I'd be very surprised if this doesn't get juicier and involve other names. It is an election year after all.
It's really hard for me to care about this. Prostitution is a victimless crime (except for sometimes, the prostitute), and could certainly be better managed if it was legalized. If the Spitzer affair involves the misappropriation of funds thats one thing, but otherwise, I think it's the man's own business. I thought the same about Larry Craig and Bill Clinton. The rest of the world must think we're absurd: we have both schoolboy fascination and school-marmish judgment of the sex lives of politicians.
Steve,
I have been reading you over on Radar and you are doing an amazing job. You, unlike many other bloggers have been actually doing REPORTING--bloggers actually reporting and doing investigation--what a concept. You nailed and had more info than the NYT about Miss Peggy and you may the only one (or one of the few) with the whole affadavit (NYT excerpt; Smoking Gun just the Client 9 material) but as someone who works with document management, to get the real story you need the whole document. Your coverage on media, politics, TV are all top notch. Do you work with Balk over there or several editors? I gave up on Radar a while ago but with Alex there and certainly your own self it is once again a destination. Bravo and congrats.
Once again, Steve~O has the ticket to tuna~town before anyone else decides to sail on the boat.
CONGRATS STEVE~O!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(you may not want to stand out and receive kudos in times of family despair..... I, personally would be at your side. But you, Steve....you take it a few steps beyond and a few levels above..and can assist in solving crimes.
thank you Steve
~Becky
Larkin- if prostitution is a victimless crime, then why did Spitzer himself prosecute others for engaging in it?
I think this is the root of much of the outrage over this incident. Spitzer is a man who built his entire career investigating, prosecuting and condemning others of wrongdoing. To find out that "the steamroller" himself is selectively breaking the law (one he was VERY familiar with) as he pleases is galling.
If Spitzer truly believed that prostitution were a victimless crime, then perhaps he should have used his law background to champion the cause of legalizing it, instead of choosing to ignore that law. Heck, it probably would have had a better public reception than his immigrant DL campaign did.
It may be a victimless crime (at least at the high end), but it is currently illegal and Spitzer was an elected official charged with upholding the law. It has already been noted that working to legalize prostitution was not high on his political agenda. But at least he resigned quickly, so we can hope that this minor scandal doesn't turn into something bigger and more agonizing.
Thanks, Steve, for providing the Emperor's Club screen captures.
Doesn't compare to Bill Clinton situation at all - while showing extremely poor judgment, he was not breaking the law by sleeping with ML - and he did not build his career on rooting out corruption, prostitution, etc. BC was embraced as a wily old philanderer long before he was elected president anyway.
Yeah, I don't think a Clinton comparison is valid. He was doing something amoral, for sure, but not illegal, in most states (adultery may still be illegal in some states, actually).
And Spitzer, as I understand it, truly set himself up as even more of a self-styled arbiter of virtue than most politicians on either side of the aisle. He didn't couch in religious ideology, but he might as well have. This is much more like one of those famous bad preacher scandals, like Swaggart, Bakker, etc.
I agree, Steve, with your comparison of Spitzer to those who fell from cliffs of religion.
I believe this is all to do with what we thought he (spitzer) was morally made of and what his morals actually turned out to be.
He is a man with a TRUE SEXUAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM. That being said, I could usually dredge up some empathy for a fellow sufferant of a mind disorder...I have bipolar disorder myself....but the content and delivery of his public speeches since this broke the news, and his COMPLETE LACK OF EMOTION IN THE DELIVERY remind me of a sociopath His words, his vocal tone, his gestures, and his delivery said the exact oposite of his words.
And his wife.
Come on. Your hubby just sunk over 80 grand in a bunch of hoes and you are going to stand there like a rock?
What has happened to people today? Where are the core values? Where is the morality that we try to teach our children?!
This guy....spitzer....he needs to be a little number in a large prison. It will not fix his un~fixable personality disorders but at least it will keep him out of the bodies that govern our States. He has absolutely NO BUSINESS holding any job that speaks for us all. PERIOD.
I thought the very same thing regarding his content and delivery nursebeme, reminded me of the same thing too
And heeeeeere's Kristen!
http://snipurl.com/21ms3
Re: Ashley Alexandra Dupre - not exactly the picture of the "refined, high-class young models, actresses and students" advertised by EmperorsClub, is she?
Okay, for clarification:
In generalI believe prostitution is a victimless crime (except, as stated earlier, for the prostitutes.)
I supported Clinton and I thought the inquisition was shameful. (i don't even think what he did was particularly immoral. Nothing like the immorality of sending 4000 young Americans to die in the invasion and occupation of another country-- but I digress)
I did not mean to equate Spitzer with Clinton except in this way...
As a country we are too hung up on the sexual peccadilloes of our elected representatives.
Do I think Elliot Spitzer is a jerk and a hypocrite? Sure. Did I think so before all of this came to light? Of course.
I think all the hooting and hollering and posting of photos and snarky comments and late night talk show jokes just makes us all (as a country and a culture) look like a bunch of kids in Junior High.
Steve, this is not to take away from your significant achievment at Radar, for which you have well-deserved kudos.
Larkin,
As a wife of a LTC in the Army and a member of the command team that lead a BTN, than another BTN, and then yet (to come) a BGD into combat I take your slap to my face while standing.
This situation has NOTHING to do with decisions to invade Iraq or base UN ops out of other middle eastern countries.
This situation has to do with ONE INDIVIDUAL WHO WAS ELECTED AND LOANED POWER TO SPEAK FOR THE COLLECTIVE BODY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
He failed.
He cheated, lied, and was a case study in what not to do if you are an elected official.
please, please, please, PLEASE....on the blood of our brothers who have fallen, do NOT compare war decisions to this one that Spitzer made to screw women and move his thousands of dollars for that purpose.
For all the people that we officers command, represent, lead, and protect for the United States of America, we would never even be able to afford one night with 'kristen' or 'Lucy'.
This has been a LONG WAR. And many of us have been back and forth to fight numerous times since 2003.
For the love of God....please do not lump Spitzer in with us in written word or in context. THERE IS SIMPLY NO COMPARISON AT ALL....EVER!!
Spitzer needs to see a shrink. He also needs to get his wife and children some family counseling because they will need it as soon as the weight of this thing fully hits them.
And while I would enjoy seeing spitzer on a nice firepit roasting with an apple in his mouth (my sadistic side) I would also like to see him feel true sorrow and weep for what he has done to his family over the last ten years and possibly more. Until that man can shake off his power and his "superman~suit" he will never be able to heal his family or himself and that is very sad.
Sad to me, anyway.
Nursebeeme,
My 23 year old son in law has seen two tours of duty in Iraq while our daughter stays home with their two toddler boys. I have not slapped your face, and I beseech you to re-read my post a bit more carefully.
I was comparing Bill Clinton who was nearly impeached (remember?) over sex and saying that (to me) his behavior was not as immoral as this war. I respect our troops, but my heart breaks every day when more of them are lost. Spitzer didn't even enter into that equation.
All I am saying is that the Sexual Shenanigans of Politicians does not sink to the moral threshold of Murder.
Spitzer is done, he's over, his career is finished. Now he'll go on the lecture circuit or something. Will I lose sleep over it? No, and nor should you. Good luck to you and your husband, God be with both of you.
Larkin,
so let us compare shin bones to ankle bones already! Holy $%ll....you were the one who entered the invasion of 2003 into this blogment.
As I previously stated...there is NO COMPARISON TO THE WAR AND WHAT PSYCHOSIS SPITZER HAS MANIFESTED HERE.
I will not talk toddlers or moms or families left behind in the war...I have walked a million miles in those shoes personally. Personally.
No flames but plenty of fire could shoot out of my teeth that are now laden with the PTSD and depression that most of us die~hard~lifer~spouses must live with.
This is about Spitzer. He sucks. He needs to get help psychologically as do his wife and children and perhaps 'Kristen' who seems to be plastered all over the world....saturating media from video to tv to the web in her white bikini with those in~style~rings holding the whole half a yard of fabric together.
No flames, Larkin.... but just a few words back. You called the flag to the fore via, "Nothing like the immorality of sending 4000 young Americans to die in the invasion and occupation of another country"...
perhaps it was a poor choice of words or perhaps you meant it... either way, objectively it has NOTHING to do with what Spitzer has done to his children, his family, his State, and his COUNTRY.....
IMHO
and just to clarify...by saying "die~hard~lifer~spouses" I am refering to those of us who have been in this military for the long haul and until the end (until retirement).
My husband and I have FOUR MORE YEARS TO GO and I cannot wait to finally be done and settle down.
I also did not mean to sound harsh...it is just a really, really hard thing....to go through this state of war over all these years...we have had Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, Kuait, Iraq and Iraq, and Iraq, and Iraq. (oh and I forgot Macedonia)
Yeah. We signed on the line. And yeah...we bleed red, white, and blue, or else we would have gotten out and landed jobs that would pay double (at least) for what we do in the civillian world (I am a nurse practitioner, my dh is a BGD commander with two masters degrees). But we stay. And we will until 20 (and maybe more) not for the money and not for the comfort of life or quality of schools for my son, or a yard, or a house that isn't hooked onto someone else....but just for the mere fact that the United States needs us to stay and to lead and to move up the next level of officers to the commanding level. It is a responsibility that we do not take lightly as an entire family.
When I look at what my husband and others have done to protect this country I look at Spitzer and want to just spit on his bald spot... the 5 grand that he spent for four hours with a hooker could have fed five of my enlisted families for a month! It is a shame! AND I AM LIVID!
Larkin, I completely agree with you about your point on impeachment- I see where you are coming from and I wanted to say as much myself the other day when I heard how the republicans were impatiently circling to start impeachment procedures on Spitzer, as they did for Clinton. In that context, it is very much valid to point out the hypocrisy of allowing a free pass for crimes against humanity (yes, the war) yet springing to action for sex crimes. It boggles the mind.
I hate to tell ya--but if going to a prostitute was grounds for going to a psychiatrist, we'd need 20 times the mental health workers we have today.
I didn't have any problems with a sitting president getting some on the side--they ALL have, from Washington on. I just had a problem with him lying UNDER OATH about it, and was more disgusted about it possibly because, unlike most of y'all, I've actually had face-to-face dealings with the man (my father helped stump for him with the Farmers' Union back when he was running for governor that first time).
And, historically speaking, Iraq has not been a long war. In fact, as wars go, the death toll for our troops so far barely matches a single battle in World War I. Then again, history has apparently been reduced to the last 50 years, judging from what I hear out of the mouths of pundits. Everyone wants to compare this to Viet Nam or WWII, as if these are the only examples known to man, when in truth we're locked into our version of the 100 Year War. Or, worse, the 1st Crusade, except we're playing the part of the Muslims.
Court documents reportedly identified Ashley Youmans -- now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre -- as Kristen
http://www.myspace.com/ninavenetta
How dare these classless, leches embroil us in their sordid bullshit? Spitzer, like Clinton, thought he was above the law.
He's not.
Story over.
Babba, which law did Clinton think he was above? I didn't know there was legislation against getting a hummer in the oval office.
Nursebemee, it is clear from your posts that you have a lot of rage about a lot of things. The fact that you can get so apoplectic over Elliott Spitzer (!!) is remarkable and I sincerely hope you find some way to constructively deal with it. Certainly it doesn't hurt him, but it is eating away at you. Take care of yourself.
Monika, thanks.
If we must compare wars the current iraq invasion also has a lot in common with the american revolution and yes nancy, with the US (then 13 colonies) in this current conflict more representative of the Brits this time around.
Larkin, the passion in my responses come from my outrage (a lot different then plain old rage) at the abuse of power and the misrepresentation of the people.
Yes hummers and getting some on the side are as old as George Washington himself but does that mean that it is okay to illegally move money? That is what actually started this investigation. So once the irs and the feebies figured out...okay...Elliot is not extorting money...he is (and allegedly has been since he was attny general) spending thousands of dollars of his own money on hookers while he is busting them at work. Hmmm.... Last I checked...while most consider it a "victimless crime" prostitution is still a crime so once those LE noticed the crime are they supposed to then turn the other way?
There are victims in the crime of prostitution even if they are of the second and third order.
nursebeeme, your anger is much displaced. If you now want to move away from the crimes against humanity aspect of the war to the money part of it.... well, let me just stop and ask you first if you really want to open that can of worms? I warn you that it might make you look silly for wanting to 'spit on Spitzer's bald spot' over 5 grand or even the full 80 or 100. There's crooks who are stealing from the soldiers and the country to the tune of 1.2 trillion dollar$. It doesn't make me want to spit on anyone so much as it makes me want to vomit.
oops.. silly me.. i was looking at a total from last year.. currently, the cost is over 3 trillion dollars..
THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL WEBLOG. THIS IS A POST REFERENCING A POSSIBLE CRIME THAT HAPPENED TO INVOLVE A POWERFUL POLITICIAN.
I'm not about to have any patience with people trying to get into pissing matches over the Iraq War here, and I'm asking you all to take it to your own blogs or other sites that are definitely politically-oriented.
I can't avoid touching on politically-charged subjects now and then, because it is inevitable that crime and politics will overlap. I can't avoid gossipy items either, as my paying gig also involves some gossip writing -- and again, the two can overlap.
But at its core this blog has never been political, and I'd like that respected.
(Wanna challenge me on that? Just know that I've been whipped mercilessly by left-wing blogs for being a nearly Nazi-like rightwinger, and as recently as early this month somebody blogged about how it was just so obvious how I loathed conservatives. I'm proud of this confusion about where I stand, and intend to maintain it as long as possible.)
There could be plenty to discuss about the actual subject of this entry. As it is, you all are veering way, way, way off-topic. I used to wonder why Tom Voigt, webmaster of ZodiacKiller.com, was such a hardass about people being off-topic on his message boards, but I think I understand him better all the time, now. Stick to the subject, or don't comment.
If you think prostitution should be legalized, say so. Explain it. If you think this story is much, much ado about absolutely nothing, say so. If you think that prostitution is NOT a victimless crime, I'd like to hear about that. Check out the links I added today, and take a look at what I managed to save of Ms. Dupre's site -- what's everyone's impression of her? That's valid. The current discussion simply belongs on another blog.
Thank you,
Steve
Well, personally I always wondered what a 5 grand an hour woman looked like. I can't imagine paying 5 grand an hour for ANYTHING!
Victimless crime? Let's ask his wife if she feels that way! Me thinks not. Can you imagine having to stand next to that POS while he somberly and without emotion apologized?!?
Why do all of the political wives do that? Could you imagine Mrs. Craig having to stand next to her husband while he was being apologising for homosexual solicitation? And his kids had to stand there too? What a bloody embarrassment!
The fact is politicians are probably not as trustworthy as the rest of us, and they should always be held accountable for their actions as should anyone involved in criminal activity.
Is prostitution criminal in nature? No, I personally don't believe so, but until it's legalized, it will remain a crime.
turns out her real name (the other one wasnt real either) is ashley youmans - here is her *other* myspace... http://profile.myspace.com/
index...endid=354283446
Nice try, "Kate." From the blog area of that fake myspace:
Signup Date: 03/13/08
I don't know if you created or if you just believe it's hers, but that signup date is enough for me to believe it's a fake. One of many at this point, I'd bet.
*shrug* cnn and other major news sources seemed to believe it...
That holds absolutely no water whatsoever with me. Ask this guy about how wrong the mainstream press can be about this sort of thing. In 1999 some reporter happened on his website and was so convinced it was owned by one of the Columbine killers that he became inadvertently famous, for a bit.
If that is Ms. Dupre's profile -- and I strongly doubt it -- then she's an attention whore of the most astonishing stripe. Hell, she probably is, anyway... but like I said, I think it's a fake.
I just discovered this little ditty:
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=62734
The video is from the summer of 2006 six when Ashley was picked by the rapper Mysterious to play his girlfriend in the video for his song "Pop Off."
~
Holy crap - 688 friends in one day.
MySpace nerds are going nuts trying to associate with this girl.
Next all these so far 688 will be phished lol.
Personally? I think prositution should be legal, just for the sake of making it safer. Why shouldnt THEY be taxed. I take more crap at work then they probably do lol. And for the average user, they probably dont have to put up with it for 9 hours at a time.
I disagree, though that Spitzer is a psychopath, I am thinking more along the lines of Maher on this one.
The fact is, Spitzer pissed off high ranking people and they looking for whatever they could used a technical loophole in the system to justify wiretapping him (and yeah, he is REALLY SMART so he SHOULD have known they would), and he got caught with his pants around his ankles.
As for the (mostly women) that are pissed that Mrs. Spitzer stood by him? You sound bitter. You dont know their relationship, and you dont have a right to it. Her decision is HERS. And all of you bashing her should be ashamed. Maybe she just believes in marriage, and that she can overcome this, maybe she is planning on kicking him to the curb, MAYBE she loves him and is wondering what the hell happened.
In any case, as of Monday, he is one of us, a private citizen. So go ahead and hurl your rocks at this poor woman while you can, because AFTER that, it really is none of your business.
Personally, I wish them both well and hopes their family heals through this.
Mr. Fox was a weasel and she's too young to have respect for ANYTHING, much less herself.
I shake my head at the immaturity and greediness of this entire story.
Don't forget your daughters.
Steve, you said this:
"But at its core this blog has never been political, and I'd like that respected. "..........
and this, "(Wanna challenge me on that? ".......
and this: "I used to wonder why Tom Voigt, webmaster of ZodiacKiller.com, was such a hardass about people being off-topic on his message boards, but I think I understand him better all the time, now. Stick to the subject, or don't comment."....
And this,: "take a look at what I managed to save of Ms. Dupre's site -- what's everyone's impression of her? That's valid. The current discussion simply belongs on another blog."
1) I am sorry for getting OT in your comment section.
2) If I offended anyone over my war statements I am deeply sorry. I subjectively spoke of what this war is really like on the other side and I realize this is not the topic at hand. Again, I am sorry, Steve.
3) Steve...you are better than Tom Voight... period. What you have brought to the world is the antithesis of Tom V's blog. How? you RESPECT YOUR READERS AND THEIR RESPONSES (and publish them even if you do not personally agree!). You are a innovative in a way that has yet to be defined.
4) as to ho~bag's site...I would rather saw at both wrists with a butter knife than EVEN PONDER her climb into the music industry. Anyone with a synthesizer and a slightly on tune pitch singer could pull that off. And the lyrics? Damn! Someone just shake up the mojitos for we are in for a long ride with shitty music playing in the background.
Again, I am sorry for dragging politics into this.
BUT FOR THE RECORD...I have SERIOUSLY, COMPLETELY, AND FAITHFULY lived this military life for a long time and I have seen more abuse of power than you could shake a stick at. I am powerless to stop it. I am sorry if I offended any blogmenter here. I sincerely did not mean to.
sincerely (and rage in check),
nurse
Do you know what position gets paid the highest by our government?
The one directly under Spitzer.
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