My thoughts exactly.

I'll just add this: if she doesn't ask for a resignation, there's also the question on her position regarding the rule of law. Because whether we agree or not, prostitution is illegal.

If she does not call for him to resign, she's putting political expediency over the dignity of women and what's right -- for Spitzer to stand aside.

What bullshit. Tell me, has the US attorney sniffed through Obama's underwear drawer? Should they take over the care and feeding of Larry Sinclair to see if Obama paid for sex with 'that man'?

WTF is with you people? With your Hillary Hate, you sound like republicans. Why would any indie want to be associated with you?

Spitzer got caught being unfaithful to his wife.

'The dignity of women.' Go take a shower and see if it helps.

The problem here is not the unfaithfulness, it is that Spitzer may have violated the Mann Act and some federal money laundering laws in the process. So its crimes, not sex.

I'm an Obama supporter but count me out of the people calling for HRC to be publicly involved in this to the level the initial post seems to demand. As one of Governor Spitzer's constituents and as the Jr. Senator from New York, I do think a statement is in order, but I don't see any reason why she should be called upon to ask him to/demand that he resign.

balance, I think a mix of compassion for his family and a rejection and denunciation of his acts are in order. If she could also repudiate his acts, that would be great too. That said, I don't think we should go overboard in mixing the business of this campaign with Spitzer's sordid mess does either candidate any good. There is an election taking place in Mississippi today. I would hope that the media would focus on tonight's results as feverishly as they have focused on all of the races in which Senator Clinton has been favored to this point...

"Take a shower"? LOL.

It's the Democrats who think having a lawyer President perjure himself is not grounds for resignation who need to adjust their thinking.

Perjury is rare, stupid, and _illegal_ -- and among lawyers particularly disgraceful. Bill accepted disbarment for his perjury, lacking any defense to it. The point of his Presidency wasn't a cult of personality that we were bound to enable, it was carrying forward of Democratic values and programs. He fucked up, and should have been man enough to step aside, though of course it was a witch hunt. Put another way, the fact that Ken Starr is an asshole doesn't make it right to blow up our national politics for a year over the sanctity of Bill Clinton getting some head with a kid. Well, maybe it is for Clinton cultists. Sorry to offend you with that oh-so-burdensome notion of the decent treatment of others that is just _passe_ in politics and public life . . . why can't we accept it's all Rovian bullshit and personal destruction. And you wonder why she's losing? Listen to yourselves, equating decency with whining. Pathetic.

Spitzer was a prosecutor who prosecuted prostitution and then used prostitutes. What a joke. And parading his wife around to profit from her victimhood, specifically to see if he could wait to resign. What a big man. What a joke.

Hillary -- who screamed for denunciation of Obama's adviser over an intendedly off-the-record nonevent, exhibiting the real hair-trigger hypersensitivity -- needs to denounce and reject. Or is consistency, like decency, just for the little people?

This posting seems overwrought -- Sen. Clinton is displaying the good grace to let Gov. Spitzer come to a decision in his own time. I have no expectation that she should pile on at this point.

And I don't really think she'll end up losing a SD -- I'm sure the NY Dem party will find a replacement that is a HRC supporter. (Imagine such a situation in Illinois...)

For anyone who bothers with facts, here's the AP, stating that a majority of the relevant disciplinary body found that Clinton should be disciplined for lying under oath. On January 19, 2001, Bill Clinton accepted that discipline, and was in turn disbarred by the United States Supreme Court, with nary a dissenting peep, though he appointed two of its members. For aspiring lawyers in the thread, the federal district judge who referred Clinton for discipline for perjury, Susan Webber Wright, also dismissed the Paula Jones lawsuit in which the perjury happened, thus preventing it from going to trial.

Clinton Disbarment Recommended

By James Jefferson
Associated Press Writer
Monday, May 22, 2000; 5:12 p.m. EDT
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. –– A committee of the Arkansas Supreme Court recommended Monday that President Clinton be disbarred because of "serious misconduct" in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.

A majority of the panelists who met Friday to consider two complaints against the president found that the president should be disciplined for false testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, the Supreme Court said in releasing the committee recommendation.

Under the rules of the Committee of Professional Conduct, the disbarment recommendation goes to Pulaski County Circuit Court judge in Little Rock for disbarment proceedings. If the judge disbars Clinton, the president can appeal to the state Supreme Court.

"This action is being taken against (Clinton) as a result of the formal complaints ... and the findings by a majority of the committee that certain of the attorney's conduct, as demonstrated in the complaint, constituted serious misconduct," in violation of state rules governing lawyers, the committee's executive director said in a letter to the court.

Clinton has been a lawyer for more than 25 years and taught at the University of Arkansas law school. He has not practiced since the early 1980s, between his first and second terms as Arkansas governor.

Clinton was governor from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 until he was elected president in 1992.

The letter, dated Monday, was signed by James Neal, the committee's executive director, whose retirement from the panel was also announced on Monday.

The committee has 14 full-time members – lawyers and nonlawyers – who sit in panels of seven. Because of Clinton's widespread connections throughout the state, eight of the panelists bowed out before Friday's meeting, most of them citing potential conflicts of interest.

Of the six who heard Clinton's case, five are lawyers and the sixth is a retired schoolteacher.

The Southeastern Legal Foundation of Atlanta and U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright referred Clinton to the committee, saying he lied when he denied a sexual relationship with Lewinsky during a deposition in the Jones case in January 1998.

The foundation wanted Clinton disbarred and Wright did not suggest a specific penalty.

"This is a confirmation that the legal system will police its own, regardless of the position held by the attorney in question," said Matt Glavin, president of the foundation. "Remember, this is the first time in American history that a sitting president faced disciplinary proceedings."

Clinton sought something no harsher than a letter of reprimand, according to Glavin.

Wright also cited Clinton for civil contempt and fined him $90,000 for giving "intentionally false" testimony.

articleman said, in all seriousness:

People with moral compasses in such a situation choose. . . . Tactical people confronted with moral choices often embarass themselves; look for that here.

And people who think they have a superior moral compass are dangerous crackpots.

Love,
George W. Bush

Look, I'm more with the people above who say, whoa, the guy has a libido, CHILL OUT! Ask me if I care!

But clearthinker is right, he broke at least one specific statute, D.C. prostitution prohibition. It was more a civil wrong issue with Paula Jones. And yeah, he broke a federal statute as well, the Mann Act, interstate transportation of a person (woman) for illicit sexual purposes. So, two statutes, at a minimum. And we hear all this stuff about how merciless, vindictive, and e
impassioned he was as a prosecutor against others with ordinary human weaknesses. It really is difficult to feel sorry for the reproving, holier-than-thou, jailer-man.

Excellent article, articleman.

It's not just the sex, it's not just the law, it's not just the money or the pathos of a powerful man being extorted for more and more money to get some sex. It's about Spitzer. The theme of his whole political life has been ethics and integrity. Were his financial institution prosecutions effective? Should he have done something else? It's essentially irrelevant. Spitzer represented as a man of principle above all. It's what made me respect him at a conference back in the 90's despite the fact he was such an incredibly disagreeable person.

And as for why Clinton hasn't repudiated, denounced, and/or shaken her finger at Spitzer, I note that, as far as I can tell, Obama hasn't either. And there's nothing wrong with that. Racist statements and abusive comments should be handled quickly, but the politically decent thing to do is to let Spitzer, a major figure in Democratic politics, resign and then, with a little push, go quietly into the night.