Letters to the Editor
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I don't get it
John McCain cheated on his wife, after she became disabled in a car accident, with a mistress, which is far worse because it involves emotional as well as physical cheating, and no one so much as mentions it.
Spitzer should have stayed. But I guess since he's a Democrat he at least has some sense of right and wrong.
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Disturbing
"...the delay in his resignation may have been due to negotiations between Spitzer and prosecutors -- a resignation from public office is often used as a bargaining chip in cases like this."
That sounds to me a whole lot like blackmail. It is not the place of civilian servents to decided whether or not an elected officials behavior rises to the level of a resignation being in order. Compare this to Senator Craig who actually pleaded guilty to a crime, but no one expected the local police who charged him to demand his resignation from Congress in exchange for lighter charges, and do so would have been outrageous. Regardless, as to whether or not one believes that Spitzer should have resigned, Spitzer should not have been forced into by Federal prosecutors. This whole thing stinks more and more like an another Republican witchhunt to unseat elected Democratic officials.
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Classy speech
Compares favorably to Craig, Clinton, anyone of these characters caught with their pants down.
He'll be back.
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Elephantman/woman
Salon:
Why do you allow this kind of vindictive gloating? If you are not going to remove this claptrap at least give us the option to ignore certain posters. There is not one thing this individual brings to the table, other than childish taunts. Clearly this is a paid provocateur...
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It's not the sex, it's the lies
I had such hopes of him when I voted.
It's not the prostitutes or the disastrous impact on his wife and daughters or even that he used his expertise to set up shell companies that were intended to transfer funds without triggering certain flow-of-funds regulations.
It's that he talked one game and played another.
I'm not saying I expect that with Family Values Conservatives, but I'm used to it -- and they weren't my candidate.
Damn.
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We'll miss you Elliot
We too look at what might have been with disappointment. We had such high hopes for Spitzer. Still, this was an incredibly foolish risk for him to take. I can only hope he finds another way to contribute to society cause he has a lot to give.
PS Rusty, I think the deal is Mccain's cheating is not illegal, tho it may be deplorable. A more apt comparison is between Larry Craig and Elliot Spitzer - both broke the law yet one stays in office and the other resigns. Of course Spitzer's case is hobbled by the financial "structuring" issue.
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kinda sad
but as has been said numerous times, if you set yourself up as a paragon of virtue then you better damn well live up to that image. It's the same with Craig - his homosexuality isn't a problem until he makes his name as an anti-homosexual bigot.
oh well, I wasn't all that comfortable having a Democrat Governor who looked so damn much like Bill Cowher! :)
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If the dollar amounts are to be believed, I think he had to resign ...
there is the "between a rock and a hard place" in which either he has some sort of "compulsion" which overruled everything sensible thing or he can be trusted because he's that reckless.
If it were just a once-in-a-blue-moon thing, he more likely could have survived ... it must be terrible to wake up one morning and realize you've thrown it ALL away.
I'm inclied to predict he will enter "rehab" for a sex addiction, with time off for good behavior he may be able to largely restore confidence in his judgement. That's a lot of money ... A new BMW ... a vacation condo ... lot of money.
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The right thing.
This is tremendously sad, but Spitzer did the right thing. When your whole political power and credibility lies completely in your own integrity - or at least the image thereof - any hypocrisy is doubly, if not exponentially damaging. if this were Bill Clinton, well... We all know he's a horn dog, but an effective one. If you're going to bust prostitution rings (prostitution IMO should be decriminalized) then you better not get your nooky from whores, period.
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Sorry SOB
Spitzer had it all, and he threw it all away for sex with prostitutes. This must be what happens when these A-type risk-takers get to a point in their careers where they feel invincible.
What's sick is Spitzer is being villified for this while Chimpy McFlightsuit gets a free pass for manipulating us into a pre-emptive war that has killed 500,000+ people and displaced 4 million+ Iraqis.
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It was time to go...
But let's not get it twisted. All those dirtbags who scamed the public and produced biased research to get investment banking business while claiming it was independent and who beat the little guys on mutual fund 12b1 fees and breakpoints and who sold little old ladies variable annuities instead of fixed annuities deserved to be hosed by Spitzer.
Just because he's a whoremonger doesn't absolve those dirtabgs of their wrongdoings. In the end, it apears Spitzer had more in common with them and the likes of garbage like Joe Bruno than one would have orginally thought.
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RE: I don't get it
The reason anyone voted for Spitzer is because he was such a hard-ass against the money laundering and the organized crime and such. That he was a part of those activities (and yes – prostitution rings are all mobbed up) completely takes away any authority he once had – especially since he’s been so unforgiving of anyone else who has anything to do with this world. He has few friends in Albany and little sympathy from the public that elected him. He’d be a lame duck if he stayed.
Its best that it’s this way for the Democratic Party – we’ve got a really great Lt. Gov standing in the wings (he’ll be the first black Gov since Restoration) and another couple of years in the term for this to all blow over.
Before Spitzer the Republicans ruled for 12 years – we can’t let them take this opportunity to slip back in. Him stepping down was the only way this story was going to end.