pants on fire

[piranha]

i was gonna ignore the eliot spitzer debacle entirely -- gosh, powerful man sleeps with prostitutes; film at 11. say what? powerful man who railed against those nasty prostitution rings and prosecuted them vigourously sleeps with prostitutes? hypocrite politician, film at 11:30. resign, damaged goods, kiss presidency dreams goodbye. ridiculous, in so many ways. (prostitution should be legal. how come it's a crime if one person pays another for sex, but if both get paid by somebody who films them it's ok and we can all enjoy the recording in the privacy of our own home later, in order to spice up our own sex lives?)

oh, also: lay off his wife, you morality vultures. it's her marriage, not yours; you don't get to decide whether she dumps him or not.

but now it's getting more interesting. exactly how was he caught? there seem to be somewhat diverging stories out on what launched the investigation in the first place. this short piece in harper's asks some intriguing questions. unfortunately it will likely get buried in an onslaught of titillating tidbits about spitzer's sexual proclivities -- about which i couldn't care less.

i care rather more about this, however:

During the Bush Administration, his Justice Department has opened 5.6 cases against Democrats for every one involving a Republican. Beyond this, a number of the cases seem to have been tied closely to election cycles.

Comments

[firecat]

I wonder how politics and the world in general would be different if no one cared who politicians slept with.

Re: pants on fire

[eagle]

I think my favorite coverage of this was the op-ed in the New York Times from a sex worker basically saying "wow, you used an escort service? what are you, an idiot? there are so many better ways to hire a sex worker that are more discrete and that the sex workers would much rather work for."

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Spitzer is such an egomaniac. Did you see his apology? "I'm only sorry that I wasn't able to live up to my high expectations for myself." Everything has to be about him, all the time.

[post-ecdysis.livejournal.com]

As a New York resident, I don't find that to be out of place. Mr. Spitzer was a very popular Attorney General, at the vanguard of much of the pro-consumer litigation over the past decade, and there was great expectation that he would be able to bring reform to our notoriously Byzantine state government. Now, thanks to thinking with the little head, the status quo is safe for another decade while the population goes back to it's normal cynicism of "clean, open government". You'd better believe he owes me an apology for not remaining in office long enough to fulfill his campaign promises.

[zxhrue.livejournal.com]

thanks for the point to the harper's piece -- that is an interesting read.

[huashan.livejournal.com]

I am shocked, just shocked. NO...wait, the other thing...uh...once again vindicated in my distrust of all politicians and all things having to do with politicians. That's the one.

[post-ecdysis.livejournal.com]

Even if the administration has got a trawling net out to catch Democrats (and I don't see why we shouldn't expect that to be the case), I am ultimately disappointed with Mr. Spitzer for falling into it. As the article points out, he should have unique insight into the fact that these money transfers are noticed and investigated. I know that considering oneself to be above the law cuts across the political spectrum, but there is an extra level of pain when it turns out that I voted for a guy who wasn't even smart enough to not get caught.

On the plus side, I'd like some liberal avant-garde points for having a blind governor now.

Re: pants on fire

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

*hands you those points*.

i don't know why i don't feel like that -- i mean, of course i didn't vote for him. but i would have if i had been in the position to. i just can't seem to get het up if it's sex where they go astray. i am mentally tired to the point of not caring when it comes to sex scandals; whether it's right wingers doing the gay fandango in public restrooms or left wingers hiring pros at $4000 a pop (!!! the amount of money boggles my mind). when is this stupid country gonna get over its sexual junior high attitudes? it can't happen soon enough for my taste.

to have to resign over something like this is just ridiculous. except that the hypocrisy stands, of course, but which politician ever resigned because he was caught at being a hypocrite. there's weasel words for that.

Re: pants on fire

[post-ecdysis.livejournal.com]

All true. Prostitution should be legalized, regulated, and taxed, and then I can carp on Governor Spitzer for claiming to be interested in revitalizing the western New York economy but blowing $80,000 on _downstate_ hookers.

But. I draw a distinction between between hypocrisy (claiming to be moral in a way that one is not) and complicity (bringing THIS prostitution ring to justice but not the one that I'm a client of). I can still muster sufficient energy to be outraged over the latter, and I wouldn't argue if he faced further investigation for corruption or obstruction of justice or whatnot. And when you're the Attorney General, you just plain have to follow the dumb laws too; I would expect a public prosecutor to step down for DUI, which I think to be much slighter than being a john.