Stupid Spitzer

Here's one thing I'll never understand: Why do such smart men do such dumb things?

Or maybe we should ask: Why don't smart men use their brain instead of some other part of their anatomy?

It's a bipartisan malady. Mark Foley and Larry Craig. Gary Hart and Bill Clinton. And now, Eliot Spitzer -- caught by a federal sting operation in the middle of a high-class prostitution ring.

Ironically, Spitzer was trapped in a classic Spitzer-type investigation. As Attorney General of New York, he was a relentless, moral crusader. Busting up crooked dealers on Wall Street. Fighting big insurance companies. And, yes, tracking down and exposing prostitution networks aimed at the big business and tourist trade.

How dumb can he be? He set the trap -- and then walked right into it himself.

As a prosecutor, as a husband, as a father, he should have known better. As a governor, he must pay the price.

There is no way that Spitzer can continue as Governor of New York. He has betrayed the public trust. He has violated the one rule we expect of every public official: that he or she who makes or enforces the law must also obey it.

Yesterday, people were talking about Eliot Spitzer as the next president from New York state. Today, he's history.

Why do such smart men do such dumb things?

Comments

[josephjsalas]

C-mon Bill. The Power-Feller behind the curtain needs ALL polititians to carry some dirt!

[outnow]

Bill,

First off, Americans have to stop setting up actors, athletes, and politicians as role models.

Neither political party has the slightest thing to do with "family values." I don't see many churches that do either. Money and power are behind politics, not virtue.

In Europe, there is more of a recognition of reality in this regard. They remember recent history so that politicians are not set up as false idols anymore.

[Bushwillresign]

However, one political party runs on "family values". When you get busted for breaking the trust of your constituents, resign already. Larry Craig, David Vitter are two "family values" guys that should resign.

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

i just don't understand how senior republican senator larry craig's cruising for oral sex in an airport mensroom and eliot spitzer paying good money for a beautiful lady's time and attention can get such radically different coverage on CNN and the rest of the msm

larry craig gets the "page 37 in small print near the bottom" treatment and now spitzer is getting "24/7 headline will he resign?" coverage

time to wake up america and stop allowing CNN to do your dreaming for you

[MPeter]

He is not stoopid. He is horney.

[tomasagee]

Your inclusion of Sen. Hart in this list is a journalistic cheap shot. He was never accused of a crime -- nor was anything ever proved. He has been a model citizen, proving his brilliance and prescience over and over. He and his only wife have been married for almost 50 years. Isn't it time to leave them alone.

[olderdem]

While perhaps prostitution should be legal, it is not. At least Bill Clinton had the brains to not pay for extra-marital sex. Of course Bill wasn"t all that selective in the choice of sex partners. Spitzer had higher standards and apparently had to pay for that. If Bill only had the brains to pay the cleaning bill for that dress.

[Liberal2]

Hey! Hey! no fair. When Clinton was a governor and had some freedom of movement he was doing Miss America's. Under the tight control of the Secret Service, Monica was the best available.

[FalseFlagWorld]

Have we forgotten about the DC MADAM already! Cheney and many other DC VIP's were involved..but oops. . . if the White House does it..it is buried deep! Don't be surprised if this was not 'all as it seems'

Lets investigate some real crime. Illegal war, 911, illegal wire tapping, lies the bush administration has told. etc etc..... this is just another sex case to distract from the real goings on.

[darcy]

"He has violated the one rule we expect of every public official: that he or she who makes or enforces the law must also obey it."

That doesn't seem to apply to bushie and his cabal, so why should it be true of anyone else?

[darker]

Stupid Americans.
We punish SEX but don't punish CORRUPTION.

What are WE AMERICANS thinking?
We PUNISH SEX but DON'T PUNISH CORRUPTION.

WhY are we punishing, SEX? How stupid are we?
How can we be led by the nose by Republican panty sniffing manipulators who are IN CHARGE OF FBI, CIA WIRE TAPPING and sniffing your garbage and underwear?
How about THAT?
Why should our tax money pay for Republican bullsh*t like THAT?

WHY should Spitzer resign for sex?
Why don't Republicans RESIGN FOR CORRUPTION?

What about Republicans like Bush-Cheney & Company who LIED, started a FRAUDULENT FOR-PROFITS Iraq War, REPUBLICANS SCREWED middle-income Americans with HUGE TAX BILLS FOR DEFICIT,
& GIANT BILLS from PROFITEERING BIG OIL pals in their fake "oil shortage" that exists ONLY ON PAPER. They screwed middle-income Americans.

Why don't those Republican CORRUPTORS RESIGN?

What are we punishing here-- SEX? That is insane. How stupid are we?
WHEN WILL WE PUNISH CORRUPTION, INSTEAD?

[AuntSally]

"... that he or she who makes or enforces the law must also obey it."

We don't hold the President or Attorney general to this standard. Seriously. Why start w/ Spitzer?

[schatsie]

GANNON, GANNON, GANNON, don't you see the incredible hypocrisy... NOBODY INVESTIGATED A GAY PROSTITUTE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

[Serfie]

I think all the outrage about Spitzer's hookers is a bit sanctimonious.

Powerful men in business and politics pay for sex. They do it all over the world, including the US.

Men of power by their own evolutionary nature are not meant to be monogamous.

Monogamy is a religious and social construct that goes against human nature.

The sex lives of consenting adults really is nobody's business but their own.

And the media's and public's voyeuristic fascination with sex scandals says more about their twisted minds than the people who are committing the act.

[darcy]

I agree with you, Serfie, but the problem is that prostitution is illegal in NY and Spitz is the AG.

[CornellRedneck]

Don't any of these fools who live in fishbowls realize they inevitably will be caught?
And what's this ritual of trotting out the injured wife when they *do* get nailed? My wife would hand me my balls on a platter.

[GJMandinka]

This post is dead-on. Those who make or enforce the law must obey it. I don't care if it's a victimless crime. I don't even really care about the hypocrasy--that just makes it more audacious.
We entrust these folks with power not available to every person. Behaviour that clearly indicates that they do not understand the law or feel that it applies to them is a certain indication that that trust was misplaced.
It is tragic that so many such public figures have spent lifetimes developing the necessary connections, improving and advertising their reputations, and sucessfully achieving some of the pinnacles of public responsibility made available by a life of notable public service; only to throw all that effort away for something so arrogant, idiotic, and purile. Is it really that difficult to live such a life without breaking the damned law? Very disappointing.

[MoeGreen]

Clinton's true legacy was that we no longer expect anything decent, moral, nor law abiding from our elected officials.

We thought we might have a candidate that could offer us a tiny bit of that, but leave it to a Clinton to tear him down too.

We just hope we survive these days. Maybe one day for the sake of our children and grandchildren, there might be a new wave of leaders that actually give a damn about someone other than themselves.

[darcy]

For Pete's sake, MoeGreen, prossies and wealthy men have always gone together like a horse and carriage. Get real.

[Liberal2]

Green Moe is. He sees halos over the heads of Bush and Cheney, which is true immorality.

[Gmoney1]

Tell Ms. Hillary to give her famous "SHAME ON YOU" comment to Spitzer - ha, she sends her best wishes to his family - ha - is this because Spitzer and Bill Clinton never had any shame and their wives stand by their men - What Hillary should have said to Spitzer's wife is "Stand by Your Man" as she did - This Spitzer broke the law and what does Hillary say - no comment - who said politics before the law - Tell Hillary to reject and dennounce Spitzer and Ferraro's sexist and/or racist behavior -

[DietrichMoody]

Would you say this about Bill Clinton?

Federal Perjury - enforced by the AG, under the Executive Branch, headed at the time by Bill Clinton.
It wasn't about sex, it was his lying, covering up and denial.

I don't think Spitzer should resign over Prostitution. Some laws are stupid. But the lobbying ties, financial ties, are what he should resign over. The lobbying ties, the financial ties, Bill and Hillary Clinton also have are specious.

On one hand, at least Spitzer is resigning, Clinton made the Country go through Hell, over his lies.

[Liberal2]

DietrichMoody, you are an immoral person...Clinton trying to hide his infidelity is hell.....but Iraq isn't? You're an immoral reichwing thug.

as for the "perjury"....Jones' lawyer worked for Scaife, who personally financed the early investigations into Clinton's life. What happened was Jones announced, after her case was thrown out of court, she was filing an appeal. That would cost Clinton another $1 million. So he offered Jones $800K. Her lawyer, knowing it would sound like an admission of perjury, had to say he had lied...just to get Jones not to file an appeal. You rethug asswipes got your wish and impeached him.

Clinton was stupid to agree to anything, as a lawyer he should have seen the perjury trap a mile away.

[ignrnthllblly]

Bill, where do we keep our Public Trust? Perhaps frozen away in the Fortress of Solitude? Certainly somewhere where it is inviolable and incapable of change, as well as relatively unexaminable. One curious fact about it I have inferred: it is exclusively (un)defined by the individual invoking it to the mob as a bloody shirt. Why didn't Spitzer betray the Public Trust when he swore to uphold a law he personally rejected? Answer: he did--but because embracing The Law as if it were handed to you on two stone tablets is a sub-rosa requirement of running for office in this country, we rationalize the hypocrisy. In this way, we pre-disqualify all of office holders for our later convenience, as well as validate the curse our Puritan forefathers so vainly placed upon our heads. The fact is that no one can be elected to office in this country by any means other than prostituting themselves, but that doesn't rankle in the slightest our Public Trust. Perhaps it's time we realized our Public Trust is serving as the pimp in the transaction.

Spitzer violated the law--but he can only have violated the Public Trust insofar as the law accurately reflects the expectations of those it governs as opposed to those who authored the law. So I ask you directly: does the Mann Act accurately reflect the expectations of 21st century Americans? Before you answer, let's all remember that the Mann Act was yet another example of government finding a solution to a problem (not prostitution) that existed largely in the imaginations of lawmakers: white slavery.

The law is the law, the authoritarians fetishize. Well, no. There's a reason we didn't write our laws on stone tablets, albeit one we seem to have forgotten. Laws accumulate--they become dated, obsolete, absurd--but are rarely repealed, remaining on the books to go underenforced, unenforced, forgotten, or perverted--but always there to insure an injury to our Public Trust. If one looks at the intention of the Mann Act (or RICO, or any number of laws) versus how they are employed by prosecutors, then the law is merely a tool unconnected to the intentions of its authors.

Spitzer committed numerous acts of sexual indiscretion and broke a minor criminal statute (engaging a prostitute). Fine. I believe Mrs. Spitzer has sole jurisdiction over the former (though one could hardly surmise that given those who presume to speak not only for her but for Womanhood) and the latter is rightly a municipal matter. To make a federal case of this--whether literally or merely in furtherance of the Puritan Gotterdamerung--will keep our Public Trust treating us like Johns.

[marika]

He has violated the one rule we expect of every public official: that he or she who makes or enforces the law must also obey it.

Orf course for almost eight years the Bush administration has benefitted from an exception to this "rule" with the complicity of a Congress that refuses to stand up for itself - best to tow the line. Why.? How much "information" is in the files about all these "gentlemen.?

[YcCoSQ]

it's no worse than what Bill Clinton did.

[hidef]

I think what Bill Clinton did was a whole lot worse and it has nothing to do with sex. Clinton lied under oath, lied to the American people and then acted (still acts) like he was the injured party.

[sugarmoes]

boohoo... here's a tissue.

[HeevenSteven]

Well, money, power and sex have always gone together; yet for some reason in this country we expect people not to behave the way people always have.

I've long been suspicious of crusading do-gooders, especially prosecutors of crimes like prostitution, homosexuality, etc. These guys keep proving to me that they're so often trying to exorcise their own demons.

[sufi66]

Why? The arrogance of power. They can't imagine being caught.

[racom]

Come on Bill, one thing we have learned in American politics is politicians are not law abiding.
You wrote, "There is no way that Spitzer can continue as Governor of New York. He has betrayed the public trust. He has violated the one rule we expect of every public official: that he or she who makes or enforces the law must also obey it. " Your own party has lead the way in ignoring the law here, bush, cheney, gonzo, rummy, etc. Yes I know you are a democrat and these are repugs but what has your party done to enforce the many broken laws? Nothing. Nothing. So what are we to believe if not that 'Laws don't matter'.
When the dems start to obey the law and stand up for the constitution, you know, honor their sworn commitment to defend the constitution then you are allowed to resubmit this piece.

[johnnydajogger]

"Smart men do such dumb things" because: maybe they are not that smart after all. Maybe, they are just arrogant loud mouths who are experts at figuring out what the public wants to hear and telling them that. And maybe the media doesnt have the nerve to ask them probing questions when they seek the public trust. Yeah, just maybe...

[MouseNuts]

Great point. What is the definition of smart anyway? Perfection on exams? whooooo, impressive.

The smartest guys I ever knew were smart in 8th grade...about way more than math and verbal scores that get you in to the ivy league...along with daddy's money. Those guy always whipped the ass of phony guys like Spitzer anyway.

Most of these dumb-smart-guys would screw up a one car funeral because they're emotional messes.

I know why this guy paid a hooker....cuz he is one fugly looking doofus. Just like that chubby Bill Clinton. Scarred for life from too many rejections, starting at the first dance.

[LucyC]

Because the depth of one's intellect has little to do with how far it is possible to fall from grace. If we are to believe anything we read anymore, Governor Spitzer got a perfect score on the LSAT. However, the anatomical confusion does not occur in only smart men. (Classic Seinfeld: "I don't know how you guys walk around with those things." ) Thanks for admitting the (dare I say) shortcoming, which is related to gender rather than IQ.

Please, let's just have him resign today, and get on with the business at hand. I read that actor Adrian Grenier carries a sign with him for photo opps when pursued by the papparazzi. It asks from what more important issue you are being distracted. One more guy made a stupid mistake to get laid. On to the next.

[GnitenGoodLk]

.....I'll take Patriot Act Casualties for $100 Alex....

--can't wait for the innocent ones to start getting snared up and demolished, if I were a politician nowadays, I'd give up phones and go back to smoke signals and carrier pigeons...