Eliot Spitzer's Going Down

From now on he is Elliot Shpritzer! (Get it, Koffler?)

He's a hypocrite, too.

Never defend the illegality of some victimless crime that you yourself engage in.

Didn't know much about the guy, other than for how tough (and, I had to presume, ethically-minded) he appeared as AG. 

This can't look good for your gal Hillary.

If he's not charged, okay ten years, he'll start his own Chabad franchise.  Remember folks, mysterious ways.

that the Post didn't run the headline "Spitzer Swallows." Though they did go with the uber class, "Ho No!"

"Spitzer Swallows."

Holy cow....errr, I mean seitan, Adam, that is terrific!

I'd forget about academe and go write for Jon Stewart. Very funny.   

haha, the last thing I need is temptation to drop ye olde PhD...

Here is also where I admit to having done volunteer work on Spitzer's AG campaign, all the way back in the late 90s.

This incident only proves that there is justice in this world when a no-goodnik poilitician gets his due in this life.

As for the theory that sex outside of marriage is victimless and a private matter--this is an outrageous suggestion. Given the fact that he has 3 daughters who must be devastated, his marriage is likely to be over, he has lost his public office and the public trust, he is the butt of jokes and humiliation throughout the nation--it is a stone-cold fact he has done a whole heck of lot of trouble or we would not be talking about it and reading about it.

Perhaps the ONLY thing that cannot be said is that his actions fail to reach significance or that he has not perpetrated a scandal. 

$5500/hour?  must've been some seriously nice booties. 

http://wonkette.com/366083/a-pictorial-tour-of-the-emperors-club-ladies

Adam's head is great. I think Slate stole it from him. But come on, guys. A little credit for coming up with this subtitle? "Head of Empire State Gets Head From Emperors Club." It's a low confidence week for me, I crave validation.

and you think that you need validation?  Get in line.

Thanks for that insightful comment, David.  I'm also sure that his marriage will be over in a matter of weeks.  It was for Bill, right?  No?  More likely is that Silda will follow the Hillary route and will run for State Senate next election cycle.

You're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you. 

But Adam's headline wins.   

"Adam's head is great."

I'm happy for both of you, but weren't we talking about the sexual expertise of the Emperor's Club ladies?    

My man-crush on Weiss is entirely intellectual. I already have too many NY Jews in my life...

If you are correct in believing that the Clinton marriage is not harmed by his numerous infidelities--it is only because they lacked a marital bond in the first place.

 With the current case, it is true, I assume that there is some kind of marriage to be saved.  If not, the damage is still evident for the kids who will be forever scarred and his supporters--my friends in the liberal camp.

Alan Dershowitz has clearly defamed himself in this matter--claiming that the crime of prostitution is better left to be no crime.  This is an insult to reason and morality.

Going beyond your sarcasm, please speak to the issue.

Right! Alan Dershowitz "defamed" himself by not supporting the legislation of morality. Ha.

You've obviously never read a single thing the man wrote or said about the purpose of laws in the non-theocracy that the U.S., at least thus far, remains. Or have you?  

David, Spitzer's crime was no less victimless to his wife and daughters than any other form of emotional distress that can't be prosecuted. Causing someone emotional distress is typically dealt with as a part of tort law, i.e. lawsuits. Or through the dissolution of his civil marriage. Damage has certainly been done; I wouldn't deny that. But let's not pretend that the damage was moreso of a legal nature than anything else - at least, apart from allegations of money laundering, etc., or whatever else was done with the public purse. And oh yeah, he is a hypocrite. 

I was struck by Dersh's comments about the superior social attitudes of Europeans during his Spitzer apologia, to wit:

"Big deal. Married man goes to prostitute. In Europe, this wouldn't even make the back pages of the newspaper."

Aren't these the same Europeans he's been breathlessly warning are all unhatched Himmlers, awaiting the correct conditions (sufficient numbers of Muslim citizens, perhaps?) to burst forth in full baleful plumage? 

How is it that Dershowitz approvingly cites the superior ethical instincts of what he otherwise insists is a continentful of larval Nazis?   

Oh, and snazzy new pic, Adam. 

Oh I think if there ever is anything that we can agree on it is our mutual distaste for Dersh. Though there is the part of me that believes that prostitution should be legal, so his ultimate point doesn't stray far from where I am. Of course he's doing it as someone who has always supported Spitzer.

And thanks for the compliment. Though it is distinctly less swanky when one realizes it was taken in my bathroom (yes, I have a Misfits poster in my bathroom). 

Anonymous now wants to argue that when a Governor of the second biggest state in America purchases prostitutes over a long period of time--this is  "no less victimless to his wife and daughters than any other form of
emotional distress that can't be prosecuted. Causing someone emotional
distress is typically dealt with as a part of tort law, i.e. lawsuits".

People make such poor arguments--it is truly enlightening.  Surely this is a bit more traumatic than the other forms of emotional distress that cannot be prosecuted.  One day your Dad is the Governor and the next day he is disgraced with evidence that he has been purchasing sex for many years with many women-- in violation of laws he helped enforce as an attorney general and Governor--and he is forced to step down from his high-profile position in a humiliating way.  Yeah, sure, this sensation is a bit like getting screamed at by your Dad for picking your nose in public--c'mom!

Dershowitz's comments are so idiotic--he has shamed the American Jewish public since he is so commonly looked upon as a Jewish leader with some sense of right and wrong. Without a moral compass, he should at least have the decency to be quiet.  All day long people have rightly thrown verbal jabs at his comments and these sneers he deserves and then some.  Adultery is a huge sin, ,buying a single prostitute as a public official is reckless--but buying dozens of prostitutes over a long period of time is so reckless and so bizarre--this would be called a tragic problem for anyone with even the crudest kind of moral compass.

Please consider why the ex-Gov so strongly apologized to every New Yorker--at least the perpetrator recognizes, after he has been caught, the magnitude of his transgressions.  The only wonder, if this comes out of him so easily--how could he do it so often and so recklessly for so long?  In the world of elite lawyering--life is what you can get away with--and perhaps Prof. Dershowitz has been hanging around this kind of corrupt mindset for too long.

Alan Dershowitz muses why we can spend money enforcing laws against prostitution when we should be spending that money looking for terrorists.

Another really low grade argument.  By that standard, why should the government---you fill in the blank--spend money on just about anything since it can be thought of as less important that looking for terrorists.  The way the government enforces speeding on the highways is surely a waste of effort with very dubious social benefit.  I challenge anyone to tell me why there is a state interest in the fact that I travel 67 mph on a great highway late at night in perfect weather conditions?  There simply is no risk of injury to anyone, including myself.

By contrast, moving money to offshore sites can be linked to terrorism, racketeering, the mafia, the drug trade and money laundering operations.  Prostitution brings many ills to society--including risk to both of the parties involved that is, risk to the call girl and risk to the purchasers.  More to the point, prostitution has a negative impact on society, destroys marriages, spreads social diseases, promotes illegal drug use and caters to men's worst impulses.  The government therefore has an interest in reducing it and as a free-market conservative--I am pleased that the government is involved in such an enterprise.  If there is any positive that may come from this expose--hopefully, the prostitution trade will be down a bit for awhile.