(Former Gov) Spitzer Criticizes Gillibrand As Choice For Senator

[brooklynite]

Source: WPTZ

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer is criticizing the Senate choice of his successor.

Spitzer told WAMC radio that he wouldn't have appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton because her "views on issues are either wrong or too malleable."

Spitzer said in the interview that Gillibrand has failed to speak her mind and "make tough decisions on critical issues relating to the economy, civil rights, issues of crime and punishment, guns, same-sex marriage."

Read more: http://www.wptz.com/politics/22205052/detail.html

---

Isn't this a little, er, late?

[brooklynite]

1. Senator Gillibrand responds...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's response to disgraced Gov. Eliot Spitzer's attack: Just look at my record

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was playing defense Sunday in response to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's criticism she's not fit for the job.

"You just need to look at my record," the junior senator told the Daily News.

"I have a very strong record of fighting for women's groups, gay rights groups, for civil liberties, for the environment, for lower taxes, for a pro-jobs agenda. I'm just going to run on my record, and everyone's entitled to his opinion."

Spitzer, who resigned two years ago in a sex scandal, said Gillibrand's views are "too malleable."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/01/11/2010-01-11_what_the_el_ill_run_on_my_record_sez_gilly.html

[NJmaverick]

2. Frankly the only thing Spitzer is qualified to speak on these days

is prostitution and adultry.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

4. typical response from you n/t

[NJmaverick]

5. I have no use for those sort of dishonest and hypocritical politicians

so thank you.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

6. What Spitzer did was stupid

but what he does in his private life is none of my business. I care about his record, I care about what he did to try and clean up Wall Street on that issue he is as principled as they come.

[NJmaverick]

8. Prostitution is still against the law

so it goes beyond his private life.

[RoccoR5955]

25. So you are perfect?

Just askin'

[WriteDown]

9. He did put others in jail for prostitution...

Amazing that people overlook that. Guess he gets a pass for the years of people's lives he took away for things he was doing himself.

[No Elephants]

13. He didn't get a pass. He lost his office. Vitter is the one who got a pass.

But, I guess that's okay bc he didn't jail prostitutes, only helped make people who didn't share his "family values" miserable.

:sarcasm:

BTW, wasn't putting prostitutes in jail part of Spitzer's job?

[WriteDown]

16. Che?

I was speaking to the people who think he should have been able to keep his office. Vitter should be gone too.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

15. And it certainly doesnt hurt to have a Justice Dept.

that had charges ready to file before the crime was committed.

Spitzer Set Up?

By Scott Horton

I love to argue with my colleague Ken Silverstein, so how could I pass up a reply to his last post?

Most people view the issues surrounding the Spitzer resignation as some sort of binary process. Either Spitzer is innocent and has been framed, or the feds did a great job ridding us of a charlatan who was disgracing the office of governor. On that framing, I go for option two: the investigation exposed tawdry and immoral conduct, and Spitzer should have and did resign.

Now once that is out of the way, we should be asking a second set of questions. Did the feds behave correctly in their management of the case?

Ken presents it as a Spitzer “set up.” But that is leading back down the guilt-or-innocence issue that I just disposed of, suggesting that somehow Spitzer may have been entrapped. That’s not an issue. The newspaper accounts, forming the imperfect world in which all of this is analyzed, suggest that Spitzer solicited prostitution on February 13, and there is nothing to support the idea that he was entrapped. What I argued was something different: the feds had built their case against the prostitution ring and were ready to go, but they held back in the hopes that they would bag Spitzer, too. They could have gone with the announcement back in January. But they didn’t. That’s very revealing.

In this case the feds violated some basic rules—as even John Farmer, in doing his best to defend them, acknowledges:

*

They prepared pleadings which were filled with salacious detail that served no purpose other than the public humiliation of “Client 9.”
*

They then tipped the press to the fact that “Client 9” was a New York public official, and then to the fact that he was Eliot Spitzer. Over the next 48 hours, they filled the press with copious additional details surrounding Spitzer, many of them lurid.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002624

But I guess all is justified in the name of partisan justice.

[WriteDown]

18. Simple solution...

Don't see call girls. Especially if you are putting people in jail for the same offense.

[RoccoR5955]

27. I knew that he was set up from the start.

You didn't see the Justice Dept. go after any CONs who committed similar crimes, now did you?

[JDPriestly]

19. NJ Maverick -- Are you without sin?

How old are you?

How long have you been married?

How many children do you have?

(I don't expect you to answer these personal questions on DU.)

If you are old enough to have been married, let's say 25 years or more, can you honestly say that your fantasies have always been strictly monogamous? Have you just once looked at say some film star or someone and thought, "MMMMM." If not, are you sure you are human? If so, and if you had the money Spitzer was born with, who knows whether you might have made the mistakes he made?

And if you want to judge a person, walk in their shoes for a day.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

I've been married to the same guy for way, way over 25 years. My only marriage. I think I know a little bit about monogamy. But, thanks to my work, I've seen it all when it comes to relationships. I've heard all the stories, and probably know more facts than you would want to know. The percentage of people who cheat on their spouses is incredibly high -- much higher than the percentage who admit it.

By the way, among the presidents who are known to have had mistresses are two of our most beloved: FDR and Kennedy. Then there is Jefferson -- who probably also had a mistress although after the death of his wife. All of these men were intelligent, charming, charismatic -- and attractive to women, not just their wives.

So, lighten up. Sanders is still governor in South Carolina. Ensign still holds his seat in the Senate representing Nevada. And they are Republicans. Times are changing. Get with it.

Spitzer is highly qualified for public office. I hope he runs for the Senate from New York. He would wipe the other candidates off the ballot.

[NJmaverick]

22. I don't break the law and I certainly wouldn't prosecute people for doing

the same thing I was doing IF I were breaking the law.

[RoccoR5955]

28. So you are saying that you are perfect.

Tell me more.

[Doctor_J]

12. Spitzer would have consigned some bankers to prison by now,

which is why his adultery (sic) was exposed while that of others goes privately on.

[NJmaverick]

20. and some more prostitutes and people using their services

[No Elephants]

14. So, you see a prostitute and your brain dies? Jeez, I thought you only went blind.

No, that was masturbation. Sorry.

Spitzer is qualified to speak about any topic in which he has knowledge.

[NJmaverick]

21. Spitzer is a blatant hyporcite

and you sully your own credibility supporting him.

[Dr.Phool]

3. I'd like to see the question he was asked.

Was he asked if he would have picked her, and he said no, he would have picked someone else and gave reasons why not. Or was he just attacking her, which I doubt.

She does seem to be performing a little better in the Senate, than she did in the house.

Besides, anyone would be better than Harold Ford.

[No Elephants]

7. Why do you doubt it? Spitzer may want Harold Ford in Gillebrand's seat.

I don't know if that is the case or not. But Ford seems to have some big guns behind him. (Unfortunately, IMO.)

If Spitzer is trying to help Ford, the remark on "wrong or malleable" would be ironic. I saw Ford this morning change his positions of "no gay marriage, only civil union" to "gay marriage and civil union." Ford is doing exactly what Gillebrand has been doing--changing the positions taken when running for a relatively conservative seat to ones that will fly in NYC.

IMO, Ford is a snake oil salesman. Small wonder Republican Imus endorsed him when he ran in TN,

[Dr.Phool]

23. Personally, I'd rather see Spitzer in the seat.

Ford is lower than a snake oil salesman. He's the snake.

[RoccoR5955]

26. Please don't insult snakes like that. n/t

[Midwestern Democrat]

10. I'm not a New Yorker, but her selection perplexed me on its face.

It just seemed highly unusual to appoint a first term congresswoman (just re-elected to her second term) to a vacant US Senate seat - if nothing else, it seemed like the kind of thing that would cause a lot of hard feelings within New York's Democratic congressional delegation - much more senior members being passed over for a little known freshman.

[ShortnFiery]

11. She will function as a well spoken puppet to the Corporate Elite DLC democrats.

Hey, it's a win-win. :shrug: :sarcasm:

[No Elephants]

17. And Harold Ford currently heads the DLC., so he'll do even better.

[Rhiannon12866]

24. I know Senator Gillibrand's views on most issues, why doesn't Spitzer?

She was my congresswoman... And she's strong on second amendment rights and supports gay marriage. :shrug:

[RoccoR5955]

29. Which are two of the three reasons why the Gov selected her

The other was that she's from upstate, and he wanted someone from upstate to even out the delegation.

[TreasonousBastard]

30. Spitzer? The guy who went back to Wall Street begging for...

campaign funds when he was Governor?

Did nobody notice just how little he actually prosecuted and how few of the "bad guys" he went after? Did nobody notice how the speeches kept up, but the prosecutor's office door closed when he saw a chance to be Governor? Every time he gave a big speech about how he was going after the bad guys, you could almost see that little wink toward lower Broadway.

This was, BTW, Giuliani's modus operandi when he was US Attorney-- all sizzle, very little steak.

(Smoke and mirrors will get you far, but only so far...)