According to Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, speaking on Anderson Cooper's CNN show Monday night, Eliot Spitzer should not resign nor should he be prosecuted because prostitution is a "victimless crime."
Dershowitz gave us the usual nonsense about how Europeans would regard all this as no big deal, but what does this prove other than the fact that many Europeans have reached the nadir of moral debauchery? Yes, we all know that in France the discovery that a politician has a mistress or even patronizes prostitutes can raise their poll ratings. Is this really an area in which we wish to emulate French degeneracy?
I'm more interested in Dershowitz's claim that Spitzer is guilty of a crime that doesn't have any victims. Is this really true? Let's make a list of all of Spitzer's victims.
His wife: Spitzer's wife of 20 years not only has to cope with the public knowledge that her high-profile husband frequents prostitutes, but she also has to stand alongside him while Spitzer makes a press statement on his sexual and legal offenses. Converting your wife into a political prop--what could be more humiliating?
His daughters: For years the girls could think of their dad as a champion of legal and moral rectitude, fighting Wall Street crooks, shutting down prostitution dens, and so on. Now these innocent children must endure the knowledge that their father is far from what he portrayed himself to be. Spitzer has made shipwreck of his family and disgraced his children in public. What are his daughters going to say when they next see their friends?
New York citizens: Isn't there something outrageous when a high public official, and in this case a former attorney general, somehow gets the idea that he is above the law? That he can break the law with impunity? Why should other New Yorkers be held accountable to the law but not Spitzer? Spitzer of all people has worked to emphasize the idea that no one is above the law. So if Spitzer gets away with this, he will have screwed more than the $4000 hooker.
Alan Dershowitz: There is something about Democratic malfeasance (Barney Frank's relationship with a male prostitute, Clinton sex scandals, the latest Spitzer prostitution scandal) that causes liberal Harvard professors who agree with the politics of the culprits to lose their normal good sense. Whether Dershowitz thinks the law in question is a good one or a bad one is irrelevant here. Laws are made to be followed, and it's odd when law professors think that this doesn't apply to laws about sex. Clearly Alan Dershowitz's legal and moral intelligence has become the latest victim.
Reader Comments ( Page 7 of 25)
91. But I'll bet that what Sen. David Vitter did, in your mind, was just fine. After all, he's a Republican!
Brian at 12:04PM on Mar 11th 2008
92. @ GHB
While I would not support her politicaly, I could certainly see Hillary in a sexual light. It's been my experience that sometimes the ones who seemingly oooze sexuality are in fact not that great ( sometimes they ARE). Sometimes the ones you would not expect are the most fun( preachers daughter).
You know the Clintons are labrador people, not cairn terrier people.
Imagine...Hillary is Monica, you are Bill, Buddy can watch...............
mac at 12:05PM on Mar 11th 2008
93. you could be such a powerful witness for God
brian at 12:02PM on Mar 11th 2008
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Is that another spelling error, brian?
Don't you mean to say "such a powerful witless for God?"
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:07PM on Mar 11th 2008
94. brian,
Hate ta tell ya, but been there and tried that. Alice is a christian. Believes it front to back. God, son of god, salvation, Heaven, quack quack quack. And guess what? I used to be a christian. In fact I was a christian all through that rough time. Guess what else? It didn't help me one bit. In fact, it made me believe that I deserved a life of shit. That I had been picked by God to suffer like Job or Jonah. And it also make me trying to kill myself REALLY easy. I saw it all as a method of God's will.
What killed my faith? The infatah in the middle east where I saw a five year old palistinian boy killed by stray gunfire and realized that if God and religion and all that were true... that child was going to burn and suffer eternally. And the sheer monstrousness of such a callous and cruel decision blew wide thousands of assumptions I had held before. And I saw God for what he really was... at best, the embodiment of wishful thinking... and at worse, the greatest con game perpetuated by mankind. And believe it or not but it was atheists on boards like this one who helped convince me about the great lie and to learn to live without it.
Surprise surprise, brian.
Somber at 12:13PM on Mar 11th 2008
95. 90. @ GHB
While I would not support her politicaly, I could certainly see Hillary in a sexual light. It's been my experience that sometimes the ones who seemingly oooze sexuality are in fact not that great ( sometimes they ARE). Sometimes the ones you would not expect are the most fun( preachers daughter).
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You are as sick as I am!
Well, sicker, if you can see Hillary as sensual in any way. Even her most logical sexual role, that of dominatrix, would not fit her. She'd look lousy in latex.
I get your drift, though. Just not Hillary. That's a nightmare, dude.
In my experience, a cute girl with enthusiasm beats a supermodel hands down, every time. The really strikingly beautiful women have been ruined by our society. Their egos have been inflated too much for them to love another more than they love themselves. And as to sex, well, if you're not a giving person, you suck in bed, simple as that. They are all about themselves, a member of a cult of their own personalities.
Over the years, I learned to sleep with them, and then immediately dump them. It's good for their souls.
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:14PM on Mar 11th 2008
96. Of course, I don't dump them because they're pretty. I dump them when I find out that they're too shallow to ever love me. To even know what love is.
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:18PM on Mar 11th 2008
97. I once dated a really pretty girl on a Saturday.
She had the gall to ask me if I had had a date the night before, so I told her the truth. Yes.
She then actually asked me if I'd slept with the person!!!
Again, I decided on the truth.
We didn't even date after that. Gee? Can't a pretty woman handle honesty?
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:21PM on Mar 11th 2008
98. LMAO
Over the years, I learned to sleep with them, and then immediately dump them. It's good for their souls.
I laughed, I cried, two thumbs up.
mac at 12:21PM on Mar 11th 2008
99. "The only problem with your very insightful statement there is, what is a certain percentage of the populace decides that it's them against us? Stakes out their "side" and starts attacking us? Do we "turn the other cheek?" Do they not force us into being the "other side" in the conflict that they started? I have never chosen a side. I have just found my positions and thoughts attacked by a certain group that identifies itself as one "side" and me as being a part of the "other side." And they despise me for being what I am! How to meet such hubris with love? It's beyond me. "
Oh Godless One,
The Universe is great, and hopefully it is great for you too. Hope you and the Wifey are good today.
Tough points. And tough for me to answer.
What has to happen, is like Bridget. She's been stuck on a side and been on that side for the sake of being on a side.
We need to educate people. Whether we like it or not, both sides are screwed up and corrupt.
Unfortunately Godless, the reason you told me you're on a side, is the reason almost everyone is on a side. They are taught that the other side is the enemy and they want to "force" there way of living on you.
Loot at brian's stance on Liberalism. But he has no clue to the fact, that what Conversativism was meant to be hasn't been practiced in over 30 years.
Liberals and Democrats have there views on what Liberalism is and should be, but it's not being practiced either.
Right now, while the uninformed citizens are building walls around themselves with their indoctrined and false views, their political leaders are in bed with the lobbyists. Nothing get's pushed or laws get passed based on the Politicians moral compass or educated views. They're passed on influence and money.
The Politicians realize there is no side.
Why don't we?
If we did, the Country would run so much more smoother, because we would demand it. We're creative. If we united and all new the same correct information, our Government wouldnt' know what to do. They would panic.
Who knows, maybe we'll get another terrorist attack to keep us in line.
Botts at 12:28PM on Mar 11th 2008
100. Spitzer did not commit a victimless crime.People get hurt when a man commits adultery.
And for those who are on Mr Spitzer's case,I say examine yourselves.ARE YOU BETTER THAN MR SPITZER YOU WHO DELIGHTS IN CALLING HIM PEVERT?
aniekan thomas at 12:30PM on Mar 11th 2008
101. The point is: Spitzer as Governor and a former GA is the head of law enforcement for the State of New York. The man has prosecuted prostitution rings in the past, while expressing his revulsion to those involved. The hypocricy is unbelieveable! In addition to hiring a prostitute (more than once according to the phone conversations) he brought her across State lines----a Federal offense. For a former GA and current Governor Spitzer showed an incredible lack of good judgement. Thank God he got caught now---can you imagine the potential for Blackmail with this sort of activity?
Spitzer: Don't let the door hit you on the a$$ on the way out of the Governor's mansion.
Michael at 1:12PM on Mar 11th 2008
102. Nice words Botts, but how can we all unite when the christian right insists on it being their way or the highway? I mean, they're not going to support anybody that has ANY views that run contrary to their indoctrination. If a candidate says he supports equal rights for gays, including gay marriage, or even gay civil union, they are immediately flamed by these people. And I certainly wouldn't support a candidate that insisted that gays didn't deserve equal rights, since I'm not a bigot.
I'm trying to learn here. How to deal with the smallmindedness?
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:33PM on Mar 11th 2008
103. 99. Spitzer did not commit a victimless crime.People get hurt when a man commits adultery.
And for those who are on Mr Spitzer's case,I say examine yourselves.ARE YOU BETTER THAN MR SPITZER YOU WHO DELIGHTS IN CALLING HIM PEVERT?
aniekan thomas at 12:30PM on Mar 11th 2008
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Read the blog, the whole point was that this is not a victimless crime.
I don't recall anyone on this blog call Mr. Spitzer a PEVERT or a pervert for that matter.
dani at 12:36PM on Mar 11th 2008
104. Public Service Lesson #1:
"Your" is possessive, "You're" is existential and a contraction of "You are".
Example:
"Shut your idiot mouth, you're an idiot!"
Public Service Lesson #2:
"Its" is possessive, "It's" is existential and a contraction of "It is".
Example:
"It's an idiot, and its brain is idiotic!"
Public Service Lesson #3 (Advanced):
Let's cumulatively exercise Lessons #1 and #2.
Example:
"It's your idiot mouth, and you're responsible for its idiotic words."
Keep practicing! ^_^
Mokele-Mobembe at 12:36PM on Mar 11th 2008
105. It's not like they're willing to compromise in any way. They have no thoughts, which might be prevailed upon. They have BELIEFS, which are immutable and unchangable. I see them as stupid; they see me as stupid and EVIL. Big difference. I could maybe accept a bit of stupid, in the spirit of compromise; they would never accept a bit of smart if it went against their programming.
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:40PM on Mar 11th 2008