September 1, 2009

Can Eliot Spitzer make a comeback?

"Two sources said Spitzer had thought about a gamut of different electoral choices in his months of political exile. But one ally insisted he's realized he can't do anything, at least not next year, saying, 'There are people around him who want to see him [in office], and he sees himself there, too. He loves to be in the limelight. But he knows it can't happen.'"

Oh, why not? Does anyone care anymore?

18 comments:

Hoosier Daddy said...

Oh, why not? Does anyone care anymore?

Well it does beg the question how a drunken skirt chaser can hold a Senate seat for damn near half a century and be treated like a prince yet Spitzer is tossed because he shagged some 20 year old hottie. Hell and Spitzer didn't even kill anyone.

He should have never left and instead just said: Yeah, I boned her. Repeatedly. What's your point? Now let me get back to work.

rhhardin said...

There's no reason Spitzer couldn't play in the NFL, though.

Ron said...

Hey, let's give him Teddy's seat! What the hell!

mrs whatsit said...

Here in New York, we most certainly do. He betrayed his supporters, outraged his opponents, and vaporized his base of good will. It has not come back. He was not a likeable man to begin with, and the image on which he built his success -- the righteous crusader -- is gone forever. Maybe he could try a successful run in Wisconsin, where you haven't had the luck to get to know him as we did, but it isn't going to happen here. He's not just disliked, he's despised.

rhhardin said...

As a practical matter, Spitzer was a wretched prosecutor.

Discretion meant whatever was good for politics.

Dorsai said...

He should have never left and instead just said: Yeah, I boned her. Repeatedly. What's your point?

Had he done that, he would have been admitting to a felony--several counts of a felony.

The same felony he prosecuted other men for. Unlike those poor sods, Spitzer had friends in high places.

Unknown said...

YES, people still care. There is no way Spitzer can make a comeback, even in NY. Spitzer was a long time prosecutor and a neophyte politician. There is no enduring history for constituents to cling to. The politicians that can come back are the ones with a long history BEFORE the scandal.

tim maguire said...

The prostitute may have brought Spitzer down, but she was hardly his only problem (and let's not forget that as a prosecutor, Spitzer put prostitutes and their Johns in jail). In his short tenure, the only thing Spitzer was impressive for was his host of ethics violations, including illegally using the state police as his personal political dirt hunters. He was poison to the political process (maybe they're too chummy in Albany, but that wasn't what he upset).

Spitzer is a thug and old what's her name did us a huge favor by getting rid of him.

hdhouse said...

and in a state of 20+ million there isn't anyone better for any office?

William said...

Yesterday I saw Spitzer jogging around the reservoir in Central Park. He moved at a brisk clip but the running was labored and full of extraneous motion and effort. It was a fine evening for a run, but there was nothing exultant or pleasurable in his face, just a jagged determination to finish the circuit in an acceptable time. This is probably too much to read into a quick glimpse, but he didn't seem like the kind of guy who found much pleasure in anything.

G Joubert said...

Spitzer wasn't just a garden-variety prosecutor. He was a world-class arrogant prick of a in-your-face prosecutor, on a holy terror against anyone who came across his crosshairs, usually those he decided were corrupt white collar perps. People of wealth and privilege who he claimed were self-indulgently taking advantage of their money and status. And he didn't care so much about such niceties their actual guilt or innocence as much as he cared about just bringing them to their knees, by whatever means he could. He also went after at least two prostitution rings. With Spitzer it was about (1) his own ambition, (2) partisanship, (3) sanctimony, and, somewhere down the list was (4) sincere law enforcement. When he fell it seemed to be a textbook case of hubris and karma.

So the question is: can he make a comeback with all that?

Randy said...

and in a state of 20+ million there isn't anyone better for any office?

LOL! The better ones probably know better. It seems New Jerseyites have been asking themselves the same question over and over for years now.

Richard Dolan said...

Spitzer won with almost 70% of the vote in Nov 2006, but was friendless and out of office after having served only 15 months. That took real talent in the alienate-everybody-around-you-very-publicly category. By the time he resigned, the folks who hated Spitzer the most were the other Dem pols in Albany. Had they not abandoned him, Spitzer might well have survived.

They have long memories, and don't want to deal with him again. Even more than the voters, they'd be his biggest problem in making a come-back. what he has going for him is an unlimited amount of money to fund a come-back and to buy political friendship that he couldn't get otherwise. So it's possible, but not likely, that we'll see Spitzer again on the ballot in NY.

traditionalguy said...

Spitzer seems to suffer from toxic narcissim. The bad joke is that such mentally ill people can buy their way into political offices by pretending to care for People other than themselves. He and John Edwards and Mark Sandford need to join a Group Therapy for lying assholes.

Chase said...

Your tags for this post say everything about Spitzer that anyone - yes, ANYONE - ever needs to know about him.

Bissage said...

Speaking of comebacks, too much time isn't the only thing Eliot Spitzer has on his hands these days.

wv = filasie. The fidog that saved fiTimmy from the fiwell.

PatHMV said...

Why do you keep trying to make excuses for this guy? He's scum. He was a bad Attorney General, he was a bad governor, and he was incredibly, arrogantly, self-righteous. He should walk away from public life forever.

Robert said...

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks...