Comments on: Will they steal the WH china, too?

Will they steal the WH china, too?

vhsiv — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:59:54 -0800

Remember the Eliot Spitzer take-down thread here on the blue?It turns out that Spitzer's character assassination may have been more Bush Administration sock puppetry -- back on Valentine's Day, Spitzer wrote an editorial in the WaPo demonizing the lack of consumer protections and was about to file a lawsuit against several Wall Street firms for predatory lending, but the Justice Department caught him with his fly undone and the papers didn't get filed.

As a result, we had that October-November financial collapse and a quiet $200 billion bail-out turned into a $900 billion bail-out. Greg Palast was on it, but the MSM didn't bother to look into it. But this past week, Congress did...

By: jonmc

jonmc — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:02:03 -0800

So, if Spitzer could keep it in his pants, we'd save $700 billion? That's one expensive spurt, dude.

By: Miko

Miko — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:08:47 -0800

Yeah, "as a result" should refer to Bush Administration policy, not Spitzer's crimes. He was sleazy and it sounds like this was a politically motivated investigation, but he didn't create the collapse and I don't think his lawsuit could have prevented it - it's just as likely it would have prompted it. It was inevitable - houses of cards eventually fall.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:11:05 -0800

actually at 40 million sperm per ejaculation, that comes to $17,500 per little wiggler. Every sperm may not be sacred, but they sure ain't cheap.

By: grounded

grounded — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:21:26 -0800

back on Valentine's Day, Spitzer wrote an editorial in the WaPo demonizing the lack of consumer protections Speaking of a lack of consumer protections, wasn't Spitzer the guy who had a reputation with the escort agency for not wanting to wear a condom?

By: guanxi

guanxi — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:22:35 -0800

There was probably not a moment during Spitzer's tenure as governor, or during his previous job(s), when you couldn't find many people on Wall Street, and among their supporters, with motives to do harm to him. Just because he got busted around the time he was pursuing this issue means nothing.

By: enn

enn — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:27:28 -0800

Where in the third link does it say that Spitzer was about to file a lawsuit? It seems to say he had joined in litigration several years before, as New York attorney general. Why would a governor file a lawsuit?

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:28:53 -0800

This is my shocked face. After the Siegelman conviction the Spitzer hunt was nothing.

By: Lemurrhea

Lemurrhea — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:36:13 -0800

Isn't it character suicide? Although I disagree with a lot of the vitriol directed against prostitutes & johns, it still is against the law, and he was governor, formerly attorney general. He should be upholding the law, methinks. (I seem to recall that he was the prosecutor in a moderately large prostitution case, in which case it's definitely character suicide. But I can't find it, because doing a search on google for any variant of Eliot, Spitzer, Prostitution, Case gives me the obvious results)

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:52:48 -0800

I call bullshit. First, Eliot Spitzer was the governor, not the attorney general. He doesn't file lawsuits, the attorney general does. The papers could have been filed regardless of what happened to him. And it wasn't that the all-powerful "they" caught him with his pants undone, it's that he undid them himself, when he knew damn well he had made a huge target of himself by going after wall street. Second, are you suggesting that the Bush Administration wanted this financial collapse to happen? Why, so his approval ratings could vanish entirely and the Democrats would sweep the White House and Congress? Third, lawsuits against lenders for predatory lending have been filed on an ongoing basis since 2005.

By: queensissy

queensissy — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:08:10 -0800

I was really pissed at Spitzer for not being able to keep it in his pants. He was the first political "hero" I had since... Alan Cranston.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:38:07 -0800

actually at 40 million sperm per ejaculation, that comes to $17,500 per little wiggler. New retirement plan for the win!

By: rokusan

rokusan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:41:16 -0800

Are you suggesting that the Bush Administration wanted this financial collapse to happen? Why, so his approval ratings could vanish entirely...? Maybe they believed after they hit zero, they'd roll over to 99999.

By: cjets

cjets — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:56:32 -0800

Maybe they believed after they hit zero, they'd roll over to 99999. That's a result of his intensive checkers training. King Me!

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:55:42 -0800

The moment he got burned I thought it was interesting how he was caught via anti-terrorism/drug trafficking measures. You know the mission creep and privacy invasion that they always promise won't happen when they ask for new invasive powers..

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:23:39 -0800

"Second, are you suggesting that the Bush Administration wanted this financial collapse to happen?" They didn't? $900 billion is a pretty big incentive. Gee, I lost the election but funneled billions of dollars to my buddies who will grease me as soon as I get out of office. Anyway, his testimony got derailed and he wasn't even charged. I'd call that a political character assassination, yeah. Either way the law was misused. I would like an investigation as to why the federal government spent its time investigating where the governor put his dick rather than, y'know, the economic structure of organized crime, drug syndicates, terrorism outfits and corrupt financial institutions. Far as I know Bushco not only did allow folks to get ripped off, they actively took steps to prevent states from protecting people from getting ripped off. Our own AG in Illinois really sounded off about this. They not only shut down state legislatures looking to stop predatory lending, now, after the fact, they're shoveling yet more taxpayer money at the banking industry. So did they want the collapse? Yeah. Oh, not directly. But it always helps to have a big distraction when you loot the place. $900 billion? Hell, if he could have kept his wick dry he might have had a "car accident."

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:41:38 -0800

Not to mention, the biggest deficit in history. Just like the fiscally responsible Republicans to ram our debt into the dirt, so the next Administration cannot implement social programs. Just like the Reagan Admin.

By: DesbaratsDays

DesbaratsDays — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:37:46 -0800

Smedleyman, I fully agree. One parting treasury-grab.

By: kjars

kjars — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:31:54 -0800

The current financial crisis is about much much more than predatory lending. $900 billion is a pretty big incentive. Gee, I lost the election but funneled billions of dollars to my buddies who will grease me as soon as I get out of office. Which buddies would those be? The ones booted by their boards? Also, I doubt Bush will need much help when he gets out of office. Overall, I think the argument is pretty weak. Even when assuming the premise that Spitzer was the victim of character assassination, there's no way to prove a Bush link - Spitzer made a ton of enemies, small and large. Anyway, a good look at Spitzer's tenure as a prosecutor will reveal some quality character assassination on his part. Live by the sword...

By: Aquaman

Aquaman — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:24:49 -0800

Why am I not surprised that penises and vaginas caused all this trouble?

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:57:23 -0800

Spitzer has a new piece at Slate: We need to stop using the bailouts to rebuild gigantic financial institutions.

By: jckll

jckll — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:25:36 -0800

Spitzer has a new piece at Slate: ~~We need to stop using the bailouts to rebuild gigantic financial institutions.~~ The Dog Ate My Hard Drive: With lots of easy options, there's no excuse for not backing up your data. Here are the best ways to do it. Thar she blows

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:41:33 -0800

Whoops. Thanks for the save, cklennon. New thread on Spitzer's piece.