At the risk of p*ss*ng some people off (re:Spitzer)

[rpannier]

Whether the feds targeted him or not is irrelevant

Spitzer was a prosecutor.

He was engaging in behavior he knew was illegal.

Hell...he sent people to jail for doing what he had done.

He is/waa a public official who abused his office because he (apparantly) thought he was better than you-or-me.

This is not the fault of gonzales or the corrupt scrub admin.

This is NOT about "toe tapping" larry craig or "diaper" larry vittner

This is about a career prosecutor who broke the law

This is NOT about sex

He was caught breaking the f**king law

He needs to resign and go the hell away (preferably to jail)

If he had been a republikkan, people at DU would be outraged

As has been said here many times...

The law applies to everyone... and it applies to Spitzer, the hypocritical prosecutor who abused his office.

If you're offended -- I'm sorry.
I'm sorry you're so wrapped up in your partisan wrangling that you're willing to overlook a crime that he admitted to his wife because it makes the Democratic Party look bad.

Well guess what... It makes us look worse if we condone it.

He betrayed his office, the people of New York, the Party and his family by his actions.

I don't care if his wife forgives him.

He's a criminal.

Ask anyone sitting in jail for the same offense he's admitted to. Ask those people, and then tell me why I should shed a tear for this f**k.

I'm married.
I have four daughters
And right now, I'm f*cking drunk as HELL...Welcome to Bucheon, Korea at 10:50 at night.

I have NO sympathy for this former prosecutor

His stupidity got him to this point.
He needs to take the blame and accept the same punishment that everyone he sent to jail has.

Screw him.
He damaged the Party and his family.

I'll save my tears for someone more deserving.

[acmavm]

1. Why would you care if you piss people off? You are absolutely

correct. 100% dead-on.

[Imagine My Surprise]

2. Ditto n/t

[rpannier]

22. Thank you

Your support is appreciated.

It's nice that some people here believe in personal responsibility

[Ordr]

3. Damn right.

n/t

[rpannier]

24. Thanks nt

[bemildred]

4. Word. Worshipping politicians is always a mistake. nt

[vi5]

5. A-MEN!

You distilled it to it's core essence. I was already at the point of disgust here on DU but the primary stuff is par for the course.

But people excusing this guys behavior, especially with a "THEY DO IT TOO!!!!" attitude is reprehensible to me.

[kentuck]

6. Unless, of course...

this is only the beginning of the political witchhunts? Suppose they nab another big Democrat in the next month or so? Then another? What say you then?

[rpannier]

11. Circumstances dictate my reaction

Spitzer KNEW his actions were illegal

As I said, he sent people to jail for doing the same thing

I said it in my post and I'll re-iterate it...

Ask the people sitting in jail for soliciting how they feel...

[Gman]

13. Knowing full well the political climate these days

and knowing full well what happened in Alabama, you would think these guys would run from even the appearance of impropriety like the devil from holy water (to quote my grandmother). But then, they're politicians who think they're invincible because of their egos.

As someone mentioned above, never, ever fall in love with a politician. They will invariably break your heart at some point.

[acmavm]

19. I would say (even though you didn't ask me) that they'd better

straigten up and fly right. If they don't want to get caught doing something they're not supposed to, then they probably shouldn't do it. Either that, or get the fuck out of politics and quit telling people how they're supposed to run and live their lives.

[Solly Mack]

7. I'm not pissed off

[mondo joe]

8. I'm not pissed off - I mostly agree. At a minimum he needs to step down and the legal

process should roll out.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

32. Agreed

It pisses me off that people are talking about the Governorship of my birth state like a bargaining chip..

[Burma Jones]

9. Hear Hear.........

If someone's pissed off at your post, they're deluded.

[iamthebandfanman]

10. we must hold everyone to the same standards

why anybody on DU would disagree with that blows my mind.

i understand we've been screwed over thousands of time and none of the criminal asshole republicans are being put on trial or arrested, but how can we ever expect them to be if we dont hold our own people to standards?

the having sex with someone besides his wife is irrelevant, its the fact he broke the law doing it.

[Breeze54]

12. When was he convicted?

:shrug:

I know he has apologized but he hasn't really said why he was apologizing and yes, I can read
between the lines but the facts are that he hasn't been charged and he hasn't been prosecuted
and he hasn't admitted any guilt. Calm down.

[rpannier]

14. I'll accept your assesment on 'Calm down'

It's decent

What is pissing me off is this incessant...

Look what Larry Craig did or what Vitter did...

He sent people to jail for solicitation

I'm tired of this partisan garbage

I'm tired of prosecutors and politicians breaking the law and then expecting you and me to obey these same laws.

But, I will give you a B-) for calling for calm rather than trying to spin it as a 'look what he the other guy did.'

on edit:
Kudos to Kucinich and the people of his district for re-nominating him as the Democratic House representative

[9119495]

15. Dead on...

I don't care if republicans engage in this type of stuff or if they engage in the same hypocrisy. We can do better. We can be the party with standards. Loosing his job as governor is a small price for Spitzer to pay if he can repair the damage he has done to his family.

[Virginia Dare]

16. I have very little if any sympathy for him..

I never understand why people are so self-destructive sometimes. I guess we all go through phases in our lives, but really at his age, he should know better. Why put himself in that position knowing what was to be lost? He's not the on the fucking Duke LaCrosse team.

[HamdenRice]

17. What about due process and political prosecution?

Even if he was guilty, should his investigation have been sped up from months to days, just in time to prevent the state Democratic party from seizing control of the Senate for the first time in a century?

Should his name have been illegally leaked -- again just in time?

Manuel Noriega was undoubtedly a drug lord and money launderer, but locking him up in solitary for 20 years to protect Poppy Bush is also wrong.

None of that bothers you?

[rpannier]

18. It bothers me...

But if he hadn't been soliciting prostitutes this wouldn't be an issue

He put himself in this position
He's a prosecutor
He knows the law
He knows what he was doing is illegal

It's his fault that he's in this position

And if the NY Democratic Party is in jeopardy because of it then it's HIS fault.

The pukes didn't liquor him up until he was blind drunk then drag his ass to a brothel

He went on his own accord

Personal responsibility

edited for spelling

[BearSquirrel2]

20. He should just resign ...

He should just resign to make things better for his fellow Democrats. Likely, the Dems in the NY statehouse will be eager for him to just GO AWAY. He got caught red handed paying a high class hooker for sex. It's the end of his political career and I doubt Democrats in New York want it to be then end of theirs.

[acmavm]

21. And who's fault is that? I mean, did someone force him to put

his pecker where it didn't belong?

[TahitiNut]

23. I believe a person holding an office of public trust should be subject to greater penalties.

I don't buy "embarassment" or other characterizations of the LOSS of public trust due to their deeds as ANY part of that greater penalty, since they have no perpetual ENTITLEMENT to that trust. I.e. they don't OWN it - it's on loan. It's my opinion that the financial and incarceration parts of any penalty MUST be greater than for an ordinary citizen.

I look at it this way ... if there's an increased mandatory minimum for the commission of a felony whil in possess of a handgun, then a similar increase in a mandatory minimum should exost for the commission of a felon whil occupying an office of public trust.

Political party should have absolutely no relevance.

[rpannier]

25. Amen

My sister/brother

Amen

You get no argument from me

Those with power should be held to a higher standard because they've earned the public trust and they can do much more damage when the f*ck up

[HamdenRice]

39. Why can't anyone see the real victim -- the NY Democratic Party???

- We were one or two weeks from gaining control of the Senate for the first time in 100 years.

- The DOJ had been investigating Spitzer for "bribery" which seems to be code for helping other Democrats take the Senate

- The prostitution prosecution wasn't turned over to local law enforcement, which has jurisdiction but was prosecuted under the Mann Act "White Slavery" (you've gotta be kidding me)

- The prosecution was turned over to the most politicized branch of DOJ (Public Integrity, the guys who put away Seigelman and prosecute 5 times as many Dems as Repugs), sped up the prosecution by months just in time to forestall the turn over of the Senate to the Democrats, and illegally leaked the identity of "Client 9".

OF COURSE HE WAS GUILTY. THAT'S NOT THE FRIGGIN POINT!

I'm dumbfounded that people can't grasp this.

[Liberal In Texas]

26. Far from offended, I agree with you.

That said, with the BushCo Wiretapping Program in progress, every Dem. had better make sure they are squeaky clean.

[trotsky]

27. K and f'ing R.

:kick:

[MiniMe]

28. Agree. He especially knew better than to take it across state lines and make it

a federal crime. Having the prostitute travel from New York to Washington to meet him was dumb, dumb, dumb.

[selador]

29. i agree

some points.

the conspiracy nuttery is getting old. the only surprise here is that he thought he wouldn't get caught

file under hubris. same story. for thousands of years

1) i don't think he should get jail. yes, technically it's structuring (federal felony) and mann act violation. realistically, it's paying for sex, which is soliciting prostitution. nationwide, the typical penalty is a fine and probation, and yer record wiped clean after a year.

should be same for spitzer

2) career-wise, the guy is going to have no credibility. he should resign

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. "Corrupt Politiician" is becoming as redundant as "Wet Water".

The citizenry should always be suspicious and watchful of those who seek power.

"Trusting" politicians is downright un-democratic.

[liberal N proud]

31. It just pisses me off that there is a double standard

Let a republicon be caught in any sex scandal and the moral majority forgives them. But let any Democrat get caught and they want to run them out of town.

Now given the fact that this man was considered the modern day Elliot Ness, he too is a hypocrite.

We just need to demand the resignation of the likes of David Vitter, Larry Craig, John McCain and any others caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

[SquatDog]

38. In fairness...

The Republicans went after Craig with a vendetta. He is toast. He is just playing a game of delaying his resignation thinking that all will be forgotten. Yeah, a bunch of largely Mormon Idaho Republicans are going to forget that their Senator was soliciting sex from strange men in an airport bathroom!

I think both parties are guilty of selective vision. Sometimes we are worse, I hate the fact that we allow Senator Bird from West Virginia to be a Democratic standard bearer, President Pro Tem of the Senate, meanwhile the guy is a former Klan Grand Dragon who still openly uses the word "ni%%er" in national media interviews.

Why do we allow that?

[DrDan]

33. it is time the D's took the high-road instead of just talking about it . . . . n/t

[nashville_brook]

34. this "i'm gonna piss you off if you disagree with me" attitude is killing us...

you may be right. the people you disagree with may be right. both groups prolly hold a piece of the truth, robbing the other side of a "victory." boy, that would suck.

what's lost in the mix is the possibility of building relationships with other Dems, fellow DU'ers -- who, hopefully will still be around long after this scandal and the elections are over.

the last thing this episode needs to turn into is a big poo-flinging fight amongst dems. just let it play out.

[rateyes]

I agree with you, and I find it funny that

I haven't heard any Republican jumping on this, YET. Perhaps they won't because they know that when they say "Spitzer" we'll say "Vitter, Craig, Foley, Haggard, etc. etc. etc."

[nancyr]

35. I agree totally.

A hypocrite is a hypocrite regardless of the party.

[Danascot]

36. Unlike the Repukes

we should exhibit only a single standard of decency, not the double standard they trot out whenever one of their own is outed.

[Turn CO Blue]

37. I'm not pissed. Here's my take

He apparently thought he was some kind of Emperor - he paid for "perfect", young and tiny women to travel across states to have sex with him without a condom and he had the audacity to pay $4200 a "pop" (so to speak) to ensure he got only the best. Ugh.

There are mixed views on prostitution (on the one hand it sanctions the sexual objectification and judgment of women and their value, and leaves the women in a financial trap -- and on the other hand, it's a victimless crime between two consenting adults engaging in a mostly one-sided fantasy, and don't the cops have anything better to do, like catch murderers?)

The fact is that this organization Emperor's Club is a cabal for spoiled, sexist, POWERFUL, RICH men who want to lord their money over others by being served and pampered. Those are not liberal values.

[Pab Sungenis]

40. Not pissed. You are correct.

Even if you don't believe that prostitution should be illegal, for a prosecutor who had made so many enemies in his time, and built his repuation on "lawnorder," to do something like that is just plain stupid.

He broke the law. Amd we have to hold our politicians to the same high standard we hold Republicans. Even if they're hypocritical about this sort of thing, we can't be. We're better than them.

[TML]

41. Thank you for speaking the truth

It doesn't matter what party he belongs to. If he broke federal law, he has to resign or be impeached. Especially since he was the champion of cleaning up politics.

Spitzer is a fraud. Plain and simple.