Eliot Spitzer and Occupy Wall Street find each other

[cal04]

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=BFE9147E-80C3-4867-8090-DAF4E21EE788

(snip)
After a meteoric rise and fall — first in politics and then as a CNN host — the former New York governor has dusted himself off again and emerged as one of the earliest, loudest and clearest voices supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In a string of Slate columns, guest spots on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and public appearances, Spitzer has spent the past two months giving full-throated support and a laundry list of policy ideas to the nascent movement, even while being careful to emphasize that he speaks only from its sidelines.

(snip)
Spitzer has gone down to Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park “a couple times,” he said, more to listen than to talk. What he saw reminded him of the other great social movements of the past century.

“It’s what grass-roots activism looks like, and as a consequence it is easy for those who want to disparage it to disparage it,” he said. “But at the same time, it is incredibly potent.”

[virgogal]

1. He's still trying to shake off his Client 9 days.

[sabrina 1]

2. He has no need to. There are far more important issues facing

this country than for anyone with a brain to be worried about that old story. He knows more about the Corruption on Wall Street than anyone else, making him an extremely valuable and necessary voice in this country right now.

Current should now give him own show where he will be freer than on Fox lite/CNN to actually tell the truth. Which is probably why he lost his job there, his knowledge of Wall Street became too inconvenient and the MSM has to undermine the Occupy Wall Street movement, which he could not do.

[girl_interrupted]

3. +1000

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. A prosecutor prosecuting crimes he was doing himself...

There are more important things but none so germane.

-1001

[sabrina 1]

6. Like I said, this is minor compared to the crimes that have not

and will not be prosecuted. War Crimes, Economic Crimes eg. I really don't see why ANYONE is being held accountable for anything, until these massive crimes against the people of the world, AND the American people begin to be investigated.

Talk to me about this, by comparison, not even worth mentioning crime, when they start arresting those who Crashed the World. All I see happening to those major crooks, is the government handing them more of our money.

And the war criminals, we are told, will not be prosecuted because we must look forward. Do you accept that? Torturers and war liars who have killed hundreds of thousands of people should be let off the hook because we must 'look forward'?

If you are not outraged over that, I fail to see your outrage over this comparatively minor issue.

I'll reserve my outrage for the Massive Crimes that are apparently going to be ignored until we get a government that is on the side of the people. Elliot Spitzer right now is on the side of the people.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. It's minor for me and you.

Not for an authority figure. That's the basic precept of the position.

No pass from me.

[sabrina 1]

13. He really doesn't need a pass. He paid a price. The other major

criminals, responsible for torture, for the destruction and death and maiming of so many lives, millions of lives, have paid no price, they have in fact profited from their crimes.

Same goes for the Economic Terrorists, many of them in our government, they have profited also from their crimes, protected, just like the War Criminals, by our government.

I'm for 'looking forward' regarding all crimes, until all criminals are treated the same way. As it stands now, there are no bigger criminals in any jail in this country, than the ones our Government is protecting. Why should any of us respect the law when the Government does not?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. That's an whole another potato.

[russspeakeasy]

9. +2000

[w4rma]

23. I very *rarely* disagree with you, RUMMYisFROSTED. I will disagree with you this time.

Everyone has a skeleton. And Wall Street corruption stays in power through finding those skeletons and blackmailing people with them. If someone who is powerful hasn't had their skeletons plastered all over the TV, then they are probably being blackmailed, are corrupted already, or unlikely they are squeaky clean.

[midnight]

25. I agree with this idea of wall street corruption staying in power

via finding those skeletons and blackmailing people with them..

[Frustratedlady]

10. I agree. He can make some people very nervous. EOM

[bhikkhu]

15. In all fairness, Spitzer and Newt are both damaged goods, politically

There are always more important issues to worry about, but there are also people to deal with them who haven't made very public idiots of themselves.

[jwirr]

17. Like who - he is the only one I have seen speaking out on this and

the fact that he is "damaged goods" politically makes what he says even more relevant because he is not playing politics.

[sabrina 1]

19. Really? Newt is damaged goods, not because of his personal

life, have you forgotten why?

Spitzer is more popular right now than most members of Congress. People, as demonstrated during the Clinton years, do not really care about these matters, they care about how effective a politician is regarding the issues that matter to them. And right now, Spitzer is extremely popular due to the fact that he was going after the Wall Street criminals who eventually crashed the World's economy, when everyone else was looking the other way. Had he not done that, no one would even know about what happened in his personal life. And most people know that also, which is why they don't care. Speak for yourself, you need to talk to a few NYers to find out what people think.

[bhikkhu]

20. True, I am about as far from NY as one can get

and in a perfect world perhaps a person's private life would have nothing to do with their politics and ideals...but in the real world "credibility" is an important asset, and one of the easiest ways to lose that is to get caught being a two-faced liar. The Clinton years hardly demonstrated that people don't care about "marital misconduct" and deceit on the part of their representatives - quite the opposite, if you recall the endless headlines and impeachment hearings.

Perhaps he sincerely wishes to support the OWS movement now, or perhaps he is seeking to use the issue to regain the respect and praise he once had. Who knows, but I don't think he is going to be effective as a public spokesman.

[sabrina 1]

21. Well, long before the OWS even began, Spitzer was after

Wall Street criminals. He was known as the 'Sheriff of Wall Street' in NY. So it is not a new interest for him, he has always been passionate about corruption in the World of Finance, and was well known for his aggressive pursuit of Wall Street Criminals. Many believe that is the reason why he was 'exposed' since we know how many others whose careers were not ruined, such as Craig et al, but they were not challenging the Wall Street Gamblers.

I think the reason the Republican witch hunt of Clinton failed was because overall the American are not hypocrites. And since a huge percentage of marriages fail in the US, many due to cheating, they were not happy with judging a man's entire life on an extra-marital affair and the glaring political reasons for it turned a lot of people off. Even some Republicans. Not to mention the hypocrisy that was revealed.

[disndat]

29. Your argument against Spitzer is so flimsy

You must be a Wall Streeter, case in point, Bill Clinton has gone on to bigger and better.

[applegrove]

22. I concur. The GOP would love it if leaders and intellects and fighters like spitzer would

just disappear. But he hasn't and I think I'm glad he is not on CNN. I think he has a more important role to play.

[disndat]

28. Great idea!

I hope K.O. and Al Gore takes it up.

[valerief]

5. It's stupid to care about that. Really. It was stupid to care when it happened

and it's still stupid to care a whit about it.

[virgogal]

8. It was the hypocrisy,not the sex life, that bothered people.

[valerief]

11. Caring about the hypocrisy is stupid. It's only sex. nt

[virgogal]

12. Is "stupid" your word of the day?

[valerief]

18. Ha! No, caring is!

:hi:

[sabrina 1]

14. The real hypocrisy is pretending to care about the law, or about

hypocrisy in fact, when we live in a country that is protecting some of the worst criminals in the world, War Criminals and Economic Criminals. No one really believes in justice anymore, and what he did is probably going on every day in our government, but so long as they do not threaten the status quo, they will be protected.

The whole 'rule of law' thing, and 'hypocrisy' (the US lecturing other countries on human rights eg) is a farce.

[stevenleser]

30. If so, Attorney Generals and States Attorneys will probably always be assailable on hypocrisy

If you disagree with one law whose breakers/offenders you prosecute, you will be assailable.

There is a real question-mark as to how much latitude these kinds of folks have to prosecute or not prosecute various crimes. Certainly, if the NY State attorney general, or a member of his staff stopped prosecuting prostitution, it would be a big issue. If he had campaigned stating that he would not prosecute such crimes, he would never have been elected.

I'm not a big fan of hypocrites either, but it isnt as if he attacked his political opponents by prosecuting prostitution.

[disndat]

26. Whatever he did he paid the price for.

The Wall St. criminals are running around free and still making $$$.

[jwirr]

16. This is wonderful. This man may have had problems but it does not

take away the fact that he is brilliant. I love hearing him talk on news programs.

[CAcyclist]

27. Spitzer was politically assassinated.

Maybe the republicans will wish he was back in office where he couldn't speak so freely if he keeps going this route.
Spitzer is just the person to help the movement gain momentum.