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!
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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.
Wow. Just wow.
Didn’t call you names, just said it was a reaction I would expect from those types – left the obvious “but you seem to be a conservative” unsaid.
But nice that you should resort to name calling instead of logical arguments.
And as far as my handle goes, you couldn’t be farther from the truth in how you interpret it.
I’ll be happy to debate with you the merits of the Patriot Act all day long, provided you check your emotions at the door, read and comprehend thoroughly what you have read, and keep the discourse at an adult level.
Otherwise, I’ll simply thank you to stop with the personal insults. Pretty unbecoming, and adds nothing to the discussion really.
By the way, the example you cite of the $10,000 gift that was used for a house down payment is exactly what I was talking about in my first post. You can presumably document that transaction and what was subsequently done with that money, so why worry about it being reported to Uncle Sam? If those reports shut down even one terrorist cell before they can strike, then it seems worth it to me.
Or nab even one crooked politician.
On March 12th, 2008 at 11:26 am, Rusty said:
I agree, but guilt by association can be a powerful political tool – especially when the opposition has a demonstrated record of not playing by the rules.
safe bet: after a summer of contrition, his friend and mentor Alan Dershowitz will find Eliot a job at Harvard Law. Eliot will grow a bread, hit on free tail, and write Al Gore’s next fiction, The Joys of Socialism.
oops, make that a kosher beard.
Spitzer’s garbage and a megalomaniac, he’s been bad news for years. It’s amazing that he got over 65% of the vote for Governor.
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe loves
abusive prosecutors
wasting money on weak cases
then blackmailing defendants
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
sabotage your career
give America a gift
leave politics forever
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
never believe in karma
what goes around never comes
back around to bite your butt
.
http://www.freemarketcure.com
http://haltterrorism.com
http://absurdthoughtsaboutgod.blogspot.com
.