Spitzer NOT an American Political Tragedy

Where's the tragedy here?

Eliot Spitzer made a choice. He wasn't a victim. He knowingly took part in illegal activity.

From sex scandal reporter extraordinaire, Brian Ross:


(Photo/ABC News)

A 22-year-old escort found on another call-girl Web site told ABC News in a phone interview that Gov. Eliot Spitzer had been one of her customers two years ago when he was New York attorney general and that he was a nice guy who tipped well.

"He didn't do anything that wasn't clean," she said, adding that she knew who he was because he had made calls from the attorney general's office in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Federal investigators say there is no evidence Spitzer used state money or campaign funds to pay the prostitutes, but that the way he moved an estimated $40,000 through various accounts violated federal money laundering laws.

"These are serious laws and laws that given the amount of money involved here could mean a prison term of 10 to 18 months," Sean O'Shea, a former federal prosecutor specializing in financial crimes, said.

A prison term is one of the issues holding up the governor's resignation as well as whether or not he pleads guilty to criminal charges.

Other than that, lawyers close to the case say New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is prepared to resign and has his letter written.

From the Associated Press:

ALBANY, N.Y. -- With pressure mounting on Gov. Eliot Spitzer to resign over a call-girl scandal, investigators said Tuesday he was clearly a repeat customer who spent tens of thousands of dollars — perhaps as much as $80,000 — with the high-priced prostitution service over an extended period of time.

...Speaking on condition of anonymity, a law enforcement official said Tuesday that Spitzer, in fact, had spent tens of thousands of dollars with the Emperors Club. Another official said the amount could be as high as $80,000. But it was not clear over what period of time that was spent.

Still another law enforcement official said investigators found that during the tryst with Kristen on the night before Valentine's Day, Spitzer used two rooms at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington — one for himself, the other for the prostitute. Sometime around 10 p.m., Spitzer sneaked away from his security detail and made his way to the room where she was waiting, the official said.

Insiders on Tuesday said the governor was still trying to decide how to proceed. Options included quitting immediately, or waiting to use resignation as a bargaining chip with federal prosecutors to avoid indictment.

Democrats privately floated another option, telling The Associated Press that Spitzer was considering what was almost unthinkable immediately after Monday's bombshell apology: hanging on.

"If the public is fine, he'll stay," said a Democrat who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Still, Spitzer's many enemies from Albany and Wall Street were emboldened, and some of his friends went from shock to outrage.

There is no way Spitzer should be allowed to hang on. How can there even be debate about that?

...Privately, several Democrats in the Legislature and in the administration said resignation appeared inevitable. "He's weighing the rest of his life," one Democratic official said sadly.

Late Tuesday, freshman Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand became the first Democratic member of New York's congressional delegation to mention resignation. "This is very grave and sad news," she said. "If these serious allegations are true, the governor will have no choice but to resign."

But more than a day after the scandal broke, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other senior Democrats in the delegation had yet to call on Spitzer to quit.

Why don't the Dems get out there and condemn the guy?

What's really sad about this is that Spitzer showed no respect for his wife and children. If his wife was OK with Spitzer's "habits" these past years, then that's even worse.

What's really sad is that Democrats are such power hungry hacks that they won't stand up for what's right.

They can't bring themselves to call on Spitzer to resign.

That's truly disgusting. That's the tragedy-- that Democrats, members of one of America's two major political parties, are so slimy that they would be willing to give Spitzer a pass if they could.

I've heard the lib media speak of this as an "American political tragedy" for Spitzer. Tragedy for Spitzer? He chose to be reckless. He chose to be a hypocrite. He chose to participate in illegal activities for YEARS. This supposedly brilliant man knew exactly what he was doing.

The Dems unwilling to speak out know exactly what they're doing, too.

It's positively sickening.