Friday, March 14, 2008
Open Thread
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Spitzer To Quit Today
The Post's Fred Dicker reports this morning:
UPDATE: Daily News reports Lt. Gov. Paterson to be sworn in today.
UPDATE II: Spitzer's resignation will be effective Monday.
UPDATE IV: Spitzer's departure. And "Kristen" surfaces! With a MySpace page, of course!
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Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to resign and will begin notifying top state officials of his decision just after 9 a.m., The Post has learned.Not surprising, as follow-up reports on the scandal have the total he spent on prostitutes over the years reaching at least $80,000.
Word began circulating of his decision in state political circles just minutes ago, which came after what one source called "an agonizing night," as the governor's wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, and the governor's lawyers went over a possible plea deal offered by federal prosecutors, sources told The Post.
Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who has remained at his suburban Albany home for the past three days, was expected to be notified of Spiter's decision within the hour.
Sources said Paterson has told friends that if he does become governor, he would like Sptizer to hold off his resignation until Monday to give him enough time to prepare for a transition.
UPDATE: Daily News reports Lt. Gov. Paterson to be sworn in today.
UPDATE II: Spitzer's resignation will be effective Monday.
UPDATE IV: Spitzer's departure. And "Kristen" surfaces! With a MySpace page, of course!
Labels: Eliot Spitzer, prostitution, sex scandal
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Luck Be A (Bitter, Old) Lady
In the midst of all the Spitzer insanity, I can't let the latest Hillary-surrogate atrocity go by unremarked. Geraldine Ferraro assessd the merits of Barack Obama's candidacy:
"And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position."
By "this position", Ferraro must mean one of two remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination.
What about the other candidate? Oh, SHE happens to be -- oh, yeah -- a woman!
A neutral observer might find it pretty "lucky" to get married to a politician of amazing charisma and political talents, staying with him despite his serial philandering, becoming First Lady -- and then run for Senate in a state in which you've never lived.
Voila! You end up in the same damn position as Barack Obama -- and get a good share of the country "caught up in the concept" too!
Come to think of it, you know what "luck" is? Luck is being an obscure, undistinguished, New York congresswoman and being put on a presidential ticket for no other reason than, well, she was a woman.
Who knows, maybe just that fact helped the Democrats win Minnesota in 1984!
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"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," Ferraro told a local California newspaper last week.Yeah, I guess it is lucky to be born in Kansas, have your African father walk out when you're two years old and get raised by your grandparents. Goodness knows why the millions of other black men over the years didn't take advantage of their lucky breaks!
"And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
"And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position."
By "this position", Ferraro must mean one of two remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination.
What about the other candidate? Oh, SHE happens to be -- oh, yeah -- a woman!
A neutral observer might find it pretty "lucky" to get married to a politician of amazing charisma and political talents, staying with him despite his serial philandering, becoming First Lady -- and then run for Senate in a state in which you've never lived.
Voila! You end up in the same damn position as Barack Obama -- and get a good share of the country "caught up in the concept" too!
Come to think of it, you know what "luck" is? Luck is being an obscure, undistinguished, New York congresswoman and being put on a presidential ticket for no other reason than, well, she was a woman.
Who knows, maybe just that fact helped the Democrats win Minnesota in 1984!
Labels: Barack Obama, Geraldine Ferraro, Hillary Clinton
From Cloud Nine to Client No. Nine
My Pajamas Media overview of the Spitzer fall from grace.
UPDATE: Republican-controlled state Senate starts talking impeachment.
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UPDATE: Republican-controlled state Senate starts talking impeachment.
Labels: corruption, Democrats, Eliot Spitzer, pajamas media
Monday, March 10, 2008
3 AM Call...
The phone rings. Hillary Rodham Clinton picks it up.
"Yes?"
"Hillary, it's Silda Wall Spitzer. Sorry to call so late. Eliot's still not home. Based on your experience, what should I do?"
UPDATE: Welcome, visitors from Andrew Sullivan, Conservative Grapevine and Reddit! Hope you make it back!
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"Yes?"
"Hillary, it's Silda Wall Spitzer. Sorry to call so late. Eliot's still not home. Based on your experience, what should I do?"
UPDATE: Welcome, visitors from Andrew Sullivan, Conservative Grapevine and Reddit! Hope you make it back!
Labels: Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, prostitution, sex scandal
Hooked On A Feeling...
NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer involved in a prostitution ring.
(And, no, even though this is reported by the Times, these are apparently not lobbyists.)
Could be connected with this story on the front page of the New York Sun this morning.
UPDATE: Spitzer expected to resign (3:01 PM). Local WCBS Station is reporting that Spitzer resignation could come as early as this evening (5:15 PM).
UPDATE II: This may turn out to be the most prescient statement in the history of Ragged Thots (from last November):
Remove that "culture of corruption" arrow from the Democrats' fall quiver.
UPDATE III: Meet the governor of New York, "Client 9."
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(And, no, even though this is reported by the Times, these are apparently not lobbyists.)
Could be connected with this story on the front page of the New York Sun this morning.
UPDATE: Spitzer expected to resign (3:01 PM). Local WCBS Station is reporting that Spitzer resignation could come as early as this evening (5:15 PM).
UPDATE II: This may turn out to be the most prescient statement in the history of Ragged Thots (from last November):
Hillary's Worst Enemy...
...is not who you'd think.
It's not the easy answer of "herself" or "Bill."
It's certainly not Barack Obama or any of the other Democrats. For that matter, it's not even GOP front-runner Rudy Giuliani or the rest of the Republican field.No, it is starting to look like Sen. Clinton's biggest obstacle -- indeed, the biggest wild card in Democratic fortunes in '08 -- is NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Remove that "culture of corruption" arrow from the Democrats' fall quiver.
UPDATE III: Meet the governor of New York, "Client 9."
Labels: corruption, Democrats, Eliot Spitzer
Mighty White Of You, Mrs. C!
Okay, so freshman senator Barack Obama currently leads the Democratic presidential nomination race in popular votes, states and delegates won! With that resume, he would, according to Hillary Rodham Clinton, be a pretty good vice presidential candidate -- for her? WTF??
In what Bizarro world does the person running behind discuss concessions that the leader in the race should consider?
She does realize that she's no longer first lady of some backwater southern state (my apologies to the good people of Arkansas), right?
This sort of behavior from HRC should not go unpunished. Gary Hart has already noted that HRC has violated an unspoken rule of primary politics -- you don't provide the other party's general election opponent with rhetorical weapons with which to attack the strongest rival for your party's nomination. Clinton did that with the, "Obama doesn't pass the national security test" -- whatever the heck that means. So, if HRC is intent on going nuclear, Obama's people (NOT the candidate himself) have to ask how far they are willing to go to respond in kind.
The Clintons have already been exposed in a very specific way by what occurred in South Carolina. Both the general media and black voters in general saw some not undisguised race-baiting.
With that history, Obama supporters could reasonably ask if Hillary Clinton would treat another rival --leading her by every statistical measure -- as an inferior to be considered as a running mate? Or, more bluntly, any white rival? (Yeah, Hillary likely considers everyone else her inferior, but would she adopt the same sort of condescending strategy?)
Now, the potential downside of Obama's people calling Hillary on this he has assiduously avoided running as the "black" candidate, in favor of making a post-racial ecumenical appeal. The Clinton South Carolina strategy was developed to marginalize him in just that way. Pointing out that the Clintons are acting in a stunningly disrespectul way -- intimating that the younger black candidate should be "happy" to be "accept" a de facto "appointment" by an older white female candidate, who seems to stop just short of calling him "boy" -- would give Democratic Party superdelegates (excessively PC as they are) something to think about. But how would it play in the media? Would on-the-fence voters think Obama was playing the race card himself?
It's a risky move, but Obama must do something to knock the Clinton machine off its stride.
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In what Bizarro world does the person running behind discuss concessions that the leader in the race should consider?
She does realize that she's no longer first lady of some backwater southern state (my apologies to the good people of Arkansas), right?
This sort of behavior from HRC should not go unpunished. Gary Hart has already noted that HRC has violated an unspoken rule of primary politics -- you don't provide the other party's general election opponent with rhetorical weapons with which to attack the strongest rival for your party's nomination. Clinton did that with the, "Obama doesn't pass the national security test" -- whatever the heck that means. So, if HRC is intent on going nuclear, Obama's people (NOT the candidate himself) have to ask how far they are willing to go to respond in kind.
The Clintons have already been exposed in a very specific way by what occurred in South Carolina. Both the general media and black voters in general saw some not undisguised race-baiting.
With that history, Obama supporters could reasonably ask if Hillary Clinton would treat another rival --leading her by every statistical measure -- as an inferior to be considered as a running mate? Or, more bluntly, any white rival? (Yeah, Hillary likely considers everyone else her inferior, but would she adopt the same sort of condescending strategy?)
Now, the potential downside of Obama's people calling Hillary on this he has assiduously avoided running as the "black" candidate, in favor of making a post-racial ecumenical appeal. The Clinton South Carolina strategy was developed to marginalize him in just that way. Pointing out that the Clintons are acting in a stunningly disrespectul way -- intimating that the younger black candidate should be "happy" to be "accept" a de facto "appointment" by an older white female candidate, who seems to stop just short of calling him "boy" -- would give Democratic Party superdelegates (excessively PC as they are) something to think about. But how would it play in the media? Would on-the-fence voters think Obama was playing the race card himself?
It's a risky move, but Obama must do something to knock the Clinton machine off its stride.
Labels: Barack Obama, Democratic 2008 Presidential, Hillary Clinton, race
