Spitzer likes sex
By Libby
The old maxim is true. Sex sells. The big buzz on the blogs at the moment is about NY Governor Spitzer's sex life. The headlines are sensational. "Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring." It makes it sound like he's running a whorehouse doesn't it? I fully expected to read a story about how he's making millions on sending women into the street.
But the headline promises too much. To put it as simply as possible Spitzer paid for sex with a high priced, not doubt very young and attractive, call girl. That's it. He cheated on his wife.
I'm sure you're just as shocked as I am about this unprecendented and vitally important story. In other news, the sun is expected to rise in the east tomorrow.
The old maxim is true. Sex sells. The big buzz on the blogs at the moment is about NY Governor Spitzer's sex life. The headlines are sensational. "Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring." It makes it sound like he's running a whorehouse doesn't it? I fully expected to read a story about how he's making millions on sending women into the street.
But the headline promises too much. To put it as simply as possible Spitzer paid for sex with a high priced, not doubt very young and attractive, call girl. That's it. He cheated on his wife.
I'm sure you're just as shocked as I am about this unprecendented and vitally important story. In other news, the sun is expected to rise in the east tomorrow.
posted by Libby Spencer at 8:46 PM
17 Comments:
And dog will bite man.
Exactly MG. Certainly worth three days at least of the news cycle. Of course maybe we'll get lucky and Brittiany will break a fingernail or something....
I hate to be a progressive who disagrees with you, Libby, BUT . . . Governor Spitzer prosectued many high-profile ethics types of cases as Attorney General of NY, including investigating and then prosecuting those involved in "big-time" prostitution rings.
I also do wonder at the hypocricy among some of us (and this may not be the case with you, Libby), who carry on about Republicans like David Vitter and Larry Craig because almost exclusively because they're Reuplicans, but turn a blind eye to Democrats' sexual malfeasance. I didn't like what Bill Clinton pulled either, although impeachment was WAY over the top. I was in favor of a censure, though. The laws are the same for everyone. It's no more or less of a big deal for a Democrat to violate them than for a Republican. That said, if the laws are stupid (i.e. anti-Prostitution), then someone needs to lobby to change them. I suspect, however, that sex was the least of these issues for Spitzer; money laundering and the like was also involved. Spitzer rightly went after scoundrels on Wall Street, but the rules must apply to him as well.
FO ' 08: Hopefully the next president will put a stop to this, regardless of who wins the erection.
Ecophotos - Please, I'm divorced for a "reason," and I'm certainly no prude. The Clinton thing was pretty much about sex; this, I'm sorry, goes beyond that. We progressives really need to stay consistent in how we judge politicians' illegal behavior. There cannot be a double standrard or we'll look like fools.
I have to agree. I find it interesting though that they got a warrant to tap his phone. Would it be the same if it were you or I - or a Muslim?
I also thought that a warrant will usually only cover evidence of the crime under investigation, not anything else they happen to find out along the way. What do I know?
I'm less interested in the political party of people caught up in scandals than in knowing if they have made careers out of prosecuting or persecuting people who have done the same things. Since the "Values" hoax has been such an integral part of the Republican act for so long, it's always more amusing and newsworthy than when a Democrat gets caught with his pants down.
Was Mark Foley mocked for being gay, or for being the great defender of our youth while stalking them?
Was Larry Craig such a buffoon for being gay or because he made such a show of denouncing them? Randy preachers and moralists deserve disdain for their hypocrisy and it just happens to be that most of the moralizers are Republicans. Clinton didn't campaign on government regulation of private consensual sex, did he?
good riddance.
FO '08 - I agree there should be one standard for all concerning misconduct. One important point stands out here; the headlines have been misleading, making it sound like he was running a prostitution ring, not using one. As a New Yorker, I'd be pissed at his disception since this will now be cause for all sorts of legal arguments to overturn cases he tried. As his wife I'd be pissed. As a North Carolinian, I could care less unless he decides to run for a national office. The story doesn't merit the sensationalism or length of coverage. Clinton pissed me off because he was in national office, using MY White House, on MY dime for his own personal pleasure which sure doesn't make it look like he was taking his job very seriously. If I behaved that way in my office at my job, I'd be fired. Politicians are human, they will make mistakes. They are public figures, all their mistakes will be trumpeted by the media.
If your politician is saying one thing but doing another, he needs to be called to task--by the people who are affected. The rest of us are nothing more than voyeurs. I am much to busy to keep up with or even care about some crooked politician 500 miles away. Give me the REAL news, if that's even possible anymore.
I considered the hypocrisy angle 08, and at the time I wrote this post there was little info outside of the sensational headlines. I might note that I didn't make a big deal out of Craig or Vitter. Heck, I didn't even make game of the rubber suit guy. Foley was different because he was preying on young boys. Neither was Spitzer soliciting strangers in public bathrooms, like that guy in Florida. That crosses a line I think that Craig didn't and Pedophilia gets no pass -ever.
Otherwise, I think any sexual conduct between two consenting adults is none of our business. If everyone who has ever cheated on their partner or enjoyed kinky sex were required to resign, there would be no one left to do the work.
I also don't think prostition should be a crime. To the extent that Spizter went after such entities then he deserves some derision for using such services but I'm not sure he deserves to be pilloried.
I read some new developments on Spitzer this morning and the way the investigation was conducted should be the real story. This looks another GOP justice dept hack job, a la Seigelman.
And as Fogg points out, the whole surveillance thing should be a warning to us about how the government uses domestic surveillance. If they were as good at finding terrorists as they are at "finding" Democratic governors who broke laws, allegedly or actually, we really would be safer. At the moment it looks like those of us who said they would using the NSA programs to take down their political opponents are right.
I'm far more concerned with that than I am about whether Spitzer boinked some call girl.
Please, please ... I was not refering to the election. No one, it seems, got a rise from my last comment.
Libby, now that you mention the Siegelman case, there is a suspicious whiff of revenge politics in the air. Now why does the DoJ still refuse to release records of the Siegelman case? And why was the 60 Minutes piece blacked out in Alabama? All conspiracy theorists, pease come forward.
LOL SC. I'm working a only able to steal a couple of minutes here and there to answer comments so I'm afraid I'm not equipped to rise to the occassion.
PS: They need you at the comment thread on the erectile puns in my quick byte post.
Agreed, Libby, readers tend to get sore if I make too many jokes about the penile system.
Yep, all you have to do is trot out another moldy shibboleth and we'll all scurry away in shame. ACLU, Jane Fonda, Michael Moore - it doesn't matter - any non-sequitur will do.
So who do you depend on to make sure the constitution isn't being violated in unpopular cases? Gonzales? Mukasey? Jesus? Perhaps you just don't like equal protection under the law in the first place? Perhaps you're possessed of some special knowledge that contradicts all the solid proof that the government is spying on anyone it pleases and any time it wants. Perhaps you're just a nut job looking for attention.
It would be nice if some of these unwashed anonymice would have something more substantial than attitude.
I so agree Fogg. The anonymouse is boring me so I deleted him from the thread. The time change has left me too cranky to deal with him.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anon, it's a big internet and I don't allow ad hominem attacks on my threads. You're boring me. You don't like it, start your own damn blog.
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