I like Elliott Spitzer. Every time I see him, I like him more

[Stinky The Clown]

He was just on Colbert.

Here is but one tidbit: "Geithner and Summers re abject failures."

[elleng]

1. He has it all, and losing him is a GREAT loss.

[90-percent]

20. We haven't lost him

I'm surprised we didn't loose him. I guess the Governor of New york state doesn't have to use small planes very much?

I think his bust was a result of Bush's "total information awareness" spying on US citizens. If you have dirt on absolutely everybody because you shredded the Constitution, that allows you to SELECTIVELY ENFORCE laws to silence your enemies.

Is there an internet site where I can monitor how many constitutional Rights have been taken from us so far?

-90% Jimmy

[frazzled]

2. You could also define abject failure as ,,,

someone who managed to stay governor of New York for one year, because he couldn't stop paying hookers (even though he built a career on putting other men in prison for paying hookers). Go figure.

[arthritisR_US]

9. he sure showed himself to be human and given I think people have the capacity to change

if they want to, and I believe he does and has - I think he's redeemed himself quite nicely. I have a renewed respect and admiration for the man.

[mdmc]

3. Well, he never said such things while in office

I love him, but he was DLC all the way.. Even like Leiberman in 2003..

[Warpy]

4. I really wanted to see him as AG

but with his hooker eruption plus two crooks in the cabinet (Geithner and Summers), I doubt he'd have been chosen.

He's the perfect one to go after all the rotters who caused this mess.

[unabelladonna]

5. i always liked him

when the s--t hit the fan, he resigned and didn't put his family through hell like so many others (and he certainly didn't get anyone pregnant.) he could have been a really great governor and i hope he gets back into public life. and another plus is he is hated by the bankers and wall street.

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. I have no use at all for Eliot Spitzer. Sanctimonious hypocrite that he is. He can go fuck himself.

[loudsue]

7. I don't think he's either sanctimonious nor a hypocrite.

I think he took down the bad guys and they got back at him for it.

[arthritisR_US]

10. I feel the same way. n/t

[MercutioATC]

11. He kinda got back at himself.

When you position yourself as he did, you have to be really clean. He wasn't.

I do like him, I just don't think he's viable.

[Blue-Jay]

8. Yes, he did like hiring whores.

But what about his performance as a government official do you have problems with?

Be specific. Show your work.

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. Apart from the hypocrisy, you mean?

Mr Clean, tough on crime, busting hooker rings...and, oh, hiring em, too. That's what I have a problem with. I reiterate that Spitzer can go fuck himself.

[Blue-Jay]

19. He wasn't the first politician to ever fuck a hooker.

I couldn't give a shit less about banging hookers.

But maybe you should look up some of Greg Palast's writings about Whore-dog Spitzer. He really nails it. (When he's not nailing hookers, that is)

[aquart]

14. There will always be some who are distracted by the distractions.

Nothing we can do about it. They are, of course, a great boon to the opposition.

[cbdo2007]

21. Right, it's funny they care more if he hooked up with a prostitute than jailing all the

bankers who caused the whole financial crisis.

He seems to get it more than most people and his articles have all been very interesting. Still, he's finished politically unfortunately because too many people hold his personal problems above his knowledge and his no-bullshit attitude.

Same thing happened to Clinton. He was doing so much good for so many people...but even many of his supporters turned his back on him just for getting a bj.

[DeadEyeDyck]

12. burnt offerings

[aikoaiko]

13. He lost me forever when he suggested that Obama admin abandon the legilsative process on...

gun control and strong arm firearm manufacturers economically. It nice to know that he thinks a politician should ignore the will of voters and use government contracts to work around the law.

http://www.slate.com/id/2217117/

And Spitzer is wrong that this tactic wouldn't "provoke a storm of opposition". I thinks its unethical advice and politically stupid advice.

[CynicalObserver]

18. Nothing spitzer ever did showed any belief on his part that the legislature

was a necessary element of legal or policy decisions. His approach was to use the power of the judiciary to extort settlements (that companies make in part simply to save themselves years of litigation/trial/publicity), then claim victory and move on.

Folks see what they want to see to a good degree in politics though, and this thread is a good example of that.

[aquart]

15. Oddly enough, I like him much more now.

Seems less remote.

[merh]

17. If Newt Gingrich is #6 on the potential GOP candidates

after having an affair on his first wife and leaving her while she battled cancer and having an affair on wife #2 with a congressional aid for 6 years, whom he married after divorcing wife #2, then why can't Elliot Spitzer make a political comeback?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

22. I always thought he was Teddy Rooselvelt re-incarnated. BUT

I have a really hard time with the fact that he prosecuted prostitutes while patronizing them himself. Why did he think someone with as many enemies as he has would get away with it?

I'm very conflicted about him.

Side note: I heard on the radio the other day that when Gov. Sanford's wife Jenny had to tell the kids what was going on with the Appalachian hiking to Argentina, etc. one of the boys exclaimed "That's WORSE than Eliot Spitzer!!!" which kind of cracked me up - I imagined the Sanfords moralizing around the dinner table about Eliot Spitzer before their own debacle.

[Exultant Democracy]

23. I hope he runs for the NY senate seat. Him and Blumenthal would be dynamic together in the Senate.

[troubledamerican]

24. That's what Warrantless Wiretaps are for.

Spitzer was neutralized.

[TexasObserver]

25. I believe he was targeted by the GOP/Wall Street folks.

I don't believe that cover story for how he was "caught" at all. A guy gets $5000 in cash and his bank flags it? Bullshit. Not just anyone, but the Governor of a large state, a former prosecutor with a long list of enemies in and out of government.

First they followed him and spied on his records. Then they figured out he was seeing a prostitute. Then they contrived the check cashing as a way to go after him. It was a classic GOP hit job. They wanted him out of the picture for the 2008 ticket or for the US Attorney General's post when a Democrat became president.