Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The rehabilitations come faster and faster
The New York Observer detects a veritable Eliot Spitzer boomlet in press coverage and favorable visibility. Spitzer is being "mentioned" in certain lefty circles -- OK, The Nation -- as the next Secretary of the Treasury. You know, because one administration official who is not all about demonizing the financial industry is too many.
Aren't we rehabilitating our hypocritical misogynists more quickly than we used to?
The prospect of the nomination of Spitzer for any federal post puts conservatives in a difficult spot. On the one hand, they will worry that his confirmation hearings would turn into a ridiculous if hilarious sideshow that would distract the administration and Congress from dealing with the economy. On the other hand, they will hope that his confirmation hearings would turn into a ridiculous if hilarious sideshow that... oh.
CWCID: Glenn Reynolds.
6 Comments:
By 
Escort81, at
Wed Mar 25, 10:03:00 PM:
Here is the passage you refer to, TH:
Then there's a novel idea. Why not bring in the man who took on Wall Street and AIG long before it was trendy? Eliot Spitzer. Call me crazy. But he foresaw the bubbles and disasters resulting from deregulatory frenzy and the financial service industry's creation of toxic credit default swaps and derivatives. As the Sherriff of Wall Street, Spitzer launched investigations and lawsuits deploying the creative cudgel of the previously-obscure 1921 Martin Act. Yes, he acted miserably toward his wife and family and he should pay the price for that. But some believe Spitzer was taken down by certain "masters of the universe" seeking vengeance for his aggressive policing of their financial fraud and corruption.
Read the whole thing at The Nation, written by its Editor, Katrina Vanden Heuvel.
Eliot, Katrina and I all graduated from Princeton in 1981. There, I just disclosed that bit of information. I don't see that disclosure in her piece -- that she is the classmate of the man she is recommending for the Cabinet. It's possibly relevant, to the extent that they have some collegial or friendly relationship of three decades or so. (I knew both only slightly while on campus, and don't know the nature of their friendship, if any).
Even the comments posted at The Nation do not indicate a positive response to her suggestion, so this is going nowhere. At this point, Eliot would not put his family through the confirmation hearing, anyway.
One has to admire the little bit of paranoia Katrina throws in toward the end: "some believe Spitzer was taken down by certain 'masters of the universe' seeking vengeance." Some believe. Nice. Stop reading bad pulp fiction, Katrina, and start being a voice for progressive politics again. Suggesting a man for high office who defines the term politcal hypocrisy this decade (by both using and prosecuting organized prostitution) is not helping your cause.
I think the only thing Eliot would have going for him as a possible Sec. Treasury is a great slogan: "When I f*** you up the a**, you'll know it."
Sorry, NFW.
By TigerHawk, at
Wed Mar 25, 10:21:00 PM:
Heh. Per the email I just sent you, that would be fine.
By 
, at
Wed Mar 25, 11:19:00 PM:
From Link:
Spitzer should never have any kind of power. He's proven incapable of handling it. He's a sociopath ... enabled by a too rich dad ... and a Princeton pedigree.
New York has the Martin Act, which predates our federal securities laws. Understand that no regulated company ... like a bank or insurance company ... can survive being charged under the Martin Act -- even if innocent, you're put out of business. You can bring Martin Act charges with minimal proof. It gives the NY AG a license to kill. Spitzer abused it.
The back story to AIG is that Spitzer first went after Hank Greenberg's son Jeff, who was CEO of Marsh & McLennan. The charges were vague, as Eliot was attacking an accepted insurance industry practice by threathening criminal charges. How did this come to pass?
Connect these dots: Michael Cherkasky used to be Eliot's boss when Eliot was a young prosecutor. Cherkasky became CEO of Kroll, the high-end detective agency. Marsh & McLennan bought Kroll. Within a year, Eliot uncovered "dirt" on Marsh & McLennan and threatened to bring Martin Act charges ... even though there was no dead body on the floor ... there wasn't even a complaining witness ... I wonder who tipped Eliot. As part of the settlement, Eliot insisted that Jeff Greenberg be ousted ... and looked with favor on Cherkasky being his replacement as CEO.
Hank Greenberg reacted to this, which made him the next focus of Eliot's wrath.
Eliot gave Sandy Weill of Citigroup a comparative pass on much stronger charges I could have put together in an afternoon using public sources.
Cherkasky wasn't an isolated case. The price of many an Eliot settlement was to hire an Eliot crony into a cushy well-paid legal oversight role.
You could make up a story like this, but not in America.
What I just wrote is very true, but not reported by MSM. We have no good investigative journalists left in MSM. I know the detail about Eliot because, while it was happening, my day job made me a Martin Act nerd.
Another aspect to this ... how does someone like Katrina call herself a journalist. She's a bigger whore than Ashley Alexandra Dupre. A lot of us really, really hate the "Princeton club" aspect to what's become America. You made Eliot your class president ! Shame on you ... you got him started.
By , at
Wed Mar 25, 11:29:00 PM:
Link, again
Before I get jumped on:
Ashley never compromised her profession, Katrina did. Katrina's a whore, Ashley is just a silly kid.
The failings of MSM reporters like Katrina are a big part of why we are where we are.
By Escort81, at
Thu Mar 26, 12:21:00 AM:
Link, man, try the decaf, dude.
True, Eliot was the Undergraduate Student Government Chairman (not class President) at Princeton, but believe me, it was a complete joke. I refer you to this article at the Daily Princetonian and its discussion of the awesome mocking power of the Antarctica Liberation Front.
Second, I have no knowledge of Katrina ever accepting money or other consideration in return for sex, and furthermore, I do not believe that anyone connected with The Nation falls within most definitions of the "MSM." It would not want to be considered "mainstream," but on the vanguard for the last 150 years -- well before there was Kos and Huffpo, there was The Nation.
To your other points, you connect a number of dots, and in the aggregate there is no question that Eliot played hardball -- apparently, as it turned out, simply to amass more power, rather than effect meaningful change. Indeed, at the time, there were some critics of him from the left that thought that the deals he struck with Wall Street did not go far enough.
I have previously posted about whether AIG would have imploded had Greenberg still been running things (since it was very much the House that Hank Built, and he would have had a fair amount of pride at stake, not to mention stock), and therefore whether it is the smartest thing for Eliot to be putting his two cents in right now.
Princeton is a diverse place. We used to say that the best thing about the place is the people and that the worst thing about the place is the people. I am not sure what you mean by "the 'Princeton club' aspect to what's become America," but if you mean it in a good ol' boys, country club network kind of way, that is no longer the dominant culture on campus, and in fact the current administration would go to great pains to tell you that they want to do away with that perception.
For what it's worth, some of the smartest, most successful and fun to be around people that I've known did not go to Ivy League schools.
Anyway, don't blame me or TH, we were both brainwashed at an early age to go there.
I hope you won't broad-brush all Tigers with the perceived sins of a few.
By , at
Thu Mar 26, 02:20:00 AM:
From LinK:
Minor Princeton stuff first:
1) Some of my best friends went to Princeton, mostly '80. Some of you may even know some of them. I'm not anti-Princeton -- I'm not anti-Ivy -- but there is a "club", and media hires to this .. unless you're a Jason Blair
2) Eliot has continually (mis)represented that he was "Student President" at Princeton, or some such thing ... that it mattered.
3) You may think Princeton diverse ... but I suspect Princeton didn't (doesn't) have many white working class kids ... people like me. That shouldn't change ... Princeton should be Princeton ... not SUNY Binghamton. But it does bother me that Eliot can call a Princeton friend to plant a story .... because a Princeton classmate is in a position to trade favors. I'm absolutely for personal connections -- I hate this obsession we have with "conflicts" -- it's the grease that makes our machinery hum ... but
Bigger stuff ....
When the Princeton friend doesn't address the following, I have a problem:
Spitzer is a proven sociopath, not because of the hooker thing ... but because of the way he abused his office. The idea that he's now working a public rehabilitation ... levering off AIG of all things ... angers me greatly. There's a very credible case that his ousting Hank Greenberg put AIG on the path to perdition, for which we're all paying. That Spitzer went after Hank on a personal vendetta made me want to scream then. How loud do I crank the volume now?
Eliot did more than play hardball. He corrupted his office as Attorney General. No NY AG had ever used the Martin Act the way had. His cases were all about building his launch to be the Governor of New York, with higher ambitions. He used the NY AG office ... and his dad's money ... to intimidate political opponents. I could go on.
What infuriates me is that today Eliot can get any media source to play into his "rehabilitation" game. To me, anything bigger than my silly rants on this site is MSM ... and anyone in MSM who comprises their reporting ... or just recycles what they're fed ... is a bigger whore than Ashley ... Gucci knee pads anyone ...
Which .. for me ...connects to the larger story about how MSM has so badly failed us on Obama. My concern isn't just about Eliot. The same issues extend to Obama .. to the nth degree
I'm not ordinarily angry ... and never vindictive ... but America is perilously close to running off a cliff ..
How loud should I scream ....
