Anyone else smell a rat???

[no_hypocrisy]

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/nyregion/10cnd-spitzer.html?hp

Systematically going through democratic governors. Don Siegelman in federal prison. Jim McGrievey had to resign in 2004.

Spitzer. Federal wiretaps. FISA. Republican administration. Karl Rove at large.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Well, perhaps he shouldn't have been breaking the law.

You always should assume that political enemies are seeking to bring you down--why give them ammo? Start behaving as IF you're being wire-tapped. That's my advice.

[saracat]

5. What a GOP argumenT . That is exactly the Bush reason for wiretaps." If you have done nothing

wrong, you have nothing to fear".

[TwilightGardener]

7. Huh? Elected officials shouldn't get involved in prostitution rings, etc., because

yes, someone is watching or will squeal--always. Dems have to be better than GOPers, because GOPers are venal.

[EVDebs]

41. Shhh.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2982898

[Matariki]

23. Seems to me also that lawmakers shouldn't break the law

If a given law is bad, then it's their duty to change it.

[The Stranger]

11. The point is that everyone breaks the law, but only one side is being wiretapped.

If it wasn't prostitution, it would have been an obscure tax evasion issue, or a land deal, or something else.

[TwilightGardener]

12. "Everyone breaks the law"? Uh, no. They don't.

[shimmergal]

16. Really?

If you're a driver, are you absolutely sure that you NEVER went over the speed limit or broke some other obscure traffic law? Inadvertently ran a red light?

Or even not driving: crossed the street outside a crosswalk, for example.

Outside the traffic arena, have you ever torn one of those unsightly labels off a pillow? Etc., etc.

The law's the law. Isn't it?

[TwilightGardener]

19. You must be kidding, if you don't see the difference between

a speeding ticket and an elected official who pledges to clean up NY politics and institute ethics reform, and then gets involved in a crime ring.

[Dr. Strange]

20. I think the point is...

if you do speed, and a cop catches you, then you get the ticket and you pay the fine. You don't complain that "everyone does it" or try to blame a conspiracy.

By the way, nothing illegal about pulling those tags off of your pillow.

[LaurenG]

35. "By the way, nothing illegal about pulling those tags off of your pillow"

Oh thank goodness! :rofl:

[JBoy]

39. I hear those hookers use tagless pillows.

Nasty.

[Terran]

25. "Inadvertently" is the operative word here

It's pretty easy, in politics, to get away with an accidental violation of some law. That's not what happened here.

Spitzer is truly a fool to have done this.

[Shakespeare]

42. Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?

He's the GOVERNOR. Made his career by being a Dudley Do-Right attorney general.

How on earth does a minor traffic infraction even BEGIN to compare to a public official whose entire reputation is based on enforcing the law, busted for involvement with a prostitution ring?

I mean, seriously, :wtf:

[The Stranger]

18. Yeah, they do.

It's politics, and if the federal government wants someone, they always get that person. One way or the other.

Always.

[Javaman]

24. Did you change your screen name?? nt

[TwilightGardener]

27. Er...no-??

[Javaman]

29. So you posted 16842 messages in a year???? damn, do you ever sleep???

LOLOLOLOL

[TwilightGardener]

31. I have a lot to say. And you're gonna hear it ALL!!

[sasha031]

2. oh yea, my question is why was he so stupid

he had to know that they would be out to get him.

[Oleladylib]

4. Good bye Elliot...thanks for nothing! back to ridiculous republican control here.

[saracat]

3. One would think this might be an issue for some but they are tooo busy

celebrating what they think might be a blow to Hillary! Some have segued priorities.

[Shine]

6. The sad truth is, he was incredibly stupid and let his dick rule his judgment

blue dress, anyone? :eyes: What bothers me is the larger impact this will have on Dems in general. :(

[WinkyDink]

8. No. He cut a deal with the ring, IMO, but didn't figure on the watcher's being watched.

[orleans]

9. K&R n/t

[madfloridian]

10. The chilling of Democracy.

.

[AlCzervik]

13. they were investigating a prostitution ring and he got caught, are you saying they were specifically

just wiretapping hom for political purposes? It is possible they were already wiretapping the people running it and he made the mistake of making a call and arranging a date.

[Thepricebreaker]

14. He admited to it.. your kidding right?

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. No, I only saw one, in the form of Mr. Spitzer, on the television.

[HughMoran]

17. Nah, we inevitably see posts like this after OUR guy gets caught

He's busted - there's no conspiracy that can save him from this.

[BigDaddy44]

21. Can you just imagine the size of the eyes on the agents

When they realized just who they'd reeled in?

[WinkyDink]

22. I refer you to your board moniker.

[GoneOffShore]

26. Uh, no.

Take off the tin foil hat and step slowly away from the keyboard.

Go outside, take a couple of deep breaths, have a glass of wine, a piece of chocolate.

Now repeat after me - Not everyone caught by the Feds doing something wrong is the victim of a conspiracy. Sometimes they actually did something wrong.

Easy, wasn't it?

[malaise]

28. BIngo

I hope the Dems in Congress smell the same rat.

[claire_m]

30. Yup, see link linking coincidences, too:

http://www.legitgov.org/spitzer_sex_life_weapon_mass_distraction.html

[apnu]

32. Its RICO not FISA!!!

Geez. this was a normal investigation, and totally legal under our system. Has been for decades.

Take the tin-foil hats off on this one folks. Spitzer fumbled this. That's all, there is not simian and his puppet master behind the curtain. Just a hypocrite who shouts about prostitution while dipping his wick in one.

You people need to figure out the difference between a legal, warrented wire tap, and a warrentless one.

Fucking hell.

[theboss]

33. So, they tapped a hooker's phone hoping that he would call?

Do you have the first clue how this investgation took place?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

34. A rat?

There is rampant infestation throughout. It is a plague.

[Puckster]

36. I absolutely think the administration is aiming wiretaps at their political opponents.

They wave al-Qaeda in our faces, but go after Dems. Pretty sick.

[calimary]

37. Shit - I just started a thread on that order, myself.

Here -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2985993

It may be nothing, but my mind has become extremely suspicious anytime I see something like this. There's usually more under the surface, beneath the rocks under which the GOP slithers.

Again, it could just be me being paranoid or tin-foiled or whatever. But that's one of the first places my mind went. Who would benefit by taking this guy out or otherwise neutralizing him politically?

You ALWAYS have to consider who benefits.

[madokie]

38. I do smell big rat nest

we are where we are via BLACKMAIL and that I would bet on if'n I was a bet'n man that is.

[quiet.american]

40. "If you don't put yourself in a situation, there is no situation."

That said, it did occur to me that "warrantless wiretap" might be a better description than "federal wiretap."

[Art_from_Ark]

43. Don't forget Jim Guy Tucker (Arkansas governor)

who was forced out of office as a result of Ken Starr's witch hunt (and replaced by lieutenant governor Mike Huckabee).

Then there was Gray Davis of California, who was getting too close to uncovering the sordid details about the California energy crisis, so he was "recalled" and replaced with the meatheaded action movie actor.