Spot on Wendy. Oh and highly rec'd.

C

Spitzer's a very smart guy and a street fighter. We need him back, and I'm happy to say he seems to be coming back.

And by the way, I'm tired of seeing politicians rise or fall because of their sexual peccadillos. Whether they are Republicans or Democrats, whether they pay big bucks for call girls, meet streetwalkers in dingy hotel rooms or exchange signals under the dividers in men's bathrooms, I don't much care. It's usually the hypocrisy that gets them, of course.

If we could get beyond giving a damn about their sexuality, perhaps they could get beyond their hypocrisy.

From a Greg Palast article you might like, wendy:

It was the night of February 13 when Spitzer made the bone-headed choice to order take-out in his Washington Hotel room. He had just finished signing these words for the Washington Post about predatory loans:

“Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.”

Bush, Spitzer said right in the headline, was the “Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime.” The President, said Spitzer, was a fugitive from justice. And Spitzer was in Washington to launch a campaign to take on the Bush regime and the biggest financial powers on the planet.

Spitzer wrote, “When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners the Bush administration will not be judged favorably.”

But now, the Administration can rest assured that this love story – of Bush and his bankers - will not be told by history at all – now that the Sheriff of Wall Street has fallen on his own gun.

And here is Spitzer's Washington Post op-ed from February 14, 2008: Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime.

The link about the Angelides Commission is interesting, People. Brooksley Born is on it; since it's bi-partisan, there are also soome heavy-hitter Republicans on it:

The other members of the committee appointed by Republicans are Keith Hennessey, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush; Peter J. Wallison, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, a former top adviser to the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain.

It sounds like the investigations could go into 2010; I did not know that it was functioning. I thought it was more smoke-and-mirrors when it was announced. It sure gets no attention, does it? Are they issuing subpoenas, for instance? Where are the leaks on THIS commission?

I agree. Spitzer has the drive for publicity, intelligence, deep knowledge of Wall St., and aggressiveness to do the job best.

'playmate', 'Hefner.' Pretty funny, Obey.
It does seem the Angelides group is awfully low-profile, doesn't it? Bah!
Well, let's peep a bit.

Until we drop our idiotic prostitution laws and our habit of eliminating politicians from their jobs for doing things that have no connection to their jobs then I'm afraid all we can do with Spitzer is wish. Personally, I see Spitzer as just one in a rather long line of potential Presidents that the Republicans did in. They have been focused, with rather outstanding results, for the better part of 40 years on decapitating the Democratic Party of some of it's strongest leaders. Don't forget "The Monkey Business". Clinton was the only one to outlast their attempts to destroy Democrats with embarassing private pecadilloes.

Spitzer clearly thinks he can be rehabilitated, and I think he should be. The only question is who is willing to abide the crap they'll take in the media if they do it. The other problem is it doesn't seem that Geithner's employer will do it, either, unless Obama has some kind of epiphany on messed up financial reform is.