Spitzer? I don't even know here!

OK so the title is a bad joke that I lifted from somewhere else. But Eliot Spitzer is an even bigger joke. Like many, I am enjoying the shadenfreude of how that self-righteous pr**k has been hoisted by his own petard. But I am somehow frustrated that he got so far in the first place. Spitzer is the worst kind of limousine liberal: wealthy by inheritance but the enemy of self-made wealth, a member of an elite class who claims cynically to be on the side working class, a prosecutor who doesn't just apply the law but who must destroy anything in his way. So naturally I have a lot of opinions on this. Here are my observations in no particular order:

Even while apologizing to his family and his constituents, Spitzer still managed to admit nothing and hire the best lawyers, hoping beyond hope to somehow wiggle out of the whole thing. I'm sure he still sees this as a matter of legal nuance, not as a matter of right and wrong. 

So why does Bill Clinton get away with equally inappropriate behavior but Spitzer doesn't? Simply answer is that Bubba is cute and Spitzer isn't.  To wit compare "Awww shucks everyone I got caught with ma pants down 'round my ankles. . .I promise to pull 'em up again everyone but you gotta admit she sure is purty!" to "I am a f**king steamroller!" 

So should prostitution be a crime? Well the Mann Act of 1910 is somewhat anachronistic and the requirements for banks to report on suspicious transactions would strike me as lacking the requirements for probable cause before warrants are issued. Nevertheless, these laws are clear and well understood, and well within the cultural and legal traditions that underpin all of Western Civilization. Ask yourself this simple question: What percentage of prostitutes are there by choice? Protection from victimization is a good argument against legalizing prostitution. 

So why is it assumed that Spitzer's wife is innocent? One explanation for why she is "standing by her man" is that she isn't spotless herself. Who is to say she hasn't cheated on him? I'm not saying she has or has not, just that she isn't necessarily blameless in all of this. 

Is New York's Lieutenant Governor up to the job? What I have read doesn't instill confidence. 

Back to Spitzer. Here are some additional thoughts and links to some good jokes about the whole thing. 

He was done in as much by his hubris. No one is above the law. Good riddance. 

And what makes anyone think Hillary or Obama are any better?