Spitzer called the blackmailer's bluff.........

[TheDebbieDee]

What did the blackmailers want Spitzer to do????????

That's the 64 Million Dollar question!

[madfloridian]

1. Wiretapping....they will go after every public official. Chilling stuff.

.

[rurallib]

2. Every public official that crosses them, anyway.

Thank goodness they have the 'tools' they need like a spineless congress.

[Rex]

4. Not every public official, just the (D)s.

Their Repube base will shape up, out of fear. Once they too realize how fucked they are.

[TAWS]

5. Good if it makes every official aware of not to break the law.

[madfloridian]

9. That is right wing spin. That is scary to hear someone say that.

[MinM]

17. Doing J Edgar Hoover proud:( k/r

First let me say that I have absolutely no sympathy for Spitzer. My first thought also was that Eliot was trying to get out in front of this story to avoid a DOJ smear and or blackmail. And as more comes in this seems very plausible. :kick:

Was the Spitzer scandal "reverse engineered" from a wiretap? - Democratic Underground
Democratic Underground - Is The SPITZER Scandal The Result Of Another BUSHCO. DOJ HITJOB Like Gov. Siegelman? - Democratic Underground
Alberto Gonzales was involved in the Spitzer investigation - Democratic Underground
Democratic Underground - TPM: Bank Records Mass Scanned...ABC: Bank turns in Spitzer.... - Democratic Underground

[seafan]

16. Coincidentally, one of Bush's political opponents caught on federal wiretap.

Only the tip of the iceberg:



Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

Gov. Eliot Spitzer with his wife, Silda, made a statement to the news media on Monday.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Monday responded to allegations that he might have been involved in the recent federal bust of a New York prostitution ring, saying he had “violated obligations to family and the public,” and saying he would take time to regain the trust of his family.

The New York Times reported Monday morning that Mr. Spitzer had been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, citing an undisclosed source. The governor reportedly learned that he had been implicated in the prostitution inquiry when a federal official contacted his staff last Friday.

.....

From TPMMuckraker:

March 10, 2008

It is the closest thing I've seen to a complete explanation of the surveillance program the Bush Administration has assembled.

Siobhan Gorman of The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the National Security Agency has assembled what some intelligence officials admit is a driftnet for domestic and foreign communications.

Here's the way the whole thing works, according to Gorman: into the NSA's massive database goes data collected by the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Treasury. This information includes data about email (recipient and sender address, subject, time sent), internet searches (sites visited and searches conducted), phone calls (incoming and outgoing numbers, length of call, location), financial information (wire transfers, credit-card use, information about bank accounts), and information from the DHS about airline passengers.

Then the NSA's software analyzes this data for indications of terrorist activity. When it hits upon a suspicious pattern, the NSA "feeds its findings into the effort the administration calls the Terrorist Surveillance Program and shares some of that information with other U.S. security agencies.”

.....

An international prostitution ring.


Hold on, it's going to be a long ride to the bottom of this abyss.

[eleny]

3. Where did you hear about a blackmailer ?

[TheDebbieDee]

8. I didn't hear anything, but I'm assuming that visiting brothels is not

something Gov. Spitzer started doing recently. Could be that the FBI made investigating the escort service as a cover for spying on the Governor.

Maybe this info is several years old and the repuke admin needed Gov. Spitzer to do something uncharacteristic and they used this info as leverage.

I just feel that we ALL should be asking a lot more questions like this..........

Not that congress will get us any answers, cause they are being blackmailed, too!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

6. That was my first thought. It's all a matter of timing. If this wiretap was very recent, no.

If this has been sat on for awhile, my suspicions will continue.

[rucky]

7. If it was an FBI wiretap...

who exactly is doing the blackmailing?

[TheDebbieDee]

11. It's gotta be people in the * admin..........

Who's running this agency? A neocon!

[goodhue]

10. The FBI is blackmailing Spitzer?!

[TheDebbieDee]

14. Somebody high up in the admin tried to use info

to entice Spitzer to do something. "Or, we may leak info and pictures to the Times/Post/Enquirer - whatever, that you frequent this service.

Spitzer manned up, said "F *ck you!" and confesses to his bad behavior in public, leaving his potential blackmailers without any weapons.

His blackmailers are $hitting themselves this instant, trying to figure out how deny that they were involved!

[MrCoffee]

15. Where in the world are you getting this theory?

Do you have anything at all to substantiate what you're saying?

[MrCoffee]

12. They probably wanted him to shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die

Or maybe to run a shipload of rebels past the Imperial blockade in under 12 parsecs

[WinkyDink]

13. Oh, he's a would-be victim? I think not. Ask his convicted "Johns".