Redstate

Posted at 9:37am on Mar. 14, 2008 NYT's Keller uses Spitzmas story to justify recent McCain smear

Attention Times: Stick to the News!

By Mark Kilmer

Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, is trying to use his paper's Spitzmas story to lend credence to its recent John McCain contrivance:

"[A] day after Spitzer resigned in disgrace following the Times' revelations that he had frequented a high-priced hooker ring on several occasions, Keller, in a phone interview with E&P, clearly saw some room to boast.

"It certainly has had the same volume of reaction, sometimes a good story is just a good story," he said about comparisons to the McCain report. "We certainly took our share of heat on the McCain story. The McCain story is one that I am still proud of and stand by."

The McCain piece turned out to be an empty attack, inference and innuendo rather than news, while the Spitzer piece blew the lid off a personal and political fraud. You cannot use a recent success to justify past idiocy. But I can just image Pinch and Keller printing whatever garbage they want, and when they're called on it, insisting: "Well, remember, we broke the Spitzer story!"

This would be fine if time Old, Gray, Drunk Lady would stick to reporting the news, leaving the political opinion to their editorial page.

Posted in Eliot Spitzer | John McCain | Liberals | new york times — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:20pm on Mar. 12, 2008 This is an Historic Day

Elation

By blackhedd

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm elated at the resignation of Democrat New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer.

After the experience of Bill Clinton (and say what you will about how they differ), I wouldn't have been surprised in the least if Spitzer had contrived a way to remain in office.

Our nation caught a great big break today, and please, let's keep this firmly in mind. Spitzer may not have Bill Clinton's full range of political gifts. But he is unmistakably a brilliant, energetic, ambitious and ruthless guy. Until today, he had a very important future ahead of him in national Democratic politics.

I know I've already expressed myself strongly about this situation. (Everyone with close ties to Wall Street is popping champagne today.) So let me say something candid and objective rather than personal.

Eliot Spitzer is the absolute embodiment of abusive power. In the guise of "doing what's right for the people," he destroyed a huge number of fully-earned reputations. And he did it not by enforcing laws, because as a rule none were broken. He did it only by threatening to prosecute. He is the man that the Bill of Rights was written to protect us against.

And his purpose was nothing more than to build for himself, with the critical assistance of a starstruck media, a personal brand as the man who "cleaned up" Wall Street.

And before the amazed eyes of everyone whose life he damaged, the people of New York State swallowed it, hook line and sinker.

Through the serendipity of an unsuspected personal weakness, the Republic has today dodged a whole fusillade of bullets.

The greatest irony of history is that it never celebrates evil averted. Please, everyone, always remember that today, a day on which an evil man was prevented from doing great harm in the future, is just as historic as any day on which a good man receives the power to do great good.

-Francis Cianfrocca ("blackhedd")

Posted in Breaking News | Eliot Spitzer — Comments (59)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:01pm on Mar. 12, 2008 Kryptonite Fells Clinton Superdelegate

The Taped Crusader Loses His Franchise

By Dan McLaughlin

NY Governor Eliot Spitzer's resignation costs Hillary a superdelegate, and he won't be replaced, according to this morning's Wall Street Journal:

The scandal-tainted governor and his lieutenant governor, David Paterson, who is a Democratic National Committee member, are among the roughly 800 superdelegates who will also cast ballots at the August nominating convention. Both support Sen. Clinton. The DNC confirmed yesterday that New York would lose Mr. Spitzer's superdelegate slot if he resigns.

New York succession laws would provide for Mr. Paterson to assume the role of governor until the term expires in 2010. Here's the rub: Succession law also provides for the president of the state Senate to become lieutenant governor. That man is Joseph Bruno, a Republican and a political enemy of Mr. Spitzer. It is safe to say that Mr. Bruno won't be casting a ballot at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Wonderful way to pick a nominee, isn't it?

Posted in 2008 | Eliot Spitzer | Hillary Clinton | Spitzmas | superdelegates — Comments (16)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:33pm on Mar. 10, 2008 Schadenfreude is Far Too Mild a Word

Eliot Spitzer: the thorn in Wall Street's side

By blackhedd

Courtesy of Slate, a smackdown of the Governor of New York State. They say he was laid low by the same kind of investigation he once used to terrorize Wall Street. Actually, no.

The stock market may be battered, the dollar may be plunging, and the economy may be tanking, but there's a bull market in schadenfreude on Wall Street this afternoon. Even as the Dow was on its way to notching another triple-digit loss, whoops of joy erupted from the dispirited trading floors today on news of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's disgrace. Spitzer, who rose to prominence as a scourge of Wall Street, uprooting corrupt practices, coming down hard on bad actors, and establishing a new moral order, was laid low by reports that he had been involved in a prostitution ring.

Spitzer was not brought down by the kind of investigation he himself specialized in. The last time I checked, soliciting a prostitute is actually illegal in New York, and the transportation of an individual across state lines for the purpose of engaging in prostitution violates the Federal Mann Act.

In other words, the Governor of New York was busted for breaking the law. That's not why he busted people all over Wall Street, who in many cases were guilty of nothing more than success.

Exhibit A: Hank Greenberg, the former CEO of the AIG insurance companies, a wholly unattractive and ruthless little man who built his company up over several decades to a global powerhouse with 80,000 employees and and astounding $80 billion in annual revenue. Say what you will about Greenberg, but he generated a lot of jobs and created a lot of wealth for ordinary people.

But Eliot Spitzer, as NYS Attorney General, by his own admission, creatively interpreted a never-used statute from the 1870s and found a way to accuse AIG of something I really couldn't begin to explain to you. He intimidated AIG's directors with threats of personal criminal liability and they fired Greenberg. To this day, neither Greenberg nor AIG have been indicted or formally charged with any crime.

Spitzer used the awful power of his office to create a public-relations victory for himself by destroying the lives of people all over Wall Street. A similar story applies to Dick Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and most of NYSE's directors. Grasso, who piloted the exchange through the difficult, transformational times following the 9/11 attacks, was guilty of nothing more than getting a large severance payment.

Now you know why a big cheer went up all over Wall Street this afternoon when we got the news that this filthy skunk has finally gotten his:

It was personal.

Posted in Democrats | Economy | Eliot Spitzer | Wall Street — Comments (15)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:28pm on Mar. 10, 2008 The Adventures Of Client Number 9

what are those jobs americans just won't do?

By streiff

From NRO's The Corner, the excerpt from the federal wiretaps, undoubtedly done illegally and in violation of FISA, that will reportedly result in a federal indictment for Eliot Spitzer:

LEWIS continued that from what she had been told "he" (believed to be a reference to Client-9) "would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe - you know - I mean that . . . very basic things. . . . "Kristen" responded: "I have a way of dealing with that . . . I'd be like listen dude, you really want the sex? . . . You know what I mean."

Keep in mind these are prostitutes talking about things that would be unsafe? True it could involve those little Shriner cars but I think that's unlikely.

Posted in Democrats | Eliot Spitzer | morality — Comments (29)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:11pm on Mar. 10, 2008 Eliot Spitzer to Resign

FNC and others report

By Ben Domenech

In less than an hour, we went from the NY Times reporting the charges that NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer was involved in a prostitution ring to apparent confirmation that he will resign at a news conference to be held momentarily.

We'll add updates to this post as events warrant.

Update: If watching this play out on TV ain't fun enough for ya, take a tour through the cache of the Emperor's Club VIP website. They have gift certificates. The Smoking Gun has the Victoria Secretesque images.

Posted in Breaking News | Eliot Spitzer — Comments (68)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:12pm on Mar. 10, 2008 Eliot Spitzer Involved In Prostitution Ring

By Lord_Vegas

Promoted by Dan McLaughlin. It doesn't get better than this. Boy, the Democratic Governors are really having a great stretch lately.

__________________________________

Elliot Spitzer has announced to his most senior aides that he has been involved in a Prostitution Ring, and will be making a public statement about it at 2:15 pm.

Apparently the New York Times has just broken the story.

Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He is set to make an announcement about 2:15 this afternoon at his Manhattan office.

Mr. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform and end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

De-FREAKING-licious!

Posted in Breaking News | Democratic Governors | Eliot Spitzer — Comments (116) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:01pm on Jan. 27, 2008 Elections Have Consequences

He's Not So Tough When The Bad Guys Don't Carry Blackberries

By Dan McLaughlin

Eliot Spitzer, like Rudy Giuliani, first made his name as a tough, hard-nosed prosecutor. Both men earned the dislike of big business for their aggressive approach to white-collar crime.

But the reason why Spitzer will never be Rudy is that he never did have the stomach to take on anybody but legitimate businesses - and certainly not violent criminals. Now, New York State is getting a bitter taste of the Spitzer approach to violent convicts.

In New York, you see, the Parole Board is run by a gubernatorial appointee, presently a Spitzer appointee named George Alexander. And what has been the result of the new management? Look at the numbers:

235 violent felons, including 215 convicted murderers, have been released by the state parole board in the first year of Gov. Spitzer's administration, records show. That's 58% more than the 148 violent felons paroled in 2006, the last year of Gov. Pataki's tenure.

Some were locked away for crimes so heinous that previous state Parole Boards refused to set them free up to five times before their luck changed under the Spitzer administration, a Daily News analysis has found.

Read On...

Posted in Democratic Governors | Eliot Spitzer | New York | State Politics — Comments (19)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:38am on Nov. 22, 2007 ...And A Tax Hike

I'd Give Thanks For The Incompetence of Our Adversaries If It Didn't Cost Me Money

By Dan McLaughlin

As if he hasn't had enough stumbles, NY Governor Eliot Spitzer is now considering breaking outright his campaign promise not to raise taxes, which he previously bent rather severely with proposed business tax hikes and aggressive sales tax enforcement against Native Americans. He's apparently pondering an income tax hike:

Governor Spitzer is considering a proposal to raise income taxes on wealthier New Yorkers, according to a labor-backed political party that is pushing for the increase....

Support for a tax increase is coming from one of Mr. Spitzer's firmest backers, the Working Families Party, a grassroots operation financed by a coalition of labor unions and community groups....

Party leaders have not finalized details of the plan, but they are expected to call for raising the income tax rates of New Yorkers earning at least $200,000 to $500,000 a year.

This is on top of Spitzer's new plan to tax Internet sales and new MTA fare hikes. Because really, the first thing people think of in New York is that taxes are so low and the business climate is so friendly...

Posted in Eliot Spitzer | State Politics — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:40pm on Nov. 16, 2007 What Could Eliot Spitzer Do To Be *Really* Unpopular?

By Dan McLaughlin

Pushing driver's licenses for illegals, gay marriage, extremist legislation on abortion and having his top aides investigated for perjury is one thing; but going after Derek Jeter over back taxes...that would definitely be too far.

Posted at 1:21pm on Nov. 16, 2007 Spitzer to Push Gay Marriage

By reldim

Promoted from Diaries by Dan McLaughlin.

Because apparently the licenses for illegals debacle wasn't damaging enough, the NY Post reports that Spitzer wants a new Democrat-controlled State Senate to push through the gay-marriage bill the Assembly has already passed this session.

Polling has not shown gay-marriage to be widely popular in New York. A listed poll in the article notes that support for it runs somewhere around 45%, with about an equal number against. Earlier polls showed the opposition to be stronger. Democrats need a 3-seat pickup in the Senate to take control, and in a presidential year, that chance increases. However, between the licenses issue and now this, Spitzer is handing Republican candidates in the rural and even suburban areas of NY new reason to retain their Republican Senators and even to add a few more to the batch.

(Read on)

Posted in Eliot Spitzer | gay marriage | State Politics — Comments (106) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:53pm on Nov. 14, 2007 Spitzer Making Excuses and Still Wrong

By Ericka Andersen

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer dropped the crusade for illegal immigrants to receive driver’s licenses. Great but no big surprise considering his poll numbers were dropping and as so many pro-illegal immigration politicians and pundits have found – the American people overwhelmingly disapprove of plans to integrate illegals into the country without penalty.

Read On...

Posted in Eliot Spitzer | Immigration | State Politics — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:56am on Nov. 4, 2007 Rudy Sticks Hillary With An Obama-Shaped Shiv

By Dan McLaughlin

Rudy says he respects Obama's wrongheadedness on illegal immigrant driver's licenses more than Hillary's muddle:

"I happen to think it's a big mistake (to give licenses to illegal immigrants)," Giuliani said during a stop in New Hampshire's North Country. "But I respect a person for taking a position because, honestly, either side of the (debate) is controversial.

Posted in 2008 Presidential Campaign | Archived | Barack Obama | Eliot Spitzer | Hillary Clinton | Rudy Giuliani — Comments (35) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:15pm on Nov. 2, 2007 NR on Hillary and the Spitzer Plan

By Dan McLaughlin

An NR editorial notes that even the revised, tiered system proposed by Gov. Spitzer is unlikely to work:

Only two states — Tennessee and Utah — have tried this type of tiered licensing program, and only Utah still uses one. Tennessee's Democratic governor pulled the plug on his state’s program after federal regulators discovered widespread fraud and abuse. Utah claims its program has achieved limited success, but its population is only about a seventh of New York's. The bureaucratic challenges of implementing such a system in the Empire State would be nothing less than nightmarish, as Dodd pointed out in the debate.