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The politician and the prostitute: A morality play gone wild
Jewish World Review ^ | March 17, 2008 | Mitch Albom

Posted on 03/24/2008 4:47:30 AM PDT by rhema

We crucify the man who paid for sex.

The woman who charged him, we turn into a star.

Go figure. In America, it seems, we like our characters prepackaged. And the prepackaged version of the Eliot Spitzer saga is this: Powerful Man, undone by hubris; Vulnerable Girl, caught up in something bigger than her.

So he's gotta go.

She can get rich and famous.

Sorry. I don't buy it. If paying for sex is a crime, then it's a two-party crime, same as buying and using drugs. There is no reason that Spitzer, the now former governor of New York, should be in shambles, facing possible criminal charges, while the prostitute he hired, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, is a star-on-the-rise, reportedly being offered immunity while fielding big-money offers for everything from photo shoots to having her rear end used by a Vodka company.

Yes, that's right. Georgi vodka, last week, was negotiating with the hooker (sorry, but that's her job title, not "victim") to paste the image of her rear end on buses all over New York for around $100,000, according to AdAge.com. Georgi even considered naming a vodka "No. 9," the FBI's code name for Spitzer.

He's out on his butt.

She's selling hers.

You good with that?

A WORLD GONE WILD You shouldn't be. It's amazing how selective we can be with our outrage. When Spitzer was caught in this prostitution ring, there was no end to the moralizing over what a terrible thing he'd done. Around the country, millions of citizens called for his head. At the same time, millions of citizens were clicking on Dupre's MySpace page, enlarging her pictures, downloading her music. We vilified Spitzer for having interest in this woman, but it's OK to check her out on our computers?

Don't we see how hypocritical

(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: albom; prostitution; spitzer
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1 posted on 03/24/2008 4:47:30 AM PDT by rhema
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To: Caleb1411; wagglebee; LiteKeeper
Spitzer was dumb enough to pay this woman for sex. But if we pay to make her famous, you wonder who's the more pathetic customer.
2 posted on 03/24/2008 4:49:22 AM PDT by rhema ("Break the conventions; keep the commandments." -- G. K. Chesterton)
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To: rhema

Sorry, fella, Spitzer is leaving because he is a fraud and a despicable two-faced liar, not because he had sex with a hooker. If he were a private citizen caught in the chicken coop, it would be a marital matter only.


3 posted on 03/24/2008 4:51:12 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys--Reagan and Bush)
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To: rhema
I say to Mitch Albom...

What's this WE sh*t Keemo Sabe?

4 posted on 03/24/2008 4:52:20 AM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: rhema
Perhaps because, in the American narrative, someone must be to blame and someone must be a victim. So when this scandal broke, Spitzer was the arrogant, egotistical bully.

Ironically, Spitzer is an arrogant, egotistical bully....

5 posted on 03/24/2008 4:53:32 AM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: Rummyfan
He's out on his butt.

She's selling hers.

You good with that?


6 posted on 03/24/2008 4:54:51 AM PDT by rhema ("Break the conventions; keep the commandments." -- G. K. Chesterton)
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To: yldstrk

How true. For those of you in Rio Linda, Spitzer was, is and always will be a thug/punk. He destroyed the lives of many, and there is no love lost in Gnu Yak. The people were blasted with the amorality of their leader who promised “Day one, everything changes!” It sure did. We are just really lucky that, in addition to being a thug/punk, he was really, really stupid too.


7 posted on 03/24/2008 5:05:55 AM PDT by Shady (The Fairness Doctrine is ANYTHING but fair!!!!)
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To: rhema

“We crucify the man who paid for sex.”

The author might feel differently when he realizes *he* paid for it.


8 posted on 03/24/2008 5:08:00 AM PDT by wolfcreek (I see miles and miles of Texas....let's keep it that way.)
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To: rhema

Mitch, Sptizer was prosecuting folks who committed crimes just like he did with a prostitute. So far, Spitzer has not been prosecuted. He resigned voluntarily. As a public official, he had a special responsibility not to violate the public trust by engaging in an illegal activity.


9 posted on 03/24/2008 5:13:43 AM PDT by kabar
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To: wolfcreek
I don't see Albom defending a creep who's in the same pro-abortion league as Obama, Clinton, Michelman and Wattleton; I do see him wondering where the rest of the country tossed its collective moral compass.
10 posted on 03/24/2008 5:16:19 AM PDT by rhema ("Break the conventions; keep the commandments." -- G. K. Chesterton)
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To: kabar

See post 10.


11 posted on 03/24/2008 5:16:54 AM PDT by rhema ("Break the conventions; keep the commandments." -- G. K. Chesterton)
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To: rhema

You do think it’s worse if it’s taxpayer funded?


12 posted on 03/24/2008 5:20:38 AM PDT by wolfcreek (I see miles and miles of Texas....let's keep it that way.)
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To: rhema

Spitzer deserves all of the condemnation he has received. He is the biggest hypocrite of all.


13 posted on 03/24/2008 5:28:05 AM PDT by kabar
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To: wolfcreek
Sure. But even it weren't taxpayer funded, sleazeball politicians of all stripes ought to resign when they're caught. Republicans get that principle; Democrats don't.
14 posted on 03/24/2008 5:30:31 AM PDT by rhema ("Break the conventions; keep the commandments." -- G. K. Chesterton)
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To: rhema

Albom is an idiot. Nobody I know considers her a victim. Spitzer, however, who made his political fortune on breaking up prostitution rings and corruption, who is a sanctimonious holier-than-thou blowhard, is a hypocrite. He deserves to lose his political position. She is cashing in, as the females in a sex scandal can do, mostly because the public is curious to see what Spitzer thought was worth $4,000 a pop. Don’t worry, though, in a few years he will have some sinecure from a left-wing think tank, and be a martyred elder statesman, like Nixon was after he was run out of office.


15 posted on 03/24/2008 5:31:05 AM PDT by ciocia
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To: kabar
Again, Albom isn't defending the guy. Here's the point of the column:

He's out on his butt.

She's selling hers.

You good with that?

16 posted on 03/24/2008 5:32:56 AM PDT by rhema ("Break the conventions; keep the commandments." -- G. K. Chesterton)
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To: rhema

“Sure. But even it weren’t taxpayer funded, sleazeball politicians of all stripes ought to resign when they’re caught. Republicans get that principle; Democrats don’t.”

Apparently, David Vitter didn’t get your memo, because he still has his job.


17 posted on 03/24/2008 5:33:32 AM PDT by ciocia
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To: ciocia
Albom is an idiot. Nobody I know considers her a victim. . . .She is cashing in, as the females in a sex scandal can do, mostly because the public is curious to see what Spitzer thought was worth $4,000 a pop.

You've just echoed Albom's main point. Sic transit . . .

18 posted on 03/24/2008 5:35:40 AM PDT by rhema ("Break the conventions; keep the commandments." -- G. K. Chesterton)
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To: ciocia
Apparently, David Vitter didn’t get your memo, because he still has his job.

It's a good point. I should have written ". . .Republicans who aren't of the Olympia Snowe, Lincoln Chaffee wing . . ."

19 posted on 03/24/2008 5:38:18 AM PDT by rhema ("Break the conventions; keep the commandments." -- G. K. Chesterton)
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To: rhema; ciocia
Keep in mind, too, that Vitter's actions were a few years old when they came to light. He said that his wife knew all about it and had mended their marriage.

He should still resign, but Vitter's case is different, like whether Obama used cocaine 15 years ago or 15 days ago.

20 posted on 03/24/2008 5:45:01 AM PDT by GreatOne (You will bow down before me, Son of Jor-el!)
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