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Eliot Spitzer Discusses The Cataclysm Of 2008-2009
Whether you love or hate Eliot Spitzer, the former New York Attorney General and Governor of New York State usually introduces perspectives as both a former politician and activist which are relevant, and in our day and age unprecedented Wall Street-D.C. corruption, very necessary. His daily appearances on the Dylan Ratigan show provide a much needed exposition on the extreme commingling of power and financial interests, that has become the norm as an ultra-small conformist minority in America controls the vast majority of the wealth of not only this country, but the entire world. The Fora.tv presentation below from Spitzer's recent appearance at the Commonwealth Club provides a crash course to anyone who wishes to catch up with the views of the disgraced governor who has slowly attempted to restore his public image as a political and financial activist. Can he restore his image? If he continues to expose the glaring corruption and brings attention to the at times criminal conflicts of interest, we believe the answer is yes.
Presentation highlights:
The full presentation can be seen here, while the individual segments are as follows:
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Listen up people, if I were Elliott Spitzer, I would have tagged that hot twat call girl too, but the mistake was paying for it.
Everything outlined above that he is working on gets 2 thumbs up from my side of town.
Vote this guy back in office, any office.
Hailz and Praise to the great Elliott Spitzer and his fine taste in tail!
ES is my hero.
"... but the mistake was paying for it."
No, Spizter's mistake was not realizing he was being set up....
Being a former Attorney General, knowing how surveillance works, pissing off half of Wall Street by prosecuting people like...
1. Hank "OSS" Greenberg.
Funny how snakes, insurance and former OSS officers have so much in common.
2. Republican Vendetta Specialists in the White House.
These guys are all too impotent to have sex... you had to know they were itching to sodomize you, Elliot...
3. "I'm safe paying to play in DC. The FBI NEVER investigates prostitution."
Hello Elliot! J. Edgar made his career on bedroom peeping. Conintlpro, Elliot, do you read? Church Committee? Were you literate in '76?
That being said, I would put Spitzer in charge of the SEC tomorrow if he agrees to investigate his college buddy Cramer the Clown. William Black at FDIC the day after.
Listen Elliot is part of the tribe. When he was bar mitzvahed, he entered into a special contract. He knows that dalliances outside marriage, while winked at in Europe or modestly scorned in the USA, is absolute taboo in the levantic mores. Really the unpardonable sin, a contravention of the absolute 10, engraven in stone to be carved in the heart.
If he could contravene his marriage and all that entails, he cannot play the pure prosecutor or the defender of secular faith.
He was done in by his own hand. Once you cross that line, you should be cast into political outer darkness. Inexcuseable. Only a fool would allow such a malefactor try to recoup trust. He is a violator of the first degree.
Sword play has a way of striking through both bone and marrow, and divides a just man from just another miscreant.
Like a handgun to a felon, once a political transgresses to a certain degree he can no longer and never again hold the privilege.
What would be your guess as to the married politicians in office right now who are availing themselves of the services of equally hot boys and girls, and paying for it or not, right this second?
Hey Anony #230398!
Be careful! A big PLANK fell into your eye when you were trying get up enough hot air for that hyper-pompous sneeze you just let off.
I just wondered if you see it -- the plank that is.
Disagree with the idea that the US had Won. There was nothing to win.Only an attempt of supporting a rebuilding western world , creating markets to sell into too. The world outside of Europe was for all practical intent and purpose .. backwards.Lesser developed , lesser capable. There was no real competition only a potential fall of a modern moral society once other economic engines were restarted. The break down of dept burderns we see today was only a matter of when not if. . America has declined because of a fiat system existing , ( no other real choice) and in idealist view of humanity , ( religion-politics) has lead to the noe general decline and return to a more normal social order... aka...Fall. Considering the fact, that reported GDP is 70+ % consumption, this in a failing fiat house of cards, than all models, all expectations are illusionary.. mere guesses.
Mr Spitzer does however , seem like a good man , ( no good deed ever goes without the proper punishment) but in my view the answers are not going to be found in globalization but rather nationalization. If America is rebuilt internally Strong , a very long process if at all possible, than all the other nation states issues won't matter. America needs to become ... Independent.
When someone needs a career in politics quite so badly that after having urinated on both the trust of his family and whatever segment of a morally tone deaf public still cares he's practically vomiting on the rug to re-create one, you've got a person more suitably relegated to the care of his mother than political office. I mean after filth like Clinton, Sanford, Edwards et all, haven't we plumbed bottom yet?
None of them are telling us the truth about what is going on. I wish I could be as black and white about it as you are choosing to be, but unfortunately reality is shades of grey. Spitzer is grey and potentially quite useful.
I have things about my past that would make it impossible for me to run for office. Thing of it is, it was all in my youth. I have the wisdom to understand that if one is too rigid, they only follow the rules because they are told certain things are bad. If you make the mistakes, you gain a wisdom that can be extrapolated to other areas of your life.
If I were Spitzer's wife, I would divorce him. But I don't throw him out as a potential soldier in this fight.
And the timing on when he got caught, well...
+1
Good, thoughtful points. Part of why we as a country are hostage to so much official idiocy is that most of the people who possess the much-needed skills and wisdoms of life, gained from difficult experience lived through and learned from, cannot get elected because they have been all-too-human for the staged-persona-machine of modern politics.
If we cannot deal with the humanity of a broader base of potential leaders, and start drawing from all the promise that is out there, then the system will stay twisted, and ourselves limited even as local leaders in our communities.
At some point we need to wake up and do a better job of filtering for hard-won wisdom and integrity (which does not mean rewarding idiots who won't learn, to the contrary), or this cartoon-management approach to politics will have us in the mire, with only ourselves to blame.. Or to paraphrase Pogo, the enemy will be us.
Greed is human. Politically organizing crime to thieve from the honest produce of the working class is human. Giving in to all the carnal impulses of one's dark nature is human.
Let's excuse them all. In fact let's not hold up any form of law and degrade ourselves to a rule of law to a rule of whim.
Put enough sugary words upon the downfall of a man and resuscitate him to service where he can yet again succumb to temptation. And this time probably to the denigration of the public weal.
The marines have high wash-out rates for their elite forces. Political class should be the same. Washout--back to the trenches.
"I wish I could be as black and white about it as you are choosing to be, but unfortunately reality is shades of grey."
The whore he was cavorting with was grey? Please.
"I have the wisdom to understand that if one is too rigid, they only follow the rules because they are told certain things are bad. If you make the mistakes, you gain a wisdom that can be extrapolated to other areas of your life.."
This is what passes for wisdom? It never occurs to you that people choose the moral course quite freely simply because it's good for them and for others? Its called maturity, not rigidity, McCreant. One wonders what your vaunted experience has taught you if it hasn't taught you this. Until it does, might I suggest that you cancel the lecture tour. You're miscast as a pastor.
Your comments above are sad. You don't have a lot of room for compassion, that is clear. What that tells me is you have no compassion for yourself, either. I hope you can ease up on yourself someday.
You will rage at me, it is what you do a lot of in the comments. If it gives you pleasure, go for it.
I am not being sarcastic, I really feel bad for you.
The so called "whore" is someone's daughter. She is neither intrinsically good or evil. She is a girl/young woman. The majority of women who end up in this profession are sex abuse survivors. You would tell them to just pull up their boot straps and get over it and fly straight, eh? Black and White. No grey. No compassion.
I like many of your comments, but you are an inflexible rage-a-holic. You are grey.
"I like many of your comments, but you are an inflexible rage-a-holic."
Egad, woman, where's your compassion? :-)
Projection and transference.
Nope, bad guess. Its much. much simpler actually. Try the irony or sarcasm. Its generally most effective when people step on their own teat, much as you have here.
Nope, bad guess. It's much, much simpler than that, actually. Try irony or sarcasm, usually appropo in circumstances where people step on their own teat much as you have here.
Sad stoopid american myopia married a rigid haterd for all mankind, and that created a creature called AV. You need ice between your legs dude, relax
Actually, sarcasm is the shield of the weak. I am a man and took umbrage with the use of 'whore', as I read your post, before I had gotten to mscreant's response to your post.
Since your spectra is resistant to nuance. I would like to cast some light on the fact that Spitzer has really done, and continues to do, penance for his foibles. Yeah, he was exposed as a person who has a kink that was serviced by a professional.
So what, President's should be impeached for war crimes, not blow jobs. He did not bring the economy of the world to a near collapse, but he knows how it did,that is what gives him some considerable room to talk. Right, he was a prosecutor, and a hypocrite. To my mind he did his time, and his victims, his family, well, that is between them.
- Spitzer appears frequently doing a service to us all. He shines light on the things that have, to degrees, hurt most of the people who read here and the country and the world. The greater concern I have is not with a private proclivity of one man, but a system that continues to thrive on government abetted fraud. I am more troubled there isn't an inclination for accountability the fraud that was swept under the carpet by mr. hankey and bernanke. Or war crimes for that matter. I do hold out the hope that holder is working on a serious fraud investigation, enough to nail cassano, and whoever was hands on over at goldman creating these 'instruments' that caved everything in. Sadly, if a third September comes and goes with out a perp walk, it will make this administration accessories after the fact.
" So what, President's should be impeached for war crimes, not blow jobs. He did not bring the economy of the world to a near collapse, but he knows how it did,that is what gives him some considerable room to talk. Right, he was a prosecutor, and a hypocrite. To my mind he did his time, and his victims, his family, well, that is between them."
Very very well said. BJ are trivial compared to war crimes which are regularly trivialized or completely ignored.
MsCreant: very, very well said.
Compassion is a good thing. a really good thing.
You know what's a really, really, really good thing?
A capable guy who got extremely pissed off by a ratfuck.
Well said mscreant. Well said.
Even moral people also make immoral choices. Ego above chivalry, pride over fairness, greed over compassion and generosity. Life forces hard choices on all of us and we do learn from mistakes. I've not seen many people learn from rigidity.
In my opinion, choosing meanness, harshness, unforgiveness and hate is sinful too.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
- Jimi Hendrix
[But some will say he was a no good, pot smoking, acid dropping lunatic. Besides, he was a black man. But Bob Marley, another black man, believed like Jimi, that music could change the world.]
Middle class western morality is a weapon that is routinely used against us. Do not for a second believe that any of the ruling class indulge in any such morality. They are, by their observable actions, liars, thieves, and much much worse. They use our morality to protect themselves from us, not for our own good, and their control of the media makes it easy to hide their flaws. Spitzer got uppity and had to be taken down, and it was easy: "He cheated on his wife, with a prostitute! AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Unlike Clinton, who took advantage of an underling....
Well said. SWRichmond.
Clinton/Lewinsky was a major distraction for years. prime time opium. My guess is Lewinsky's handlers knew Ol' Bills weakness and placed the cookie jar within reach. In E.S.'s case, that call girl was prime. The whole story can't possibly be know in public about how the introduction was made, by whom etc. Other people on both sides of the affair had to have know. The biggest industries in any major capitol are high class prostitution and extortion.
Another good post.
The ruling class of every age looks remarkably like the Pharisees of Jesus day. And so history repeats itself again. It is time for mankind to evolve.
Very true. Asymmetrical ethics. Just like the debt slave wanting to responsibly pay off his debts, even though the banks lend their "free" money from the Fed to him at 29.99% APR.
With all due respect, ES tapped a woman who sold her body. So what. Two consenting adults engaging in commerce.
If only Goldman were so forthright.
Nice description of a woman earning a living. But the real whores are the ones working the Street.
Who is Andrei Vyshinsky ? Jesus Christ? Spare us your sermons and confess to us your sins. I can't wait!
Who is Andrei Vyshinsky ? Jesus Christ? Spare us your sermons and confess to us your sins. I can't wait!
what do we little humans know of wisdom?
Like choosing the successor to a dalai lama, one must see through to the innate core of man. What passes for choice in many should be as instinct in a higher order being. The core laws of society should be a matter of essential wiring. Crossing the line cannot be contemplated because it is outside of possibility.
That Spitzer could allow himself the temptation, then by sudden or slow condescension contravened a law within man known for millenia was nature's winnowing process.
He sought to become a law unto himself, able to interpret and judge for himself, holding himself above peer review.
Works of darkness are works of darkness. Mingled creatures are we all and misdemeanors truly overcome may be overlooked. However, serious moral turpitude and glaring hypocracy should keep cockroaches out of the disinfecting sunshine.
Has Spitzer reformed? Maybe. But he can never be trusted with weighty things again. What is more weighty than a bride's pride, reputation, and expectation of loyalty and faithfulness?
Lie with dogs, gets the fleas.
maybe she honestly loves him. look at elin, she may keep him. i was lucky to past the colorado bureau investigation to get my teacher/substitute certification.
i like him but i am a sucker for a smart and witty man. he has been on travis smiley, amy goodman on Democracy Now, and bill moyers. i call him and ratigan, paul revere and the raiders. someone has to do it.
"If I were Spitzer's wife, I would divorce him. But I don't throw him out as a potential soldier in this fight."
Agreed. He screwed around, it is Elliot's fault.
But can he do the job? Would he be competent to run the SEC?
I screwed a prostitute = I am incompetent to run the SEC
...would be the kind of absurdity an agent provocateur sock puppet, <cough> Andrei Vyshinsky-SKI <cough> would hoist into a discussion.
You guys aren't naive enough to believe that his wife didn't actually know, are you?
Lemme guess, neither did Tiger's wife...hahahahaha. Time to get real everybody.
It's all play acting. Pretend marriage to appeal to the proles and pretend surprise by the little missus when the truth comes out. The only sin here was that he publicly embarrassed her; now she has to pretend to have cared or else everyone will point and snicker
How sanctimonious! Why is his sex life of such interest in the US. Prostitutes have been in operation since the beginning of time. I'm a complete fan of Eliot Spitzer and have no idea why he is not still AG in New York. You throw out a guy for personal extra-curricular activities - but leave gangsters, thugs, warmongers, robbers, fraudsters, criminals to run the country. No wonder it is a dogs-dinner democracy!
"You throw out a guy for personal extra-curricular activities - but leave gangsters, thugs, warmongers, robbers, fraudsters, criminals to run the country."
No, we throw out filth like Spitzer for personal extra-curricular activities and detain, interrogate and publically try gangsters, thugs, warmongers, robbers, fraudsters, criminals, and sociopathic, amoral schlemeils like you.
You just adore your rage, don't you?
MsC - I agree with all your comments - and I've never been called amoral before! Such intolerance...
faceless personal attacks. sad. a little dose of zen can make your days go by with a smile.
They either have personal issues or are paid to disrupt. See: PierreLegrand, Lou269...Master Bates is probably just the former. We'll never know. But it all ranges from extremely annoying to extremely caustic.
---
Separately, Spitzer is awesome.
Agree! Paid trolls are nothing new, and not even illegal, at least here in the Untied States. Yet another example of 'money never sleeps.'
Your name is quite apropos. It took me 6 beers to see what you mean.
I'm not intolerant... don't really care who someone wants to sleep with...
Nevertheless, Eliot Spitzer is scum, in my opinion.
Exactly....the man is scum and shouldn't be trusted by anybody. He has nothing to say on any subject I want to hear.
Its a hard path beset with temptations.
Andrei, who is WE? Sounds like you are them. Are you saying you alone are a moral man amongst men? From what i see ONLY Spitzer has been made to pay. The real gangsters are running free . Are they the we you speak of? So its Slime tossing slime?
"No, we throw out filth like Spitzer for personal extra-curricular activities and detain, interrogate and publically try gangsters, thugs, warmongers, robbers, fraudsters, criminals, and sociopathic, amoral schlemeils like you."
The one of convenience but not the ones doing serious damage.
"No, we throw out filth like Spitzer for personal extra-curricular activities and detain, interrogate and publically try gangsters, thugs, warmongers, robbers, fraudsters, criminals, and sociopathic, amoral schlemeils like you."
The ones of convenience but not the ones doing serious damage.
+1. I'd rather have my government out whore-mongering all day than waging economic warfare on me.
What was his outrage about Merril's defense? Yes, we're bad, but our competitors are worse.
Spitzer found it a hollow and flimsy excuse. His is the same.
I ONLY screwed around with a woman whose charms were for sale. Nevermind that prostitution and soliciting are serious crimes in his jurisdiction. AND he was the chief prosecutor and law enforcer within his power dominion.
We need this prosecutor because, while he is certainly bad and a criminal (breaking the law is still a crime), the other criminal class is SO much worse.
Stupid! Obey the laws you are sworn to protect, avoid even the most discrete appearance of wrong-doing, shepard your reputation jealously, and strive to live one or several factors of higher public morality.
Many called, few chosen.
I don't give a rat's ass where he stuffs his sausage.
If he is smart, intolerant of crookedness in politics and finance, I'd vote him head of SEC right now.
Can you say the (I'm assuming) chaste, faithful, current head of the SEC is doing a better job?
I'd rather deal with an honest businessman who screws the hole of his choosing than a seemingly faithful family man who is trying to screw me in business dealings.
I choose politically, financially moral over 'where you bump your nasty bits' moral.
Tell that to Spitzer, what you and other refuse to address is that when he held the supreme legal power in the state, he charged, prosecuted and convicted (at great expense to the defendant and tax payers) other men for where they stuffed their sausage.
He's a hypocrite and so are you.
Vomiting on the carpet is not nearly as bad as chewing it. God I wish we could go back to leaders who steal nothing more than panties
When you speak about recent but past political filth, and fail to include GWB on the list, your credibilty is lost.
RE: Spitzer's recent (and past) activity, I'm reminded of one of my old fave song lyrics: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" (Me and Bobby McGee).
Having had everything he valued taken away, Spitzer is now free.......and that makes him dangerous to those in power.
I with him godspeed on his new journey.
Maybe we need more hookers in washington!
hell if i were younger i wood (get it, wood) donate myself.
at bbbilly: +69
No, but as long as people like you keep focusing on actions of politicians that do not affect you or anyone who is more than one degree separated from the parties involved, rather than things that actually matter, we are sure to.
Wall Street set him up with the prostitute because he is the only politician in America with the knowledge, guts, experience and intelligence to take them on.
Most stats indicate at one time or another 75% of men pay for sex...Duh...
what he did is more common and normal than spitting on the subway tracks.
off the table mabel .. that quarter is for the beer .
Of 2665 men completing a standard health screening questionnaire in the UK, 10% (267) reported paid sex. – Characteristics of men who pay for sex: a UK sexual health clinic survey, August 9, 2006.
A considerable proportion of men worldwide buy sex from female prostitutes, with most estimates of lifetime prevalence ranging from 7 to 39 percent, depending on the country and study. – 2008 Scientific American Mind
Infidelity statistics from WomanSavers.com show that the large percentage of men, at least 70 percent, are faithful to their wives:
…22 percent of married men have strayed at least once during their married lives.
…22 percent of men and 14 percent of women admitted to having sexual relations outside their marriage sometime in their past.
…5 percent of married men and 3 percent of married women reported having sex with someone other than their spouse in the 1997...
…About 24 percent of men and 14 percent of women have had sex outside their marriages, according to a Dec. 21, 1998 report in USA Today on a national study by the University of California, San Francisco.
I wouldn’t go by the statistical “educated guesses” used by authors exploiting truth and the downfall of man, particularly females, who are looking for sensation, causes and a raison d’etre to sell their books on sex and their feminist hopes.
http://www.womansavers.com/infidelity-statistics.asp.
That said, Elliot Spitzer at least has paid a price for his infidelity, unlike Bill Clinton. I, too, think Spitzer has a future because, as you say, he has "the knowledge, guts, experience and intelligence to take them on."
And if you are married it often costs more.
All good husbands know this.
So 3% of women cheated with 5% of men.
I've would never believe a woman to tell me how many men or who they have slept with. Gotta maintain the goodgirl myth.
+
And isn't it true that women deceide who THEY are going to sleep with. Men are just the lucky party.
I used to be a treeplanter in canada in the 80's. The male to female ratio was anywhere from 6 or 8 to 1. The guys would perform like red airbag inflating prairie chickens. The girls would choose and they all did even the ugly ones.
"Wall Street set him up with the prostitute because he is the only politician in America with the knowledge, guts, experience and intelligence to take them on."
I know, Spitzer's trysts were everybody else's fault, this time Wall Street's. You don't happen to be an alcoholic, do you?
"Most stats indicate at one time or another 75% of men pay for sex...Duh...what he did is more common and normal than spitting on the subway tracks."
What's common is moral? That's lucid. So are shoplifting and mugging. You have a personal history along these lines maybe?
"Pros" comment (I assume "Pros" is an abreviation for Prostitute) shows her ignorance of Eliot's story and those outrageous "statistics," "at one time or another 75% of men pay for sex," assuming she's talking about prostitution and not dinner and a movie, is just some number she pulled out of her massively stretched out anus.
He wasn't "set up" by "Wall Street." Eliot set himself up. Eliot had been regularly using prostitutes since he was a teenager. He set himself up. He was at odds with everyone in Albany because he was trying to clean up the totally corrupt state government which New York has, so he had no cover there. He went aggressively after a large prostitution ring in Queens county making certain people very angry. With his personal penchant for high priced whores being known to those people, all it took was a call to the Federales, a trade off for less jail time, and all was set in motion to take him down very easily. "Client No. 9" did it to himself.
100+ Throw in Mr. Home Depot's work and "it is a rap Dano. Book him."
"Client No. 9" did it to himself."
Says it all, friend milbank.
Nuff said.
i dont pay for something i can do myself.
Love cant be bought and i still have two hands! Hooyaa
100 percent of men pay for sex,its all in how you deifne
it!
+
yeah i wish tiger had chosen that route too, but he is young and dumb.
Mr. Vyshinsky, there is no bottom.
There would seem not to be, sadly, waterdog.
Draft Spitzer to replace Shapiro at the SEC and let the "fur fly"
Well, it not that there isn't recent precident for such things. I mean they gave the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama, didn't they? :-)
amen to that
The fall of Eliot Spitzer is one of the major unrecognized tragedies of the past decade. A very smart man.
I'd rather have a pol that screws around than one that screws everybody.
I have news for you, son. A pol that "screws around" IS a pol that screws everybody.
I'm not your son, sorry.
Politicians are paid to administrate a territory. If that isn't more important than sex, well, you might want to get your eyes tested.
Would you prefer a public official that was addicted to sex or addicted to money?
Andrei,
Thank you for bringing some sort of moral clarity and decency to the ZH commentary, which is too often sadly lacking.
Set aside whether one thinks prostitution is moral or not per se.
Spitzer was agressively prosecuting organized prostitution rings while he was a patron of such rings. That shows a total moral and ethical hypocracy that should preclude him from ever being in elected or appointed office again. A man of his psychological makeup should never again be in the position of holding the public's trust.
Add to the fact that he indirectly admitted to participating in numerous felonies including but, not limited to, The Mann Act, that he knew he was committing them when making them. He paid no criminal price for these crimes as long as he resigned the governorship.
It's amazing how people bitch about the corruption in government but, when confronted with whether or not to re-admit a corrupt politician back into government, find a way to justify it as long as he says the right things about whatever.
Eliot Spitzer has always said the right things as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't change the fact that he is not psychologically fit to hold the public trust via some office ever again.
Very grey stuff. There is something to what you say here and elsewhere that rings true. I'm just not seeing too many on the horizon that know/understand what is going on AND are running for office. I start thinking about doing what they do in hacker world, send the hackers after the hackers. Not sure the hackers they send are reformed, and won't take advantage of the situation, but who else to do it?
Putting him in the SEC becomes an interesting idea...
I'm just not seeing too many on the horizon that know/understand what is going on AND are running for office. I start thinking about doing what they do in hacker world, send the hackers after the hackers. Not sure the hackers they send are reformed, and won't take advantage of the situation, but who else to do it?
First MsCreant, I've always admired your comments at ZH and the way you take on the jerks who cross your path at times.
That you are "not seeing too many on the horizon that know/understand what is going on AND are running for office" might be true. That there aren't plenty out there who do know/understand and want to run for office I say is true.
The problem is, the ones you and I get to vote for have already been vetted by the corporations and other powerful business/banking interests before you or I get the chance to vote for them no matter which party is running them. Who do you think pays for their campaigns?
Spitzer got as far as he did because he comes from an ultra-wealthy family and didn't need the campaign money so he wasn't in the pockets of the special interests. He was already in the position you want to put him in, elected office, and you can see what happened. Instead of being on the take he turned out to be an end-user (no pun intended) of the crimes he was particularly agressive in procecuting.
The hacker analogy above does not apply to Eliot Spitzer. He wasn't a Pimp who got caught. He wasn't a banker who was breaking laws. He was already in the situation you want to put him in when he was Attorney General and then Governor of New York, elected to root out corruption.
To the SEC:
The problem of the SEC isn't a "Mary Schapiro" problem. It's an SEC problem that, in the particular situation, goes back through Christopher Cox, Harvey Pitt and Arthur Levitt. Both in Democratic and Republican administrations. Why? It's the institution of the SEC as it is set up that is the problem. As it is set up, it is actually used to protect and cover for the perps from the rules and laws it should be procecuting. It's not really a watchdog over Wall Street but, a lapdog of Wall Street. Only Congress can truly clean that up not any one man. I refer you to my earlier paragraphs regarding politicians and campaign financing to understand why that goes and will go nowhere.
As far as being appointed Chairman of the SEC? Again, it's not the party or the President, that makes the difference, the SEC is not the watchdog over Wall Street. That is an illusion fed to the electorate who continues to buy into it. It is the lapdog of Wall St. Schapiro, Cox, Pitt, Levitt Democrat, Republican, it makes no difference. Our American system of government has pre-ordained that.
Spitzer had a great shot of going all the way to the White House. Fortunately, his personal psychopathy and it's power over the choices he made was exposed.
Well said.
I'm truly at a lost to understand how seemingly well informed and well meaning people can accept for a position of public office, those who were (in your words) "aggressive in prosecuting" civilians who behaved no different than they. This my opinion is a serious offense and I can only guess that its the perversion of the concept of "pragmatism" that excuses others to willingly overlook and sacrifice their fellow citizens in the efforts to not only defend, but work to reappoint a proven criminal to a position of high public office. Truly astonding.
I don't think we should demand perfection from our leaders. But I also don't think that when they become very harmful to society that they should set up the necessary gangs and fall guys and protections from punishment that turns them into full on crazy harmfuls in the face of criticism.
Spitzer didn't hurt me. He hurt his wife and family. Any desire I have to punish him or judge him is stupidity on my part. The ONLY institution who universally harms people is the FED and banking system. They hurt you if your rich if your poor if you live in a far off remote country. Doesn't matter. For every person they help they have to hurt people to make it happen. For every day of ease they have to create a day of disease elsewhere. Like I've said in other posts. The power that money masters want is the power to controll all connectivity to create a world will no one will do anything or lift a finger for another person without them giving them a printed coupon to say it's ok to do so. To judge who is worthy of what and when. To use need to create supply and demand of fullfillment and unfullfillment. To harness all creativity and force everyone into a role in it.
Heraclitus said. "God is the oneness of mind that guides and permeates all conciousness."
I say "God is the oneness of mind that controls and manipulates all conciousness."
The centrality of it all simply works with various forms and usages of semaphores of authority.
MsCreant, you have a flexibility in your thought I find very admirable. I would not want to be on the other side of a debate from you. And I also would be open to viewing Spitzer's discretions with a practical bent IF the discretion he had been caught for were outside of his area of interest. But because he was attacking prostitution on the one hand as a prosecutor and engaging in it on the other hand? That is the purest of hypocrisy. I would love for us as taxpayers to be able to use his skills, but this level of hypocrisy is too far even for my (very relaxed) standards for morality in politicians.
He's a sanctimonious hypocrite... really the worst type - requiring tremendous self-delusion.
Elliott Spitzer's "troubles" was at heart a political assassination. Not only does he know a lot but he has the balls to take on Wall Street. Over time, he will be vindicated. As will be Mrs. Spitzer for her courage to remain by his side.
To this day, no charges have been filed against the man.
Watching the tv back then, his wife came across as a very strong woman who dignified the situation, eventually helping redeem it, hopefully, if Spitzer continues to speak the truth, and ignore the catcalls. Yes he was set up, and the pressures on his psyche had to be enormous, and he let it all go to his head, but he f*'d up, he admitted it, he's paying his price. Let's see if he can add value---again.
He didn't "admit" it. He got caught. Had he not resigned, he would have been procecuted and would be in jail right now.
Milbank, that's a fair point, well taken. I have read your other remarks as well, together with G Marx's, and they do give me reason to consider how the political redemption principle may be misapplied with regard to Spitzer.
Yes no charges were filed AS long as he resigned--which he did. Called plea bargain. Happens every day.
called extortion
"Elliott Spitzer's "troubles" was at heart a political assassination"
The whore he employed was a Republican?
"Over time, he will be vindicated."
Of what? He didn't compensate her?
Elliot says the morals (selling worthless MBS) of the market place got so low that only the government could repair it.
But the government prevented the guilty from failing -- from going to the bottom of the income bell curve --- by bailing them out. --- Have the moral -less learned their lesson?
So how can the government be the saviour and biggest criminal at the same time.
And how can Ohio create global warming --- when global warming has not been proven.
And systemic risk is may only be dangerous to those in the system -- the Fed, GS, ---- we don't know --- we only know what the system tells us
The political correctness fosterered by the government is discrimination --- but Elliot does not see it. You only see discrimination in others -- not yourself
Now he defends minimun wage --- that which prevents our economy from ajusting to global competition --- increases unemployment and then creates unfunded liability
During the past month, I was sitting in a conference room w/ a person, trained in IT, grew up in London, England. Trained in IT, she worked with terrorism and MI-5. We discussed skills. Skills led to abilities, abilities, abilities. She stated Bill Clinton, ability, ability, ability, ability as a US president. Why the moral brouhaha? Nothing moral affected his ability to be US president. After Clinton, she stated, you Americans elected a president who brought the country down.
My reaction was turn off the volume on the right wing noise machine, foreign nationals who aren't exposed to Dimbaugh, Fox, or Drudge, and ability is the correct measure.
Indeed, and even from a religion and morals perspective, consider the Old Testament (Daniel 2:31-32) which many were made to read at some point when younger. Which part of "feet of clay" do people not understand? It is human nature. That is not to glorify errors (to the contrary), but rather to point out that it often takes life experience, trial and error to learn to mediate the light and shadow aspects of our individual and communal experience. And in that way, we become whole and possessing of a more fully formed maturity. It IS a rock-strewn path that many must follow in life toward that end (few seem to come to it by early formation and reason). And yet Providence (by whatever name, or none) helps develop gifts that are much-needed in public life. People can redeem their personal failures and unwitting/semi-witting mistakes, leveraging their personal renewal for the public good, which relieves the burdens of others and keeps the virtuous cycle going. We need to allow room for that, pathways to demonstrate that measured trust can be given again, even as consequences must be carried. Instead of that, we seem to have shaming mechanisms locking up a lot of good energy for public life and civic duty, blocking the healthy pathways of compassion and renewal. What will be left if only cartoon characters can get elected? Hard to imagine that this was the rule in earlier history that created the world we have, pluses and minuses together. Why do we put up with it now? Why so many talented citizens hostage to a political paradigm that regularly devolves into a cartoon?
clinton was a receipt of the strong dollar policy rubins summers gibson paradox ,lets take from this pot transfer it to that pot .. .. a staged event to roll the dice.. and the never ending its in a black box raid on social security.
so when the dice are thrown .. those who smile , show the greatest hubris ,, and in the cycle of economics.. are at the turning point .. we credit the man .. whilst all the time the cycle turns ,, turns turns .
clinton loaded the dice ..
Elliot is one smart dude who decided to try somebody on for size and they simply had the balls and money to call his bluff big time. They are still laughing about it no doubt.
It is hard to understand how an expert in debit transfers in the context of money laundering payments (he is) and an expert in federal jurisdiction questions (transporting prostitutes across state lines is --er--a felony) could be so breathtakingly sloppy and stupid.
It is like he wanted to get caught --which in and of itself opens up a whole new dimension in the psycho-profile of this talented individual.
he was thinkin with the wrong part of his body.
Very insightful. I'd appreciate it if you'd address Spitzer's ideological weaknesses (listen to the whole speech/questions, etc., and critique it). I will try to add below.
i am high but i hear you clinny. keep posting.
The Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 subprime credit meltdown combined. A huge market blowout.The Big Crash is Coming...."debt bomb" Explosion
Odd how 'patterns in financial transactions' brought Spitzer's 'transgressions' to light. So very many similar situations by other public officials go on without any publicity - and note that this was not even prosecuted..... How much information has 'Total Information Awareness' dug up on politicians? How much of that FISA 'warrantless wiretapping' was directed against political foes? No need to burgularize the Watergate when you can read all the emails and listen into all the conversations...... It's easy to manipulate politicians if you know all their dirty secrets.
It very much looks like people went digging - very deep - for dirt on Spitzer to shut him up and stop him. He was raising serious questions at the time - BEFORE the merde hit the fan.
Sadly there was dirt to find - though that seems to be the case far too often. Few public figures - even those doing a good job serving the public - seem to have unimpeachable records with squeaky clean lives but his private sins provided a too convenient way to halt some very 'inconvenient' questions. Spitzer was on to this mess long before it became public.
I have been speculating that this is the case for years. What ever would restrain them from using these kinds of abilities against the other pols? Nothing. My husband used to be a low level NSA spook. He says, very simply, "We can intercept anything we want to." They knew this stuff about Elliot for a long time would be my guess.
As have I, MsCreant. IMHO, you win the prize! Huzzahs! Praise! And applause! And a glass of beer at a rear table?
Any day JR. Make it dark, and yummy, please.
;-)
Spitzer is as sleazy and corrupt as any Wall Streeter. Drumming up bogus charges for personal ambition?!
Hey folks:
So Eliot Spitzer strayed - big f*****ng deal.
At least it was with a paid professional - not a misbegotten affair of the heart like John Edwards, Mark Sanford and John Ensign.
As I seem to recall, another anti-Wall-Street tough guy, Rudy Guiliani, also strayed, got divorced, but stayed in office.
When the pitchforks are raised, the torches lit and the tumbrils are rolling, I want three special prosecutors - Spitzer, Guiliani, and Cuomo.
Actually there is compelling evidence that John Edwards, Mark Sanford and John Ensign all wanted to "get caught" and "punished". Hmmm perhaps an abusive parent or uncle in their childhood?
Mr. Vyshinsky seems to want to singlehandedly hijack this thread. I have noticed a trend with recent threads that there is an early and repeated attempt to get them off topic and keep them there.
+11111. Exactly!
Hence the assertion:
"...would be the kind of absurdity an agent provocateur sock puppet, <cough> Andrei Vyshinsky-SKI <cough> would hoist into a discussion."
If I may be allowed to shamelessly self promote. At least I know when I'm a whorin'.
I would love to see Spitzer debate economics with obama, without obama being allowed teleprompters. Now that would be a show.
spitzer mouthing keynesian new york politics ,, obama mouthing marxian theory,, both talking out of the wrong side of reality,
but they mimic each other.
both cycle babble ..
+100
It seems that you are forgetting,that the "subprime" fiasco occured when thi guy was in office in ine capacity or another. this is like TG blaming it on previous administration when he was asked "what was your position during that time" by a congressman. By the way,this "one super human being"who is going to solve all the ills,is I thought something that belongs to the crowd of "the American idol"and not to the crowd of ZH. So out of millions upon millions of people,it is Elliot Spitzer with his baggage who is going to solve the problems of Wall St. And by the way,I didn't read that anybody of the people he "bothered"went to jail. I am sorry,but a lot of the responses here disappointed me. It only shows that even within ZH crowds,some people still believe the MSM media propaganda in showing that Spitzer cleaned Wall st. It was all theatrical and probably about turf war. Proof?the whole subrime fiasco...
Spitzer's the man. There ain't nuttin wrong with pooning.
Mr. Spitzer would do wonders to reestablish his public credibility by taking us on a trip down the rabbit hole and starting a class-action lawsuit against the Fed and the AIG black box.
I, for one, am happy to donate what I can to the fees, provided the costs are fully transparent to the public. Say 3,000,000 million people donate from $1-$10 a pop?
Politics can wait.
Besides I still don't trust him.
Not yet.
And it's got nothing to do with being Client #9.
Plus, him & Hanky-poo still haven't squared off in the cage yet.
What'cha say Spitz?
+1 to the hi-jacked threads thoughts.
My contribution to the hi-jacking is to offer the hope that ZH 2.0 has an 'ignore' feature.
And, yes, E. Spitzer can be very useful for uncovering the festering mess that seems to run things.
Eliot....
As I have on your HuffPo articles, I commend you once again for returning to the public stage and urge you to continue and press harder.
I very much hope that you will be in touch with Tyler at Zero Hedge (if not already) and work with him and the team on the matters that bind us together. How about writing a post specifically for Zero Hedge??? C'mon, just do it Eliot!!
Isn't it interesting how such a diverse group of people (not only on this thread but in other forums and venues as well, such as Eliot's presentation at Syracuse University this past week) seemingly out of nowhere have opined about Eliot as the SEC commissioner? I wish President Obama had the stones to call for Mary Schapiro's resignation and nominate Eliot for the job.
As to the comments about pecadillos, may I suggest that they only be discussed by those who have not made any mistakes, errors, oversights, etcetera in their lives?
"As to the comments about pecadillos, may I suggest that they only be discussed by those who have not made any mistakes, errors, oversights, etcetera in their lives?"
At first blush sweetie, I say "Amen!" But then, if those folks existed, they sure would be boring cusses, wouldn't they? Not sure I'd want to hear from them. What would they know but the rules?
Another case of 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone.'
Also, if such folks existed, I doubt they would lead boring lives. There are lots of things you can do to promote peace that are not dull. There are quite a few people we still talk about after thousands of years who followed the rules. At least the important rules.
Oh don't invite Eliot here, deadhead.
You might run Andrei off. ;)
Eliot may already be a part of ZH...who knows?
barf city, TD. This guy is silver spoon sewage. Good gawd, you can't do any better than this pig? Where he puts his wiener has nothing to do with it. He's a self-entitled phony from the get go and your attempt to aid his 'rehab' is pathetic. You think he's different kind of insider bastard than than the insider bastards? LMAO x infinity...what a disappointing bunch of shit.
The entire video is definitely a must-watch.
And although I am far from a Democrat, and nor do I agree with some of Spitzer's past actions or political ideology... after watching that, I gotta say: This guy needs to run again for high political office -- *as long as* he continues with a lot what is mentioned in that video.
He really does need to run for president in 2012.
He also really needs to be elected.
Is that you Eliot?
Hi!
How did you know it was me?
Sounds like the same bs from a bs'er!
Wake Up PEOPLE!
Let's examine "rage", shall we?
I read a great deal of rage expressed daily on this website, by not only its staff, but also those members of the public who contribute via the comments option. IMO, much of the rage expressed here fits into one of two categories, rage against the abuse of power and rage against hypocrisy, primarily by those in positions of power be they public or private.
So the cult of Spitzer I witness here and elsewhere confuses me. This man abused both his position of power and did so in the most hypocritical of fashion. He prosecuted and convicted people who did nothing more than what he did (I'm referring to the prostitution business). And those he prosecuted did not take an oath to uphold the law (he was charged to enforce), maintain the sanctity of the office he held, nor did they swear to uphold and defend the constitution of the united states. They did not put their personal honor on the line, he did. Does that mean anything to Spitzer's apologist?
Why do so many attempt to give him a pass or excuse a character trait which history demonstrates time and again to be one that's hardly temporary? The desire for power, and the abuse of power, by an office holder is rarely, if ever, a one time affair. Lord Acton made note of this tendency a couple of centuries ago. Tell me how a man corrupted by power, will not again be compromised and corrupted by it should he once again obtain, or be appointed to, a position of power? Is this the best we can do? A nation of three hundred million people and we clamor for the proven corrupt to save us from the suspected corrupt? Those of you who do so, how many times have you compared the modern day US to Rome? Cannot your secret longing for Elliot not also be a modern manifestation of mistaken popular sentimentality exhibited during the decline of Rome?
I personally have no doubt that Mr. Spitzer is your typically corrupt US politician and then some. One who takes a populist theme (for which he has no real convictions) and runs with it, for nothing more than to rehabilitate tarnished reputation so as to once again be among the ruling political elite. How many former politicians (and even current) could I submit as an example of such a phenomena? Should we start with the recently deceased Rep. Murtha? Who made rage against the Iraq war is battle cry and once his party obtained majority rule (in part through his forefront on the populist antiwar theme), he quietly slipped into the background the war forgotten and then handed out pork by the truck load so as to further the corrupt process for which many raged against.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
Are there really that many suckers here who secretly long to be fooled yet again?
Compassion? Sure, may Mr. Spitzer in all his privileged glory find the courage and discipline to be faithful to his wife and enjoy a happy marriage form this time forth. May he also apply what earnest talents and skills he has so as to obtain honest employment in the private sector where he can rehabilitate his tarnished character and should he yet stray again, his place in the private sector will help to minimize the damage done by his next misstep in exercising a lack of sound moral, legal and ethical judgement.
I hate to admit this, but you and Milbank have given me cause to pause. Food for thought G. Marx.
I am quite concerned that very few of us could go through this political process as it exists now, and not have something seriously change us (is that the change we can believe in?) by the time you saw us, say 2-4 years later. The power process itself corrupts, I fear.
This juror is now undecided.
Not to make too fine a point of this MsCreant but again, Spitzer's predilection for prostitutes did not start after he started going "through this political process." He was at it since he was a teenager (he grew up very wealthy). That he went after prostitution rings so publically and ruthelessly after he became NYS attorney general is what made his downfall so incredibly awing and disturbing. He takes the summer off and then immediately he's back in the public eye riding the wave of populus anger with Wall St. corruption via Huffington Post.
Nice conversion MsCreant. Shows you can think. See below for additional points/logic from me re Spitzer's poor intellect.
The political and "fame" process are good to turn people into callous fake sociopaths. That way the other callous fake sociopaths have friends and can feel like they fit in.
Yes, but of course you see, what we are now discussiing is NOT Mr. Spitzer's account of the financial debacle and the ongoing pillaging, but rather Mr. Spitzer himself. Hijack accomplished! We might as well be discussing Dancing With The Stars.
Is it so difficult to say "Yes, you have a point there, Mr. Spitzer" without believing that grants him some kind of fawning total trust? When one cannot argue with facts, one impugnes the fact presenter.
It is the difference between fact and emotion. Emotion is fun, but fact is how I choose to make my major decisions.
When there are so many worthy of our praise for their insight and analysis who are also free of taint, why should we even place Mr. Spitzer among them? To do so plays into the hands of our enemies. For it is they who will point to the tainted among those we put forth as our public champions and retort: "See, the face of their cause is a fallen man who violated his oath to both spouse and nation." It makes no tactical sense on the rhetorical front to weaken our lines with the corrupt likes of Elliot Spitzer.
Me thinks many have invested much of their own reputation in championing the past legal efforts of Mr. Spitzer and they now seek to reform him, so as to not have egg on their own faces for being duped time and again by this man while he held public office.
Benito Mussolini championed for the "trains to run on time." Should he then be the poster boy for airline efficiency?
Well Richmond, fire away--what of the golden nuggets offered by Spitzer?
Frankly I did not get much out of it--a lot of already plowed anti bankster rhetoric (to which I concur) laced with a lot of burned out spittle one might expect from a failed NE liberal who presided over a failed NE state government a la Corzine.
Graucho / Zippy
My point is simple, and I'm sure it's not lost on you both: the above thread contains innumerable rants and rages that are simply about Spitzer himself. I'm not going to bother counting them. Again, I prefer to make decisions based on fact and logic rather than emotion, and the rants and rages are strictly emotional. As such, they take up space and add nothing that is useful at all, and in fact are themselves a distraction, much more of a distraction than anyone's ability to say "Hey, that whore bull Spitzer is quoted on Zerohedge, those ZHers must be bad people."
Said "rants and rages" are a prime example of how corrupt individuals such as Spitzer are an unwelcome dsitraction to a much needed public discussion.
You choose to allow emotion to enter discussions and inform your decision-making more than I.
Incorrect, I recognize the nature of debate in the public forum. I study how those who shape public policy go about their business and I listen to the techniques utilized by politicians and their partisans. It is not how I wish it to be, its how things are. Additionally, unlike the general public, I don't get caught up in the cult of personality or the fuhrerprinzip ("leader principle").
I recognize value in that approach, Marx.
Seeing things clearly in rational realistic terms is essential in forming an understanding of how things are and what is to be done. I would argue that the truth often includes more than the facts, and one must balance the spirit and letter of the law, as it were. However, in the early and final analysis, facts matter very much, as they inform the suitability issue with regard to outcomes, ie. which is the correct pathway forward for this person and this community (Spitzer and the national polity).
I mention that because in my earlier and perhaps reflexive emphasis on the political redemption principle---and the cost to society when it is not valued---one can get blinkered by perceptions and sentiments concerning a specific person, their situation and what they seek from others.
And too, there has been merit here in the idea that Spitzer has many options for his own renewal and future service to the country, which do not have to include preferred things on the high political plane in the near term.
Which goes to the issue of suitability for leadership, on the basis of personal character as well as in the content of what he is actually saying in the public forum, ie. are his ideas actually new and useful?
Can someone start prosecuting AIG / Goldman / NYFED / Paulson / BofA / etc / etc?
Thanks.
Not that you mentioned my posts SWRichmond but, I assume I am part of what you are saying. My comments were in response to those who were saying Spitzer should run again for public office or be appointed Chairman of the SEC.
As far as what Spitzer said? There is not much to say except, "So, what's new? " He said nothing that most of you haven't already heard or thought already. He gave the government a "C-" grade on what has already been done but, he agreed with TARP and most of the way things have been done already. He made general, non-specific pontifications. He had no specific solutions.
He sounded like a politician in that he sounded like he was saying something but, in reality, said nothing new and added no real, specific, solutions.