand, if I’m trying to hide something, I guess I might have a paranoid “peering suspiciously over your shoulder” attitude.
I was just reading Thomas Sowell’s column, in a nutshell, it was about how character is an important issue in our elected officials, as it determines how they conduct their public office. I couldn’t agree more. To me, character and integrity are those things we do when no one is watching. Eliot Spitzer has proven he has no integrity and to try and hold onto his office, in the wake of his actions, furthers that assumption.
Whilst no one is perfect, enjoying a high-profile position, brings with it a certain responsibility to act with integrity and honesty. Look at the cases of Michael Vick and Roger Clemens.
Each time someone with a high profile is given a pass for egregious behavior, our society’s morals slowly slip away. Bill Clinton is a prime example, when he defined his actions with Monica Lewinsky as “not having sex”, he gave a free pass to teenagers that it was acceptable behavior. At the high school my son attended, it was well known that girls were doing a “Monica Lewinsky” for the boys, as it “wasn’t sex”.
Judgement is the moral compass which guides our society, when there is no judgement, what is morally wrong becomes acceptable.
Oh, well, if no one else is prosecuted…leave it to a lawyer to pull the moral relativity card.
If the Gov of New York is Client #9……..I have to wonder, Who are Clients Number 1 through 8????
Poor soul.
I’m not a vengeful person BUT I hope that some up and coming prosecuter with the same mindset as him that revels in bringing others down gets this case.I want him to be in pucker mode and bleed a little behind bars for awhile.Why should he get to make a deal and resign?
#30 governmentdrone said:
It should bother you whether you’re breaking the law or not. It’s a fine line between looking for people breaking the law and just looking to be able to monitor citizens. Besides, do you really fully trust the government? One could even argue that it falls under the 5th amendment - Illegal Search and Seizure.
Maybe they had the girls convinced, but you can bet the boys knew better.
txvet2
Well that’s a given.
Saw you on Fox. Inner Harbor? Anyway, you looked great. Good job on your comments.
Why should it be any business of the government in the first place? The left wants to proscribe listening in to terrorist communications, but are fine with monitoring the monetary transactions of law-abiding citizens? Falls under the same category as requiring people to register their guns, but orders of magnitude more egregious.
I realize that the purpose is to try to ferret out drug transactions, but the law as is is serious overkill. If anything should require the direct approval of a judge, it’s this sort of monitoring. What ever happened to the left’s defense of the vaunted “right to privacy”? Does that only extending to killing babies?
Considering that this ring likely had hundreds of clients, note that Spitzer made the top ten. Either he got in really early, or he was an unusually big spender.
Spitzer should resign (or be impeached) and receive whatever form of prosecution the regular people get when caught in this situation.
The t-shirt mania thing is bad taste IMO. It must be a difficult time for him and his family. No one should ever celebrate other people’s misfortunes.
Hiz Honnor will resign on Monday of next week.
Impeach Him Now and get this business done!
New York Gov. Spitzer to speak at 11:30 a.m.
So I guess we’ll have to see what kind of deal he got from the prosecutors so he won’t have to take full responsibilty for his crimes. Almost as bad is all these lawyers & commentators chirping in about how nothing else should happen to him because what he did wasn’t so significcant. Well, they are all for open borders, violating our immigration laws, giving Federal funds to entities that encourage sedition, so what else is new?
So does this means that the blind will be leading the blind?
New York Gov. Spitzer to announce his resignation at 11:30 a.m., source tells CNN.
Well this is rich. Have noticed though that the fact he’s a dimocrap isn’t mentioned too often on the msm.
Like most of you I am curious as to what deal he was able to strike as well.
“Faux News Alert”
This just in!
Kristens real name is Kristoper, after a sex change operation in prison when released she managed to “meet the call” for special requests for client #9, aka george fox, aka eliot spitzer.
film at 11:00
Spitzer is so arrogant and full of himself he’ll be clinging to power with a death grip to the very end. My one question for him is: will he be less of an arrogant jerk (Heidi Fleis’ words) for the experience? I guess we’ll see.
Mycroft, Last night on CNN his buddy Dershowitz said there should be a investigation of the investigators because we all know how the Bush admoin. spies on it’s opponenents.
No quarter for Spitzer since he gave none to those he prosecuted/persecuted.
I do sympathize with his wife & children, this is a terrible ordeal for them.
Makes you wonder how innocent or complicit she truly was in all this, huh? If I were her (I’m glad I’m not), I’d take the kiddies and run and only speak to this slug through my high-priced attorney. C’mon, honey, you’re fighting against the tide. Stop enabling this guy and move on with your life.
AJ — That’s one news alert that I don’t want to see the 11:00 film about….
Eliot Spitzer turned himself into a punch line, this is his legacy…number 9, number 9, number 9.
Eliot Spitzer turned himself into a punch line, this is his legacy…number 9, number 9, number 9.
As income tax time approaches, I wonder if that $4,00 or whatever he spends for each visit is deductible?
ich dien
FCO, per your post #41 —
Ordinarily I would agree that no one should revel in another’s misfortune. This is one of the rare exceptions.
The Spitz was about as bad as it gets for arrogant, self-serving public officials. He collected over $1 Billion in fines from businesses he extorted — yes, EXTORTED — during his reign as AG. In all those cases, only one ever fought back, the rest basically paid him to go away.
He used the power of New York AG to enforce his view of how Wall Street should be operated, and has done the same since being elected Governor.
Then there’s the sheer hypocricy…
Few people ever deserve to have their downfall celebrated — The Spitz is one of them.
It will speak volumes about the ineptitude of the Obama camp if they do not credibly link this to our Hillary - Fox News, and the handful of other newsies, shouldn’t have to do their job for them!
Hmm. This is the reaction I would have expected from the liberal “Chimpy McBushitler” types . . .
These laws were put into place for a reason - to help the feds monitor CRIMINAL activity. These types of transactions are precisely those that are red-flags of CRIMINAL activity.
The laws were put into place so that the feds could concentrate on suspicious, CRIMINAL type transactions - so that they wouldn’t have to monitor all transactions - and the average joe wouldn’t have to have the paranoid delusions that “the Men in Black are watching my every move.”
If you think the government is watching EVERYBODY as a matter of routine, then you really need to seek professional assistance; or quit watching so many movies or tv shows. Do you really have any concept of the amount of resources that would be necessary to do that?
Again, the laws were written and passed for a reason - to weed out all the stuff that doesn’t need to be looked at and to concentrate on the CRIMINAL activity.
And in Spitzer’s case, it looks like it worked.
Mark Spitz….7 gold medals….
Gov Spitz “star ‘7′ rated” hookers
O’Reilly impression
Which ones the Pin-Head
and which one’s the Patriot?
DBNinKY, I disagree. No one hammered Rudy when Senator Vitter (who does not have a resignation countdown clock) got himself into the same hot water. No one connected the misdeeds of Senator Craig to Governor Romney.
Politicians should go after their opponents, not after their opponents’ supporters.
I still remember when Dershowitz was caught on the mic with Mario Cuomo when they thought they were off the air. And after all this time, I thought he’d been changed by 9/11. Guess not.
So, when will Spitzer’s legal team realize they’ve got an out by blaming Bush?
I personally wouldn’t considering this a misfortune, either. I might be splitting hairs on the language (apologize for that if I am), but this is not a case of bad luck hitting him. He did something wrong and was caught. The irony that he is a hypocrite on top of it seems to indicate he deserves the ridicule he’s receiving.
This isn’t some tragedy. He made this mess on his own accord.
It seems more karmic than ill luck.
Can Elliot Spitzer Pardon himself for any violations of New York state law he has committed?
Dear Eliot,
If you’re leaving
then I wish you luck
I hope someone can
make your heart warm.
I was a baby
when I learned to suck,
but you have raised it
to an artform!
(Yes, I’m out of line,
but you’re out of your mind!)
Signed,
Ed Robertson
* out *
It’s only a “misfortune” after they get caught. We can celebrate all we want now because I doubt we’ll be celebrating justice in this care. Spitzer will suffer the same fate as Bill Clinton…zip, zero, nada.
#66 care = case.
OT got e-mail request for $$$ from McCain. My friends, there was no mention of border control.
Salt,
That thought had occured to me, and I agree completely. He made his, um, bed. Now he must, uh, er, lie in it.
Soon-to-be-former Governor Spitzer,
Buh-bye…don’t let the door…
Probably true. Billy boy ended up making millions of dollars giving speeches and participating in some questionable businesses after he was out of office. Not that Spitzer needs any money…
Sadly his wife looks more haggard than the last news conference. Will the moving of the Republican Senate leader into Lt gov position cause anything significant?
The Spitz is Done!
AJ, where’s the happy dance?
As Michelle has pointed out…his “private failings” line is a total BS copout…
bye bye Gov. you suck.
S. Howard. I probably would have put up the happy dance if I was a New Yorker.
but as per your request…
Happy Dance!
actually he qualifys for the happy dance way out here in cal for the illegal DL thingy… I blame a late night with champagne on my mental lapse….
I really feel bad for his wife. She wasn’t as close to him as she was on Monday but she looked like she’d been crying non-stop for days. Perhaps she will continue to stand by him in the coming months but maybe she’ll decide to cash in her chips with Spitzer. Either way it’s a tough call and sadly there are plenty of women who deal with this daily but fortunately not on such a grand scale.
Turn my back for a couple of days and all heck breaks loose. I can’t think of a better guy to be hoisted on his petard than Spitzer. As many have written in earlier threads I also wonder if his desire to get driver’s licenses for illegal invaders was for one of his favorite call girls. It is great to see this bully get what he deserves.
Well well well…looks like the NYT couldn’t help itself with this inference…
Uh huh…now it’s BUSH who was behind this, riiiiiiiight.
In all seriousness, I feel very bad for Silda Spitzer and their three daughters. As terrig notes, there are a lot of women that go through similar episodes throughout the nation but very few of that number have the added intensity from it being so high-profile.
Now, Eliot Spitzer, on the other hand, deserves whatever he gets. The higher one puts himself/herself on a pedestal, the farther they have to fall. And, via his own hypocrisy about prostitution, he was way up on a pedestal of his own design. I don’t think we have heard the actual thud, yet, from him hitting bottom.
An a-hole to the end; he has the air of someone who’s sorry he got caught, not sorry for what he did.
Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.
Too bad that he won’t be treated in the same fashion as he treated many others - they were in many cases not guilty, he appears to be guilty.
I concur, his apology was for being caught not for the act.
I feel terrible for the kids, but that’s where it ends.
It was reported time and again that Silda was strongly advising her husband not to quit. I understand that there has to be an unbelievable amount of stress in that family right now, and I understand that love is blind.
But I also understand all of the things I wrote yesterday and stand by them. I contend that she has known about her husband’s shortcomings, and married him anyway. I’m not saying she knew about the hookers (maybe she did, maybe she didn’t). I’m not even saying that they should or shouldn’t get divorced. That’s up to them.
What I’m saying is that she knowingly married a bad person, she stood by him and smiled as he continued abusing his power and bullying guilty and innocent alike, and she stands by him today.
Perhaps her current actions are explained by stress and love… or perhaps they indicate that she’s another Hillary.
In other words: these two might be two sides of the same Napoleon complex. I find it hard not to think that they are.
And I, too, say this in all seriousness.
I’ll pray for her soul, but I’ll have a hard time feeling bad for her.
The $64,000 question - Just how many NY Senate Dems were willing to do what their federal counterparts weren’t willing to do 9 years ago?
The $64,000,000 question - Why were they willing to do it?
Why is he waiting until 3/17 to exit? Does he have some affairs to get in order? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Rob, I was married before and love is pretty blind sometimes. I don’t think she came from the background he did with his billions, etc. When I got out of the Army I married a Navy pilot who I thought walked on water. We weren’t married 7 months when the first affair happened and by 18 months I cashed in my chips and got out, returned all of my wedding presents and cash to my family and friends. I had friends who said to me later, you knew what kind of guy he was when you married him. I really thought he was a great guy, everyone seemed to love him and that he would follow his vows. In the end I guess I finally accepted the fact that I was married to an arrogant arse, who had a girl in every port and cared little about the vows he made. And in the end I had to make a choice to stay and put up with this the rest of my life or go. I just can’t be so hard on her but on Hillary who continually stayed with Bill, I can.
#59 - wow, and name calling is just what I would have expected from a liberal. I work in the financial industry, so don’t tell me these were put in place to “safeguard” anything. It’s our government at work. My parents gave us a $10,000 down payment to buy our house, and we had to fill out a CTR. They have to be done on anything over $10,000. Even though it was transfered into the instituion and immediately put toward the loan at the same institution. Because they want to know anytime a transfer of that amount is made.
Thanks for that a-hole assesment. No, I don’t think the government is watching EVERYONE. But I do think they have the obnoxious habit of monitoring way too much. True conservatives tend to believe that the government not only has too much power but they butt into their citizens lives too much. Oh, and I’m not a big TV watcher, more of a reader. But you wouldn’t understand reading, except for comic books, would you?
BTW - your name tends to say it all, governmentdrone, so put your rosy glasses back on so that you can believe that the government really cares about passing laws to protect us. Like how they’re trying to deport all the illegals. Yup, our government really cares.
I hope she’s billing him $4700 for every consult.
I would almost, almost be willing to bet who client #1 could be……..
I’d wager 20 bucks that the prostitute rings’ books were kept in a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet.
Bill Gates doesn’t get mad, he sells you MS Windows. The fact the FBI likely tapped into the security-flaw ridden software was Billy-boy’s revenge for the Spit-man’s anti-trust attack.
This is just the tip of the iceburg. Spitzer is such a vinditive a*****e he has probably made the calls to everyone he is going to bring down with him. Just because he can…. There are probably many men around the world that are having sleepless nights.
Aha - if she’s his lawyer, she can’t testify against him when they go digging into his past as Attorney General.
As he attempts to gain sympathy for himself and his “private failings,” I am reminding myself that were Spitzer the potential federal prosecutor in this case he would be grinding that man at the microphone into small pieces, showing no mercy whatsoever, and lecturing us on how EVERYONE must follow the law, no matter who he is. Spitzer would stop at nothing short of utterly destroying the life and livelihood of that man at the microphone, and he’d have a damn good remorseless time doing it. In fact, as you’re pitying his wife up there, remember that were Spitzer the prosecutor, he would have illegally leaked documents from the case showing that that sympathetic figure had some way benefited from/known about the man’s crimes, thus destroying her, too. And if anyone dared come to that man at the microphone’s defense, Spitzer, as prosecutor, would turn his vengeful, narcissistic, pitiless eyes to that person, seeking his utter personal and professional destruction as well. That’s the problem with being a ruthless bastard, Eliot. When you need allies, everyone remembers what a ruthless bastard you are.
AlohaGuy, you are talking about New York, a democrat governor, a drunk with leftist ideology media. I don’t believe they are going to do any digging. After Monday expect to see this story buried deep, as everyone will then say that they can’t discuss an ongoing investigation. In a year or two we will hear that all the evidence is circumstantial at best and that the state has no desire to spend taxpayer money on a case about sex.
terrig as a retired Air Force aviator being a womanizing alcoholic was the expected behavior of some of my brethren even some of the ladies breaking in to the flying business could drink most of us under the table and would abuse the male that caught their eye. I was doing pretty good on the alcoholic side when I met Mrs. Boomer and feel head over heels. Somehow I have managed to stay faithful to her for 25 years of marriage with the understanding that if I did stray she would sew me in the sheets and beat me with a baseball bat to knock some sense in me. Then she would take me for any and all assets we had gained during our partnership. Fear can be a health thing.
I do realize love is blind, but I always have the feeling with the rich a marriage is only a merger to gain more wealth and infidelity appears to be their normal behavior. I do feel sorry for the daughters of the Spitzer’s the shame and embarrassment those young ladies must suffer may require years of counseling of overcome. The upside is one less power corrupted politician will no longer have a direct effective on the lives of the citizens of New York State with many more to go.
Anyone else notice his line about holding himself to the same standards he held others to was a bit hollow in light of the fact he’s only holding himself to that standard AFTER HE GOT CAUGHT! What about adhering to that standard BEFORE he got caught. The guy’s value system is all screwed up. He actually isn’t making much sense.
Aloha Guy,
The honcho of the escort service is being represented by a woman with the same name (Jennifer Brown) as another attorney on Spitzer’s staff during his first term as attorney general. This Jennifer Brown was later counsel for NOW’s legal defense fund. Hmmm!
Hey, BAL, if it isn’t about a Republican administration’s “dirty politics” to these libs then it’s sex. Sex with high-class prostitutes just mean’s Spitzer has “personal failings” but isn’t a “terrible person” in their view.
No, no, let Pres. Bush be their fall guy. No personal responsibility angle here. What I want to know is: why aren’t marital vows taken as seriously (for both Dems/Repubs) as the quest for power? When did people in this country start to look away or pretend that infidelity doesn’t hurt others? Yeah, people are human but Spitzer had been diddling prostitutes for at least 8-10 years. That took considerable subterfuge, planning, lying which to me smacks of a double life this guy had been leading.
This exact same thing happened to my sister-in-law and she stood by her dirtbag of a husband (and they’d also been married for at least 20 years). They even went through marriage counseling but when he wouldn’t fully commit to his marriage (or forsake his picadillo) was the day my sister-in-law said adios to this creep.
I’m particularly incensed by this behavior because not only did it occur in my family it seems to be tolerated by society at large. Marriage is just a joke, not something real, not regarded highly. When our leaders treat marriage lightly and society at large accepts infidelity by somebody like Spitzer (and lefties were making excuses for him) is when our country’s family structure is completely obliterated.
No, it’s not just about sex or sexual addiction. If Spitzer didn’t want to stay married he should have just ended it instead of dragging his wife (if this is the case) through the mud with him…what a pig. If she tolerated it, then what does that say about her?
Yeah, the lefties are making an excuse out of this. They claim that prostitution doesn’t “hurt” anyone.
Really? Just talk to those who were former prostitutes. It may or may not cause physical harm, but it almost certainly causes emotional harm down the road.
I can get past the sex with a prostitute thing, but what is extremely troubling is: his oath of office is sure to include upholding the laws on the books, & what could have happened if a less than ethical member of society got ahold of the info. that he was seeing prostitutes. Say a member of the mafia got the info. Does anyone think they would have used that for cover the next time NY decided to crackdown on the mafia. He endangered all of society when he allowed himself to possibly be compromised by these types. There is your answer to the lefties who say it was just sex.
Who’s dumb enough to think that $4,000.00 won’t trigger an IRS investigation ????
Anything over $1000.00 is subject to Reporting. And, especially if it’s being transferred on a regular basis.
—By a public figure.
Hel-lo ???
LESSON: Use Travlers Cheques. There’s no paper trail, yet they don’t carry the risk and suspicion of shady cash transactions.
Duh.
$4,000.00 in cash going in and out of the Bank on a regular basis.
Stupidity.
I’m gonna do a little experiment.
I’m gonna go get a briefcase and load it up with $4,000.00 in cash (small bills) , and then go out for a little stroll.
Let’s see what happens.
Since Michelle posted the portrait os Spitzer as Napoleon, here is some musical accompaniment for his retreat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCem9BC1k9w
All this “love is blind” talk is naive nonsense. Silda is an Ivy Leaguer with a powerhouse law firm background. She knows what is up, just like Hillary. This is obviously a marriage of convenience where he can do whatever he wants as long as it is discreet, and in exchange she gets to ride along on his coattails of fame, power, and money. That’s why even at this point she is focused on his position and insisting that he not resign instead of looking for the exit or focusing on the relationship. There is nobody to feel sorry for here except the children.
Actually, it’s CASH transactions of over $10,000. Not $1,000. But if there are numerous transactions in the thousands of dollars, then it’s also reportable if the bank deems it suspicious.
You mean like an open marriage, right? If that were true that would be pretty sick… especially with children involved. Silda Spitzer either loves her husband or deliberately staying for other reasons (like her children). Either way, it’s a really messed up situation. You can’t help feeling that the only person not sorry for what happened will be Spitzer himself…
That’s interesting! There are no coincidences in crooked politics.
and #93, Ron, you’re probably right. I’m hoping the feds dig deep. Oh wait, never mind.
And a quote…
Huffington has a picture of the “lady” in question, probably her as the description fits her profile as given in the news.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/10/emperors-club-all-about-_n_90768.html
ezupirate, one of those ladies claims a Masters in Public Relations. Looks like he can keep her on the pay”roll”.
I’m sure she’s beautiful in person too but, in order for her to be worth $4k, I’d have to be dead when it was over from ecstatic overload.
at those prices she would need to be so hot that when she walked in the room my nose hairs caught fire & my ear wax melted. LOL
All of these profiles are interesting, but what is really critical is whether or not the Club included the legal disclaimer in any of its webpages. “This is not an offer of prostitution. Money exchanged is for time and companionship only. Anything that may occur is the personal choice of two or more consenting adults of legal age, and nothing additional is contracted for, requested to be contracted for, or compensated for in any manner.” If it was, the four defendants may try to use this as their legal defense, namely, that the money their customers paid was not for sexual conduct, and thus their business was legal and not prostitution.
nbarry, usually they get them on money laundering charges vs. the act of prostitution. I think that is what is the basis for the indictments that came down, but too lazy to relook at the docs.
You may be right, but unless they were evading their income taxes, it’s hard to see how a money laundering charge could stick if the underlying conduct was in fact legal. The feds will most likely try to threaten and intimidate the defendants into a plea deal. But if the escort bosses decide to stand and fight, we might see a hairsplitting contest over whether or not that disclaimer is valid and the prostitution laws are unconstitutionally vague. The defendants were already lawyered up at the time of their arrest.
My guess is one of the underlings will crack as the top dogs likely kept most of the money & they can’t afford to keep fighting the Feds.
Wow, I leave for a few hours and the defecation contacted the rotary oscillator.
hell.has.frozen.over???
Still, I want to see moving trucks.
AlGore quit too and he is still jetting around the world as the POTUS.
I will not admit I was wrong about this until he has gone (and has left the good silverware).
Soap,
with the money his family has, he probably had better silverware than the governor’s mansion when he was 12.
He ain’t from Arkansas…
-Howie
I’m not from NY, and did not know anything about the Governor-to-be, David Paterson. So I thought I would check him out. Interesting fellow. One of the biggest “critisims” I read was that he is very conciliatory and wants everyone to get along. I dug a little deeper and found his primary positions during the campaign:
State funding for embryonic stem cell research
Politically-motivated flip-flopping on wire-tapping
And perhaps the worst one ever… Restricting police officers from using deadly force when they are in the line of fire. They would be charged with manslaughter!
So is NY jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire?
Boomer, if I had had a child with him, I may have very well stayed. My second husband and I both had first marriages end with affairs and we got a pre-nup that sounds like your situation.
When I heard Spitzer might try to use his resignation as a bargaining chip with the Feds, it reminded me of a Law & Order where a serial child molester/murderer bargained the death penalty off the table by telling where he buried some of the bodies.
#58 DBNinKY said:
In relation to the fact that Hillary Clinton personally supported, backed, campaigned, vouched and then basked in the glow and praise for this scumbag at every step of his political career…and now, won’t utter any condemnation against his recently disclosed character and behavior; but rather, has stated twice now that “her thoughts are with Eliot and his family”…then yeah, Obama would have to be an idiot not to use this as an issue against the “quality of her judgement.” Just as Hillary is using Obama’s criminal friend Rezko against him.
And don’t forget, the DNC has already and successfully used the case of one Republican homosexual’s immorality against the entire Republican Party as a national issue in 2006, so this wouldn’t be “virgin” territory for democrats.
#61 Rusty said:
As no one is tying Spitzer to Obama either. Please understand the State Party ties that Hillary Clinton established with her protege Eliot Spitzer. She personally vouched for Spitzer during his three State-wide campaigns, and even maligned Spitzer’s opponents as not being “qualified” to run against Mr. Spitzer.
I respectfully disagree with your attempts at Republican “equivalence” regarding this matter. If you can establish state-party political and platform connections between “Rudy and Vitter” or “Craig and Romney” that are as incestuous as Clinton-Spitzer, I am willing to listen.
Maybe Rudy-Kerik would be a more appropriate link for what you are trying to establish, and I believe Rudy was repeatedly hammered by Hillary for that.
(Interesting fact: Bernard Kerik was was a dirt-poor New Yorker who was raised by a prostitute - Eliot Spitzer was a billion dollar trust fund New Yorker who grew up to seek prostitutes.
Blessings, bro.
I still say this guy is crazy to have gone to a prostitute. I’m sure the feds can put pressure on the women to tell everything they know about him and the other clients too. Spitzer knows the kind of tactics law enforcement uses so what in the world made him think he could get away with this? He had to have known that if any of the women’s clients were caught, the rest would be caught too. Could anyone be this arrogant?
#124 jungatheart said:
Spitzer’s transgressions should be matched with the same level of prosectorial zeal that he exhibited against his victims, and no more.
Do Travelers Cheques come in large bills?
I seem to remember a time when you could get ‘em in denominations of $500.00’s etc…
Never leave home without your American Express Traveler’s Cheques. You never know when you’ll have a hankering for a 5, or 8-diamond woman, on the sly.
The price of a 7 diamond prostitute - $4000.
Mini-bar $700.
The look on Spitzer’s face when the feds came knocking - priceless.
ELECTION YEAR.
They aren’t SAYING anything about THAT! (New York BUDGET is their priority??????? Give me a break!!!)
They have learned a tremendous amount about the fact that if they do not SAY it, there isn’t a NEWSPAPER TRAIL.
That is also why they talk about repercussions to Hillary being abut “drivers’ licences for ILLEGALS!”
Excuse me - WE ALL KNOW WHAT THE REAL REPERCUSSIONS FOR HILLARY IN THIS SCANDAL ARE, and while she is hoping to win the right to contend against OPEN BORDERS or NO BORDERS McCAIN, the last thing she has to worry about right now is a dead drivers’ license issue.
But as long as the MSM doesn’t mention this REMINDER of COMMON SCANDALS over COMMONLY AND ROUTINELY PERFORMED FELONIES in the White House, her campaign remains viable.
As do many other campaigns.
It doesn’t help McCain either, for anyone to keep saying to media microphones that ONCE A MAN HAS BEEN UNFAITHFUL, HE CAN NEVER BE TRUSTED AGAIN.
I’ve already heard some Republicans make that statement a few times when they clearly have Spitzer and Bill Clinton in mind, with a Toady Chappaquiddick and few other DIMS on the side.
But with the GOP leadership and “Right Wing Media” still trying to make a go of McCain, Newt, Rudi, and a few others…
Scandals and Lack of CHARACTER is an issue that NEITHER party wants in the news before November.
That is how media will have a candidate like Hillary on the topic and still ask, “Will people vote for a woman?”
How insipidly ridiculous does it have to get.
Any guesses as to when “Kristen” appears on Larry King or does a Playboy interview?
My guess, about 3 months.
not really worth the wait…IMO and def not worth $1000+ an hour…
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=69041220
It’s amazing how the party of ethics and morales gives people like this a career boost. What a role model.
I thought Spitzer was supposed to be such a smart tough prosecutor. What an idiot. And I don’t know what is worse he or his wife who was obviously enabling him to carry on like this for so long.