Spitzer to Eric Holder: Prosecute Goldman or Quit

[kpete]

Source: Business Insider

Spitzer to Eric Holder: Prosecute Goldman or Quit
Since Eric Holder seems to be lost somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle, I don’t have much hope for Spitzer’s call to action, but it is gratifying to see someone calling out the Administration’s appalling lapses.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/spitzer-to-eric-holder-prosecute-goldman-or-quit-2011-4

---

VIDEO:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/04/15/exp.arena.prosecute.resign.spitzer.cnn?iref=allsearch

[Oceansaway]

1. K&R...n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

2. He can't POSSIBLY spend all that time

prosecuting Banksters when there are SO MANY Medical Marijuana farmers out there to bust. There are priorities, you know!

[90-percent]

23. whatr the above post said

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=574138&mesg_id=574143

I can barely walk the streets of Connecticut at Night knowing there's evil pot farmers in Norcal becoming millionaires by hooking our youth on their evil weed.

Our dual-tiered American Justice System in action!

-90% Jimmy

:sarcasm:

[Fool Count]

94. Well, there is also this massive threat from online poker

he has to focus on.

[here_is_to_hope]

3. Holder is too busy...

Disrespecting States rights and raiding dispensaries to go after the real crooks.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Spitzer knows damn well who is running the show. Look how many Goldman peeps are in the Admin.

So if Spitzer is going all public, my bet he is looking to run for office.

[Le Taz Hot]

7. That's what I'm hoping.

The more I see of him, the more I like him.

[disndat]

24. Spitzer is a gem.

I discovered a worthy substitute for Olbermann. Spitzer has great compassion. I've become a big fan.

[Frustratedlady]

37. I agree. He is passionate about the white collar crooks and could...

probably lead authorities in bringing them down. I'd love to watch him at work. It would only take prosecution and imprisonment of a few to scare the bejeebers out of the rest.

[disndat]

45. I love Bill Maher.

While Spitzer was interviewing B. Maher, Maher addressed him as "Governor." Spitzer and Maher are kindred spirits.

[cui bono]

49. Is there video of that anywhere? n/t

[disndat]

68. A transcript on CNN website

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1103/22/ita.01.html
3/22/2011. At the beginning of the interview, B. Maher greeted Spitzer as "Governor."

[pangaia]

114. I live in New York. He was attorney general.going after white collar

criminals when he was set-up and brought down... Eliot. in my opinion, is the real deal. Why he is on the dumb shit TV show is beyond me.. and beneath him..

[calimary]

152. Maybe he's building a power base. On TV, get that face time, get people thinking of you in a

different way. Most Americans, anymore, have the attention spans, and memories, of gnats. Nobody's gonna remember, or care that much, by the time he rehabilitates himself, and by now he's got a whole nation (or world) knowing who he is and how forceful he is. There would, of course, be opposition research and commercials galore about it, but he may be working toward the position where he's above and beyond the reach of any of that. Because if you build enough good hoodoo behind you (that rehabilitates you and gives people enough other more current and positive things to think about regarding you), they won't care all that much about what you did earlier. And this was a victimless crime. Americans can be forgiving. They didn't give a rat's ass about bush's drunk driving. They don't care (yet) about how many divorces donald trump has. There's too much of a side show that's built up that distracts, changes the subject, and gives you another way to look at the value of the potential candidate.

It's MANIPULATING PUBLIC OPINION. It's TOTAL PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT.

When ronald reagan had to crap out in favor of Gerry Ford in 1976, and Ford got the nomination (there were some doubts there for a little while), reagan went back to being a private citizen and headed DIRECTLY to radio. He started producing these little "ronald reagan minutes" - "... our enemies would take advantage of us when we're weak (railing away for more military spending), not when we're strong. This is ronald reagan. Thanks for listening." I worked across the hall from a big AM talk station back then. I was on the FM sister station. And I heard those little 60-second "visits," little drop-in vignettes they played in pretty much every daypart. This happened on radio stations from coast-to-coast, and he had quite a team pushing that and helping him make that happen. Pretty soon ol' ronnie had redesigned and rebuilt himself as a commentator, an opinion-meister that people listened to and came to trust - with that powerful folksy delivery he had. He remade himself from actor and failed presidential hopeful into CONTENDER-PAR-EXCELLENCE and the anointed one to take on the power structure in the next presidential election cycle - in 1980. He did a total makeover, and before long nobody remembered that he was a loser, and a spoiler, in 1976, and nobody remembered anything but positives about ronald reagan. And he took it all the way to the REAL big-time.

Maybe Eliot Spitzer's doing the same thing? It'd be good to have one of the GOOD GUYS warming up in the bull pen like that. Because after Obama in 2016, who've we got? We need to be growing and cultivating the bench strength NOW.

[whistler162]

72. A very flawed and worthless gem!

no matter how intelligent he seems he is as dumb as a poorly made brick!

[inna]

98. "as dumb as a poorly made brick" - yeah, right. even you don't believe this, do you.

[Cameron27]

27. Me too.

[think]

9. We can only hope

We need REAL leaders not appeasers!

[Thunderstruck]

14. Good.

[butterfly77]

61. Spitzer is full of shit..

he sit there night after night,spending every minute beating up on the Dems who come on his show and gets run over night after night by the republiCONS. He waits until something builds steam and then jumps on the bandwagon. What took so long spitz?

[Le Taz Hot]

66. No. No he doesn't.

He challenges members of both parties with equal vehemence and intelligence. Does he offer blind support for anything that Democrats do no matter how much they devastate the poor and middle class? Nope. If he were president I'm guessing he wouldn't be kow-towing to the Chamber of Commerce at the same time Wisconsin Union Members are fighting for their lives. If anyone regularly gets run over by the Republicans, it's Obama.

[butterfly77]

79. Like I said..

SPITZER IS FULL OF SHIT! He just started confronting republiCONS lately,when parker was on the show he got knock down every night and went along and agreed with the republicons and he still does it now...

YES,he confronts and usually lets them take over the segment and the fox retread hosts who take over the panel.

[ooglymoogly]

154. 0 is the tractor running over 0.

It is all kabuki. He is not stupid, these are the far right outcomes he desires. He does, however, need the foil of the Blue Dogs and the tea party to keep his faux "Democratic" credentials. When you finally admit to yourself that that is what is happening....it all makes sense. Otherwise nothing makes any sense at all and we must come to the conclusion that 0 is indeed stupid.

[JDPriestly]

76. Spitzer was on the bank/AIG/mortgage crisis well before the hooker scandal.

In fact, if you watch Client 9, you will understand what happened. The Wall Street insiders went after him and finally caught him at something.

Watch Client 9. I wonder how many wealthy men frequent hookers and never get caught. I wonder how many wealthy men write articles about the crimes of Wall Street. There is a ratio in that equation somewhere. Apply it, and you will understand that Elliot Spitzer would be a peoples' candidate for president.

I would like to see him challenge Obama, Wall Street's candidate for president.

I like that: Elliot Spitzer, the Peoples' Candidate for President v. Barack Obama, the Wall Street Candidate for President.

Obama has a year in which to disprove my slogan. It is up to him as far as I'm concerned. He gave a nice speech. Let's see if he can deliver.

The first thing he needs to do is replace Holder with someone like Spitzer who will go after the criminals on Wall Street including any who might be hiding in Obama's own cabinet or on his staff. I'm not saying that any members of Obama's staff or cabinet are Wall Street criminals, but I would like to see an AG who would take any of them on if there are. That is the only way we can revive our economy -- clean up the graft and corruption in banking and D.C. and on Wall Street. There is only one person who can do it: the Attorney General.

[annabanana]

81. +1. . He was railroaded because Wall St was getting itchy with

the direction of his prosecutions..

[ooglymoogly]

93. Wait and see if there is anything behind the expansive good words.

After all he said some pretty things before. Fool me once, etc. He has got some time now to prove himself. there is a great article over at Salon by Greenwald on this subject that nails it. Well worth the read. It would only take a few more stabs in the back for me to switch to Spitzer if he ran, I have always admired and respected him and still do. For anybody who cares it is easy to see he was railroaded by the guilty criminals on Wall ST and D.C. because he was on to them.

[butterfly77]

102. I know...

I was watching and I thought it wouldn't have taken him this long to start hitting back..

[ThomCat]

85. What show have you been watching?

:wtf:

He has been hammering the issue of fraud and lack of accountability, and the fact that the republicans have no ideas, no credibility, and no history of caring.

What took him so long? His entire history has been attacking this problem except for the brief break after his own prosecution, which we all know was politically motivated.

I'm certainly not excusing his behavior. He, and every other politician who breaks the law should be held accountable. That does not change the fact that he was targeted for a take-down with much greater vehemence because so many saw him as a threat that had to be eliminated, and that was their chance. Others, usually Republicans, have survived the same scandal and retained their careers, but that was because they were in the pockets of the big interests, and those big interests protected them and their careers.

So, to say "what took you so long" really sounds like you have no idea of the history of what this guy has done and what he has stood for, and what he has stood against.

[butterfly77]

104. His problem is...

helping give the republiCONS talking points to use against the President,like Lawrence O'Donnell does sometimes and then once we get close to an election tries to tell those who don't know that much about politics what's good about the Democrats once they have spent all year tearing them down for the CONS...

[ThomCat]

116. If democrats don't want people having amunition to use against them

they should stop acting like whores for big business, and start doing their duty, regulating wall street, prosecuting the fraud, and holding people responsible for the crimes they have committed.

You can't expect Spitzer, O'Donnell, or anyone else to shut up and refuse to speak up about how Democrats fail to address problems when the Democrats want to take credit, and get votes, for being the party that addresses those problems and solves them.

If the party wants to get the credit, they damned well better do what they promise, and seriously address the problems, instead of just claiming too. They better take serious action to resolve the problems and hold people responsible, instead of taking token actions that only provide cover for the criminals on wall street to continue business as usual.

If democrats keep doing what they have been doing, that isn't Spitzer's fault, or O'Donnell's fault either. That is the fault of Do-Nothing democrats who are in the pocket of Wall Street executives.

We shouldn't have to elect people because they are slightly less willing to do whatever big business says. The lesser of two evils is still evil.

We need candidates who aren't evil, damn it! Commentators have a right to point that out! Good for them for being two of the few who actually will.

[ooglymoogly]

97. Could it be because you are rooting for the wrong side.

Some of us perceive what we want to perceive. I for one have never once seen Spitzer lose a debate or be cowed. He is brilliant.

[markpkessinger]

106. Spitzer has a long record of going after Wall Street

Prior to his short stint as governor, as attorney general for the State of New York for eight years, Spitzer came to be known as "the Sheriff of Wall Street" for his aggressive prosecution of white collar crime, including fraud, price-fixing, late trading/market timing schemes in the mutual fund market and insurance overriders, even as Bush's SEC was doing its damnedest to avoid even seeing, let alone prosecuting, crime in the financial services sector. He was despised by Wall Street CEOs, who feared Spitzer far more than they feared the criminal-friendly SEC. So Spitzer has more than earned the right so apeak up about Holder's inaction.

[MrMickeysMom]

67. If he DID run for office...

We'd know everything about him ahead of all the bull-crap that would surely follow.

This guy paid a price for the truth already. I say we can't admire that attitude enough.

If he ran, I'd vote for him and work like the dickens to put him in.

[ooglymoogly]

99. Yeah the way things are going I'd work my ass of for him...the same way I did for 0.

and make no mistake it was folks that beat the streets and phone banked for him that got him elected. But you can only be stabbed in the back so many times.

[JDPriestly]

71. I'd support Spitzer in the blink of an eye.

[fredamae]

5. I concur!

That's how I want My tax dollar invested, Mr Holder! Do your Damned Job!

[think]

6. Three cheers for the truth!

Give them hell Spitzer!

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Does anyone have any doubt as to why Spitzer was honey-potted?

[shraby]

20. He was on AIG's ass.

[TorchTheWitch]

29. yeah, it's got to be someone else's fault that he was paying a hooker for sex

Crazy how a guy's dick can just leap out of their pants into a hooker's vagina all by itself.

HE made the decision to have paid sex all on his own, he did it for years and to the tune of nearly $100,000. Spitzer crucified himself, and even he freely admits that.

He was a absolute barking FOOL and a hypocrite of epic proportions.

[Hawkowl]

39. So what

Really, I could care less what he paid a woman to put his dick where ever. If his ousting makes him even angrier and more righteous to go after Goldman and Wall Street which have RUINED MILLIONS OF LIVES, then yes, put him back in office and turn him loose.

[WinkyDink]

41. I think the point is how Spitzer's good deeds got side-tracked by the revelations.

[Rage for Order]

46. He was very outspoken about the evils of prostitution and made busting johns his personal crusade

He vociferously condemned the very same thing that he himself engaged in. He was no different than Ted Haggard railing against the "sin" of homosexuality, all while he was have sex and doing meth with gay massage providers.

I like Spitzer's policies, but he dug his own hole with the prostitution scandal

[wellst0nev0ter]

47. There's The Rub

I blame him more for his moralizing against prostitution than for his actual solicitation. I don't give a rat's ass where he sticks his dick in, but here he should admit that he's been a huge hypocrite. However, I don't believe being a hypocrite or sleeping with a hooker should cost people their political office. I mean, if the Moral Majority did not throw out David Vitter but actually re-elected him, then it's really time to stop calling solicitation a crime or a moral vice.

[Rage for Order]

60. I agree

He shouldn't be banished from politics forever; I think he's served his time away and should once again become part of the political process

[TorchTheWitch]

119. Agree in part

It's that he was such a total hypocrite and was also in a position to prosecute crimes of prostitution (which he did) that pisses me off and gives him no credibility.

But no, I don't agree that something like that should be excused for politicians. Politicians are supposed to be trustworthy and honest, and I have a huge problem with him so vigorously prosecutgoing people for prostitution while at the same time he himself was guilty of the same crime. Lying scoundrals that break the law regardless of what anyone personally feels about whether or not it should be a law and use their professional position to prosecute people for crimes you yourself are secretly committing have NO business in government. I don't give a pass to Vitter either. Politicians are supposed to be held to a higher standard.

[wellst0nev0ter]

142. I Hear You

But I just feel that tossing out Spitzer is just throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Kind of like if we are forced to throw Martin Luther King Jr. under the bus because of his womanizing and tricking even though he's supposed to be this great moralist.

[juajen]

146. No, no, no! It's religious fanatics that should be held to a higher standard!

Politicians are just like the rest of us, flawed. Anyone who expects politicians to be sin free is asking for the impossible. That is not to say that I believe they should get away with being hypocritical, but they shouldn't get the death penalty. I would be interested in knowing how his marriage is faring now, however.

[Vinnie From Indy]

65. Really?

And you know this how? Do you have ANY links that would back up your statement that Spitzer was "vociferous" in his condemnation of prostitution? Or, did you simply make that shit up and hope you would not be called on it?

I look forward to you backing up your claim!

Cheers!

[TorchTheWitch]

120. Yes, really

It's common knowledge. Apparently, you hadn't been paying attention.

[Vinnie From Indy]

130. Well then it should be quite easy to back up your allegations shouldn't it!?

Cheers

[Rage for Order]

121. Sure. Here you go:

http://reason.com/archives/2008/03/11/spitzers-hypocrisy-worse-than

If the allegations are true (and Spitzer’s statement that he “acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family” certainly sounds like an admission), the governor’s hypocrisy—and his belief that there is one set of laws for the little people and another set for Great Men like himself—is obvious. As attorney general and leader of the state's organized crime task force, Spitzer spearheaded the prosecution of two alleged prostitution rings, according to the Times.

But Spitzer’s moralistic crusade against paid sex (by non-Spitzers, at least) wasn’t confined to New York or even the United States of America. As far as Spitzer is concerned, he has the right to prevent people from exchanging cash for cuddles anywhere in the world.

Big Apple Oriental Tours was a Queens-based travel agency with an angle: it marketed vacations for men to destinations such as Angeles City, Philippines, a jurisdiction in which adult prostitution is nominally illegal but is condoned and regulated by the government because of the money it brings in. The militant feminist group Equality Now had been agitating for prosecution of Big Apple Oriental Tours since at least 1996, but had never found a prosecutor willing to take the case. (Big Apple Oriental Tours has never been linked to child prostitution, which would be another matter entirely.)

In 2003, attorney general Spitzer, with one eye on the feminist vote and the other on the governor’s mansion, commenced a campaign of legal harassment against the tour company, obtaining a civil injunction prohibiting the company from advertising, which effectively put it out of business, according to owner Norman Barabash.

Spitzer then brought criminal proceedings against Barabash and co-owner Douglas Allen that continue to this day. The first indictment was dismissed because prosecutors improperly relied upon a hearsay tape recording. The second indictment was dismissed because the facts alleged did not constitute a felony, leaving only a misdemeanor charge of promoting prostitution in the fourth degree, a crime so penny-ante it applies to doormen or bouncers. The third indictment was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, according to Barabash, and is currently before the appellate court. After all that harassment, there's been no trial.

[Vinnie From Indy]

131. So Spitzer was against the practice of sex tourism with underage girls

I say good cheers to him! He did his duty!

[Rage for Order]

136. I'm sure he was, but that's not what it was about

In fact, the article specifically states "Big Apple Oriental Tours has never been linked to child prostitution, which would be another matter entirely."

At the time of the scandal there were numerous other stories about Spitzer's denunciation of the evils of prostitution. It shouldn't take you long to find a few if you choose to look.

[JDPriestly]

78. Have you seen Client 9.

I think that many, many wealthy men frequent prostitutes.

I don't think that Spitzer is frequenting them any more. If Sens. Ensign, Vitter, et al. can be forgiven, Spitzer should also be forgiven.

We really need Spitzer to run for president. If you don't want to vote for him, you can vote for Obama.

But I learned my lesson with John Edwards. I was an Edwards supporter. He was alone voice, a Jeremiah, warning about what was going on with the economy and sub-prime mortgages. He had an affair. I was furious.

And now we are stuck with Obama's Wall Street crowd. It is though corruption had just taken over the White House.

We are at the point where we have to choose between accepting a strong, capable candidate who is a fighter for economic justice and punish fraud and criminality in the business world or a nice guy who is courteous and true to his wife but captured by a crew of Wall Street grifters.

I say, let's go for the fighter. If Elliot Spitzer decided to run, I would walk knock on every door in my area for him. I've got lots of free Saturday afternoons in my future.

[Name removed]

90. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[azul]

129. Yes I saw Client 9, and something looks wrong there.

Spitzer's whole slip-up in the escort affair and his mea culpa was way too out of character. He could not have been so silly as to get caught like that, when he knew that he was under constant surveillance, and then speak of his foibles like that, IMO.

He obviously made powerful enemies, and his behavior suggests to me that he agreed to take this fall somehow. To totally humiliate and disgrace himself with hypocritical stupidity and step down was the sentence he chose, over something worse?

Something just seemed totally false about how he behaved in the matter. See Client 9 and see if you agree.


Holder and his selective enforcement stink, and more fire needs to be lit under his disgraceful inaction.

[JDPriestly]

139. I don't think that Spitzer messed up on purpose. I saw the movie,

and I disagree with you on that. But I do think that the movers and shakers on Wall Street went after him and would have found something. Apparently they were going after Spitzer's father as I recall. Am I wrong about that?


The people who wanted to bring Spitzer down would have gone to just about any lengths. We have to understand that the wealth and mania for power that causes people to put together millions upon millions to support entire think tanks to make up theories and statistical evidence supporting their greed and nothing but their greed will go to any lengths to embarrass any individual they fear might stand in their way.

I think I am sounding a little paranoid, but when I see what has happened to the few brave souls who stand up for ordinary people and stand strongly, I just think that maybe this conspiracy theory is not far-fetched. Speak truth to power and the powerful may try to silence you.

[TorchTheWitch]

123. He was mostly busting prostitutes

I'd be a lot more sympathetic if it was mostly johns he was busting.

I'm mostly furious that he was so incredibly STUPID to have done this thereby spoiling all the good he did and making what good he did and said appear questionable and ruining any possibility of ever being in a position to change anything for the rest of us... and all because of his damn dick.

Fuck him.

[Vinnie From Indy]

135. Bullshit!

Your allegations are nonsense!

[prairierose]

149. Thank you for saying that...

I am so tired of this American occupation with politician's sex lives. I couldn't care less and it should not be relevant unless they are a hypocrite like the cons who are always screaming about family values and paying hookers. That I have a problem with. That says something very negative about a person's character. Paying for the services of a hooker is not the problem, hypocrisy is a problem.

[Raksha]

44. There are plenty of sleazebags on the right too.

That Spitzer is a sleazebag isn't a matter of debate--he is. The question is, why was he honeypotted? And the question still stands.

[TorchTheWitch]

125. he wasn't honeypotted - that's the point

What he did he did entirely of his own accord. There was no trapping, therefore, there was no honey pot. Do you not know what honey pot means?

[Vinnie From Indy]

132. Yes, he was trapped!

It really doesn't matter what you think about it, the facts are the facts. You are dead wrong! The fact is that Spitzer was set up. I will grant you that he made it very easy, but he was the victim of a set-up nonetheless.

Cheers!

[cui bono]

51. Yes, and how many other pols that got caught at that got run out of office?

Vitter? um, no... Other names aren't popping into my head atm, just woke up, but you get the point.

Was he stupid to do it? Sure. Don't give them any fuel, especially if you're a Dem or after corporate interests, you know the right wing will make a big deal out of it and hang you. But the fact that he was on to the banksters is why he was really gone after for it when others aren't.

[TorchTheWitch]

127. well, of COURSE!

Which is precisely WHY he was so fucking stupid to have done it.

Who gives a shit what other pols have done something similar and "gotten away with it". NO pols should be "getting away with it"!

And legally, he DID get away with it... unlike all the prostitutes and johns he prosecuted for what he himself was doing at the same time.

[sabrina 1]

59. Prostitution should be legal in this country.

But yes, it was not and he should have known better. But then again, if he had been a Republican, he'd still be Governor and still be going after the bad guys.

To even compare his 'crime' to what these treasonous, fraudulent, thieving banksters have done to this country? I don't care if every member of Congress and the President are paying prostitutes with their own money, IF they are doing the job they were elected to do. I think most people don't give a damn, frankly.

I hope he runs for office again or is hired in some capacity to go after these crooks who have virtually destroyed this country, because the ones we elected are doing nothing about it.

[rhett o rick]

69. The problem here is that the government spied on him to catch him. They were out to get him.

According to our Constitution, this is not legal. And plez dont bother with the authoritarian rational that the ends justifies the means.

And by the way, his fidelity should be between his wife and himself.

[valerief]

83. Which proves our govt is actually AIG. nt

[rhett o rick]

84. I believe when this happened, he was trying to get all the states AG to

screw Little Bushy's bank shit. Sorry no link.

[TorchTheWitch]

144. Spitzer used the state police to spy on someone

That ok with you, too?

He was illegally paying for sex WHILE he was vigorously prosecuting people for illegally paying for sex. That ok with you?

Yes, prostitution should be at least decriminalized if not made entirely legal, HOWEVER, until it is it is STILL a crime. People are prosecuted every day for engaging in prostitution, and it isn't fair to those people that Spitzer gets a pass while they get the book thrown at them and their lives ruined.

As for the government spying on him, what about that was illegal? Spitzer's bank notified the IRS about suspicious transactions he was making which they are required to do, and Spitzer sure didn't help himself by splitting up transactions in order to avoid automatic reporting to the government even going so far as trying to get the bank to take his name off of the money transfers. As a result, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division started the investigation and even then they believed that he was a victim of extortion or ID theft. The IRS then contacted the FBI to investigate possible political corruption once it was discovered that those money transfers of Spitzer's were going to front companies for the hooker service Emperor's Club VIP that he was using to get his hookers from. Nobody was spying on him for nefarious purposes... the bank was required to report to the IRS, the IRS was required to investigate what was going on with that money and report their findings of that money going to front companies of a hooker service to the FBI, and the FBI is required to investigate political corruption which it was.

I resent your assuming I would use the "authoritarian rational that the end justifies the means" because I never believe that about anything, and in this case such ludicrous rationals aren't necessary. You might want to give up on the rational that it doesn't matter what he did and there just had to be something nefarious about it since he was a good guy on our side about other stuff because that crap is all over this thread. Yes, he was a good guy on our side about other stuff that was really important, and HE FUCKED IT UP by doing something criminal for years and was not only stupid enough to do it but stupid enough to be easily caught.

FUCK. HIM.

[ooglymoogly]

153. News flash, he did not get a pass.

And has paid dearly for that underestimation of just how puritanical the F BEE EYE can be when it is the lap dog of the uber rich about to get indicted.

Spitzer had to be stopped at any cost. If the snooping and subsequent blackmail had not worked, he probably would not be with us today.

[rhett o rick]

155. Spitzer was trying to prevent the Bush administration from allowing the banks free reign.

Funny how then all of a sudden the IRS and the FBI start investigating him for something they ignore every fucking day. We might have avoided the Great Bush Bank Crash of 2007 had we listened to him.

But rationalization is the key to happiness. As long as you "buy" the Bush admin story, I guess you are happy.

[annabanana]

82. I really don't care where a guy puts his thing if he is working on

behalf of the public.

[ooglymoogly]

101. Tis funny how the sanctimonious have risen to such dizzying heights

on this site. Let me give you a little lesson about the birds and the bees.

First of all, contrary to the belief among some: Sex is not dirty. For some it is a beautiful thing, for many more it is a psychologically necessary thing.

If two people are made happy; for whatever reason; it is nobody else's business. Who are any of us to sit in sanctimonious judgment on someone else's life; unless it is our aim to snoop into other folks business and make some hay off it. Private lives are just that, private. Look out for your own sexual peccadilloes', others are off limits in a sane world. The philosophy of the puritans has long past, thank our lucky stars.

[aquart]

107. All his own money. And only revealed because of his finance digging.

Yeah, his mistake was thinking he was still part of the rich boy club which protects its members' members.

[disndat]

35. In the documentary, "Client #8"

Founder of "Home Depot" Wall St. billionaire swore revenge on Spitzer for preventing head of NYSE for getting a $140 million golden parachute on the ending of his job with NYSE.

[savannah43]

88. Now the Koch brothers own Home Depot.

Go to Lowes.

[Kolesar]

112. since when?

I could not find that.

[disndat]

151. Oop!

Of course I meant, "Client 9."

[No Elephants]

10. Sure, but Goldman was not the only bad actor. Among the worst, maybe, but there were thousands

who should be, at the very mininum, investigated.

Here's just one example: the ratings agencies that gave crap derivatives the same ratings as the safest of investments.

Here's another: banks that were giving loan originators MORE money for bringing in high risk mortgages than they were giving for the safest of mortgage loans.

Here's another: Everyone politician responsible for repeal of Glass Steagall--and for leaving the laws that brought us to global economic collapse pretty much as Phil Gramm wanted them.

Heads up: Folks are deaing in crap derivatives again (or still-not sure which).

Is it soup yet?

[xchrom]

11. ...

:applause:

[plumbob]

12. Yes, let's get some corporate malefactors in prison, for gawd's sake.

And for punishment that really stings, seize all their shit.

[Flo Mingo]

13. Perhaps any real investigation brings down everything......

The web of criminality within our government and corporate entities has grown so pervasive that there's probably fewer degrees of separation between the players now that the money and power corrupting the process is narrowing down to the most elite players such as the Koch Brothers.

The whole house of cards could tumble if any meaningful investigation is done on anyone.

Just my humble opinion.

[lilbethm]

15. I Love Spitzer

He HATES crooks..:spank:

[90-percent]

19. I love Spitzer

He likes hookers.

Just kidding. But I am strongly in favor of Detroit becoming the new Amsterdam.

Elliot woulda brought them all down as NY Governor if the Bush administration hadn't taken advantage of the Patriot Act Provisions that allow the government to secretly spy on any American citizen.

The ultimate mechanism to take down political enemies by invasion of privacy and selective enforcement.

I am very thankful Elliot is still around and still a public figure. My guess is that he never uses small planes when he travels?

-90% Jimmy

[lilbethm]

25. Your Probably right about

Spitzer being careful...and I don't care who any of them sleep with thats between them and their wives, I care about them doing their JOB! And Spitzer is not afraid to do his.

[90-percent]

26. By the way

Democrats do the honorable thing and resign when they're caught in illegal hypocritical sleezery*. Republicans ignore it and stay in office, shaming the office and the people they represent.

Welcome to DU, by the way.

-90% Jimmy

* the exception of Bill Clinton comes to mind. If not for Monica, they would have gotten him for lying if they asked him under oath if he picked his nose. What public figure could bear answering such a question, even if under oath? At least Linda Tripp is now a thriving public figure, thanks to her betrayal of her friend Monica. (Surely there is a Linda Tripp show somewhere on Fox News? There just has to be. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Katherine Harris Show?)

:sarcasm:

[lilbethm]

30. I dont even watch anymore

I was dating a Guy who works for ABC world news that was nice I got real news feed. Lots of press not happy with the "editing".

If I happen to see parts of broadcasts I just get to angry with the "show"

Ugg what to do about it all?

[Demeter]

38. Detroit doesn't need any help into degradation, thank you.

[90-percent]

58. You're welcome

Detroit was pretty creepy when I lived in the region 25 years ago.

I promise not to offer any more suggestions that would counter Detroit's current slide into degradation. Slide away and enjoy the ride. Perhaps soon "degradation tourists" traveling to Detroit will rival the number of tourists Amsterdam enjoys?

I also don't think legalized (and government regulated) pot and prostitution is degradation. I would call it advancing modern civilization beyond middle ages social ignorance.

-90% jimmy

PS - I'm not a prostitute consumer. I think it's a sad business, but it would be a lot healthier for those that choose to participate if it was legal and regulated.

[TorchTheWitch]

32. He IS a crook

Like it or not prositution is illegal. Unlike those he prosecuted for it HE never has been.

Fuck him.

[w4rma]

40. Calm down. He broke a very minor law, but he is definitely not unethcal. (nt)

[cui bono]

52. Way to throw out the baby with the bathwater. n/t

[Enthusiast]

56. Prostitution is a victim-less crime, more or less.

If he is speaking out about Wall Street criminality he deserves our praise, not scorn. Because most everyone else has been bought off.

[OmahaBlueDog]

64. He was an idiot to think he could solicit prostitution and not get caught.

Stupidity, arrogance, or both.

[Vinnie From Indy]

134. Go peddle your bullshit at Free Republic.

They love your brand of bullshit!

[JackRiddler]

17. I think this has been true for a long time.

Welcome to DU!

[Sinti]

54. +1 n/t

[truedelphi]

145. regular people commenting on the article over at Naked Capitalism

Seem to agree with you.

here are some of the more notable comments:

It’s an 0100 level RICO Act prosecution even for a AG with feet of clay. I dont get why it seems so improbable to do the right thing, why take the job otherwise? He sould be embarassed.

####

*
Paul Tioxon says:
April 17, 2011 at 3:21 pm

Yes, Greider has summed up succinctly the degradation of the corporate law enforcement. Former NJ AG, now Gov Christie, ran what became the DOJ privatized enforcement procedures by agreeing to allowing a major Pharma company to endow a chair at the University of his law school alma mater, Seton Hall. So instead of paying back the public, he scored a huge donation that had everything but his name chiseled into the bricks and mortar for his magnanimous extortion. But Greider still leaves much out.

The West Virginia AG, has been unsuccessfully trying to investigate and prosecute Capital One Bank. That’s because a Federal judge disallowed his subpoenas under the ruling that a National Bank Act incorporation places a banking business beyond the state’s reach for regulation, prosecution etc. Even though a Federal Court ruled that Capital One had been only a state chartered bank under Virgina, not West Virginia statute. But on March 1, 2008 Capital One converted just in time to collect bailout-a-pallooza payolla that it would not have been able to as non NBA bank. Up until that point, Capital One had been illegally operating outside of its home state due to repeated failure in state after state to acquire a banking license. Now, as an NBA entity it does not have to.

And like all of the other Federally Chartered banks, no state as any jurisdiction over their operations.
####


While I would love to see the CEOs of Goldman, JPM, and AIG doing the perp walk on the evening news there is a reason why I don’t think we will ever see it. There are too many politicians, democrats and republican both who have taken bribes from the financial services industry and they’ve been taking them for decades. They can’t have the too big to fail bankers on the witness stand naming names, telling amounts, times, and what the bribes bought. We need to face up to the fact that many if not most politicians voted for deregulation of the financial services industry because there was money in it for them.

[Downwinder]

16. That would be a silly thing to do.

We have a 2012 election to finance.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. Spitzer is right Eric 'Place' Holder is an accomplice to the

cover up while he and his John Waters mustache bravely go after the medicine of chemo patients. Holder needs to go and be replaced by someone who is not utterly corrupt.

[JJW]

21. Holder should be arrested

Send him to the Hague for trial.

[NBachers]

22. Eric Holdingpattern

There's more than just air traffic controllers sleeping on the job.

[glinda]

28. Replace Holder with Spitzer and turn him loose.

[OmahaBlueDog]

63. Had Spitzer not been cavorting with $10K hookers, he'd likely be the AG

Sad and stupid at the same time. We could have seriously used his help.

[whistler162]

74. That was the last straw.... likely he would be a talking head

after his defeat in the primary.

So basically he is doing what his inabilities made him!

[markpkessinger]

108. Sad & stupid maybe, but give the guy credit for paying for it out of his own wallet! n/t

[OmahaBlueDog]

113. I'd have had my ass kicked by Mrs. OBD twice

Once for cheating on her, and a second time for grossly overpaying for services.

[whistler162]

73. YEAH..... Prostitutes all around!

[Maven]

91. I'd rather have an AG who likes whores than an AG who is a whore.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

95. Well said!

[Cameron27]

96. Perfect!

:applause:

[somone]

31. Holder is doing what his boss tells him to do

which is nothing.

[cui bono]

53. Yup.

Can't have him prosecuting the boss' buddies and latest appointments.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[Poboy]

34. Recommend

[bbgrunt]

36. I applaud Spitzer but he should watch his back.

[BobbyBoring]

43. Yeah really

He was set up in DC. He was about to spill the beans on a bunch of white collar criminals. They had to find a way to damage his credibility so they went with the oldest "Trick" in the book~

[whistler162]

75. Just rewrite history... the guy di it to himself.....

the prosititute was the last straw in his failures and stupidities.

[dflprincess]

100. Yes, he did. But I would bet if he had not been willing to go after white collar crooks

the public would never have heard a word about his "extracurricular" activities.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

50. I agree.

[Raksha]

42. It has to happen. Until a few of them go to prison

they are going to keep right on bleeding us to death. A slap-on-the-wrist fine won't cut it, even if it's a multi-million $ fine. What's that to a billionaire? They just write it off as one of the costs of doing business.

[amborin]

48. it's a Goldman Sachs Administration, so.....

[Enthusiast]

55. Kicked and Recommended!

Eric Holder's failure to prosecute Goldman is a dereliction of duty. Clearly.

[frylock]

57. holder is going to continue doing what he was hired to do..

shakedown people for sharing music and shitting all over state's rights.

[proud patriot]

62. amem

[TomClash]

70. Excuse me

I like the guy, but no one went to jail when Eliot was NYAG. Lots of fines were paid, same as what the SEC made GS do last year.

[whistler162]

77. unrec due to being said by Spitzer!

[markpkessinger]

110. No one went to jail in part because....

... the criminality involved was, in many cases, outside the jurisdiction of a state Attorney General. Spitzer had been urging the SEC and the Justice Department to pursue criminal prosecutions for years. When they refused to act, he used the only other tool he had available to him: civil litigation.

[TomClash]

115. I don't agree at all

The Martin Act gives the NY AG very broad powers in financial fraud cases, especially against any bank with a significant presence in NY - which means all of them. He didn't want the roof to cave in before he could become Governor.

[gateley]

80. He needs to convince Obama and the powers that be, I don't think

Holder has the final say (as 'wrong' as that may be).

[wildbilln864]

86. k&r! nt

[Raine]

87. K&R

:dem: :thumbsup:

[franzia99]

89. Go Elliot Spitzer!

[Maven]

92. K/R

[RoccoR5955]

103. They didn't call him "The Sheriff of Wall Street," for nothing

When he was Attorney General. He knows all about the bankers, and the other criminals in the banking industry. He prosecuted many of them before he was Governor. He only was canned when the Just-us department of Bushco, Inc. found out his sexual weakness. If Spitzer had an R after his name, he would have been lauded as a hero, and would have had a medal pinned on him. He was getting ready to let AG Cuomo go after them, but then Bushco, Inc. came down on him like a ton of bricks. That's the only reason why he was targeted.

I'd vote for Spitzer in a NY minute. He's a good man, despite his past problems.

[DeSwiss]

105. Prosecute their bosses?

Now there's a novel idea. Prosecute the criminals instead of sick people, immigrants and pot growers for a change.

- Nah. It'll never float at the next Board Cabinet meeting......

K&R

[Stinky The Clown]

109. Spitzer's spittin' in wind. Goldman is very protected by those in power. No matter who's in power.

Ever has it been thus. At least for no, so shall it be.

[defendandprotect]

118. Agree, we need a total shift of power to the left before we get where we need to go!!

[slay]

111. And stop the raids on the Medical Marijuana facilities like promised

you fuckers.

[defendandprotect]

117. Spritzer just doesn't get Holder's need to shut down Medical Marijuana --!!

A huge threat to the nation -- a huge crime wave!!


:sarcasm: just in case!!


Hi Spitzer -- try to stay on the level -- you were a good guy once!! I think!

:)

[tinwi]

122. I agree emphatically

And so do so many other people. Isn't there some kind of citizen's arrest, so that we can take the law in our own hand in the abscence of law enforcement responding?

[greyghost]

124. Eric Holder is a TOOL. eom

[Tripod]

126. k&r, n/t

[Skittles]

128. Obama Inc ain't gonna do shit to Goldman

[classysassy]

133. Mr Attorney General

indict George W Bush and Dick Chaney and all will be forgiven.

[uponit7771]

137. Holder doesn't NEED to go after GS, Spitzer already did while he was NY's AG...oh wait

[MisterP]

138. but who else will help Chiquita's squads? gotta keep the crematoria full, y'know nt

[farmboxer]

140. Holder is too busy threatening the sick & dying who are on medical marijuana

It's sad...................and extremely cruel............

[avaistheone1]

141. YES!

k&r


:kick:

[Rex]

143. Would that mean going after Daley?

Plz...no body BIG is going down that would be 'bitting the hand that feeds the campaign coffers'.

Big Biz gets away with crime. Bank on it.

[indimuse]

147. Spitzer for President! knr...n/t

[Search4Justice]

148. K & R

[Name removed]

150. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[upi402]

156. Kick

and wish I could still rec

This is a valid issue, and the media is silent for the most part on it.

[ecstatic]

157. Spitzer could have been the man to take Goldman down

instead he wasted his time and power exploiting young prostitutes who were young enough to be his daughter.