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Joe Lauria

Joe Lauria

Posted: March 11, 2008 02:24 PM

Meanwhile, Bush Stays


The man in the White House invades a nation that didn't threaten us, kills 4,000 Americans, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, destabilizes an entire region and it was all based on blatant lies and he gets to stay in office, while Spitzer wanted to have sex, admittedly in an unthinking way, and he has to resign?

I've seen people say he is a hypocrite because he prosecuted Wall Street fraud and now he's spent his own money on a prostitute. Should he not have prosecuted those on Wall Street because he likes hookers? Their crimes affected wide numbers of people, indeed the entire economy was threatened at the end of the 1990s. Who has Spitzer hurt besides his wife and kids? Spitzer's hypocrisy was not on Wall Street but that he prosecuted prostitution rings. Was he using their services at the time or only more recently?

If every politician had to resign because of hypocrisy there would be no one running government. He shouldn't go anywhere. The Republicans in the New York State Senate gave him 48 hours to resign or they will draw up articles of impeachment. Let them. How is going to a prostitute an impeachable offense? The real hypocrisy is American morality that says taking part in an activity that is legal in dozens of countries, even Islamic Turkey, is deemed a more serious offense than launching an illegal war.

 
 
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10:29 AM on 03/12/2008
I don't recall Joe Lauria complaining when the Clinton administration characterized Iraq as a threat (to the point of killing 567,000 children under 5), and saying Iraq had WMD and ties to al Qaeda.

These moonbats have extremely poor and/or selective memories.

www.sinsofthehusband.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM9lvNongXA
06:26 PM on 03/11/2008
Yeah, why won't somebody find out how Dubya gets his freak on and set him up so we can finally get him out of office.
05:54 PM on 03/11/2008
Just look at our movies (one reflection of U.S. popular culture). The censorship film board will approve horrible violence but not sex. This says it all.
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lgillooly
04:06 PM on 03/11/2008
Maybe the Democrats should give GWB 48 hrs or be impeached as well..
03:36 PM on 03/11/2008
But Bush and Cheney have been faithful to their spouses and children. That trumps everything in a righteous society.
03:23 PM on 03/11/2008
Hear, Hear! You're spot-on. Unfortunately it's easier for the American public to adopt a puritanical attitude than it is to admit that they're just as responsible for "Bush's war" as Bush (at least the ones that voted for Moron-Boy are responsible). There's a lot less cognitive dissonance lashing out at someone for a personal foible instead of facing up to the fact that they made a really bad choice, not once but twice!
07:23 PM on 03/12/2008
Thanks for having the courage to publicly agree with my unquestionable truth in this issue.

Honor counts, my friend!
03:22 PM on 03/11/2008
"The man in the White House invades a nation that didn't threaten us, kills 4,000 Americans, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, destabilizes an entire region and it was all based on blatant lies and he gets to stay in office..."

And the Iraq and Afghanistan wars fall off of HuffPo's front page to be replaced with this Spitzer nonsense and the, now daily, T&A photos that would almost make Fox News blush! If I need to see naked French women or bulging bikini babes, there are better sites!

What next, "investigative journalism" pieces, with the obligatory salacious photos of hookers, taking up bandwidth here while Americans continue to die, and Bush continues to destroy our Constitution? If you want to titilate--pun intended-us, perhaps you should open a sister site and call if "BuffPo!" It might even lure the rubberneckers who prowl here away so that we can get back to real issues.
03:18 PM on 03/11/2008
This is still a nation of neurotic Puritans who, ultimately, perceive sex as worse than fraud, corruption, or manslaughter.

I tend to believe that if every "Conservative" could undertake successful therapy ... there'd be no more Conservatives." ;-)
03:14 PM on 03/11/2008
An impeachable offense is whattever a legislature says it is - witness the impeachment of William J. Clinton.

The reality is that Spitzer was an unrelenting, unforgiving, remorseless prosecutor who delighted in ruining people, not just prosecuting them. He has made many enemies and few friends.

When one masquerades as Cotton Mather and is then caught in a venal sin, the level of the hypocrisy becomes unforgivable.

I voted for the guy, and I was disappointed by his terrible first year performance. He is a truly arrogant man who believes that he can do what he wants without consulting with the legislature (lousy as it is.) We have an executive in the White House who governs with the same philosophy. It doesn't work.
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PierreLeClerke
09:03 AM on 03/12/2008
Try not to miss the point; The bottom line here is that this is a pocket scandal.

Your NSA targeted the calls of a public official that is a political opponent, as the story goes, his bank provided private information to the FBI on suspicious transactions of less than $5,000. Elliot Spitzer is a multimillionaire and his bank was suspicious of some small transactions. BULLSHIT! If anyone still believes the domestic surveillance program is not for political and commercial gain for the ruling junta they are naive fools. How do you think they keep most of Congress in line. Work it out with a pencil.
The timing of this scandel was exicuted as cover to for news cycle diversion from the torture bill veto released on the Saturday prior, and the Iraq waste and fraud hearings of the Senate Appropriations committee that concluded yesterday with no coverage from the main stream propaganda machine . The "leak on Spitzer" was the Monday Madness news screen, they have a bag full of "Pocket Scandels" ready to deploy as needed.
Now you know the rest of the story! Choose America, the Elliot Spitzer Sex Show, or Events that shape the entire world view of our country for generations to come. Let the Impeachments begin in oder of priority.
03:06 PM on 03/11/2008
I think this is a tough one. These morally righteous guys (usually guys) preach the Rule Of Law and go all ball-busters on anyone who breaks the law. Then they bend and break the law themselves, and fully expect to get away with it because of their money and power and connections. Sex should NOT be against the law. Prostitution should not be against the law. Smoking pot should not be against the law. But because of these righteous ball busters, these things ARE against the law. And these powerful men who make the laws and enforce the laws should be held to the HIGHEST standard in obeying the laws. No matter how ridiculous the laws, until they are changed. Period.
06:10 PM on 03/11/2008
Yes. The height of hipocrisy. It's truly disgusting that he would be such a self-righteous arbiter of a a self-defined morality and then try to bring the force of the law against others in the same position. Hoisted by his own petard.

The Republicans that are going after him are most likely guilty of the same.
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jmpurser
See My micro-bio
03:05 PM on 03/11/2008
Yes, Bush is a monster, and no, he will never face Justice for his crimes. HOWEVER that in no way "vindicates" Spitzer nor makes ignoring his crimes acceptable.

I want good men and women running this country and I'm not gonna accept the least filthy as good.
03:00 PM on 03/11/2008
What a load of crap. Spitzer violated the Mann Act, a federal offense. If that isn't impeachable, I don't know what is. Why can't Spitzer just do the honorable thing and resign? I'm from Louisiana, and believe me, Sen. Vitter has no honor. I really know nothing about Sen. Craig, except that I wouldn't compare "stances" on anything.
03:27 PM on 03/11/2008
And you know for a fact that Spitzer violated the Mann Act how? Did you read the court transcipts where the jury foreman read "Guilty?" Oh wait, there hasn't been a trial.
02:50 PM on 03/11/2008
Well argued. The "real hypocrisy" is almost impossible to see when we are overly addicted to the false morality of primitive minds and subjected without resistance to the corrupting influences of lapel pin patriotism.
02:44 PM on 03/11/2008
1) The hypocrisy comes from his having prosecuted prostitution rings as AG
2) I was just looking through the New York constitution to see if they had a section dealing with impeachment, and they do (http://www.dos.state.ny.us/info/pdfs/cons2004.pdf) but it didn't say on what grounds the governor or lt governor can be impeached.

Anyway, I still think its a shame that he's probably going to lose his job over this considering the good work that he has done. However, at some point it would be nice to have politicians attempt to follow the law, or at least try and change the law if they don't think it is worth following.
02:39 PM on 03/11/2008
bush would even have had a chance to steal the 2000 election if clinton didn't get a bj and find new uses for cigars. the moronic majority of this country cares more the so-called immoral sex crimes because they are either taking part in it and feel guilty or would like to actually being sexually active, we are much more comfortable with violence especially when it comes to people who look and act different from white people.