The politician and the prostitute: A morality play gone wild

Jewish World Review ^ | March 17, 2008 | Mitch Albom

[rhema]

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.

[yldstrk]

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.

[Rummyfan]

I say to Mitch Albom...

What's this WE sh*t Keemo Sabe?

[Rummyfan]

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....

[rhema]

He's out on his butt.

She's selling hers.

You good with that?

[Shady]

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.

[wolfcreek]

“We crucify the man who paid for sex.”

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

[kabar]

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.

[rhema]

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.

[rhema]

See post 10.

[wolfcreek]

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

[kabar]

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

[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.

[ciocia]

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.

[rhema]

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?

[ciocia]

“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.

[rhema]

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 . . .

[rhema]

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 . . ."

[GreatOne]

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.