UPDATE: ll: 30 AM: Are you sad or relieved, satisfied, or still infuriated? Governor Eliot Spitzer succumbed to pressure from political rivals, the media and perhaps his own family and stepped down. He will be replaced by Lt. Governor David Patterson, a much more porgressive figure, as of St. Patrick’s Day.

More reactions in my blog tomorrow. Now back to today’s post:

AS I “go to Press”—i.e. post this blog–CNN projects that Sen. Barack Obama will win the Mississippi Democratic primary. (10:20 PM). Update: He Won.

MARKET UP, SPITZER REALLY DOWN (AND NOW OUT–SEE ABOVE)
WILL THERE BE A DEFENSE OR WILL HE FOREVER WEAR A SCARLET LETTER?
A MEDIA CHANNEL ALERT: SAVE A WEBSITE FACING FORECLOSURE

The market shot up yesterday. 400 points. It was the first good news that the money makers had in months. Some credited the Federal Reserve Bank’s decision to pump in $200 BILLION dollars to provide some stress relief for those without an Emperor’s Club to belong to. The Fed acted after a disastrous decline on Monday when the likes of the Groups Blackstone and Carlyle were falling fast if not on the way down. You could imagine the phone calls from the Street begging the Prez to get the money presses rolling.

Some credit Ben Bernanke with riding to the rescue but a business woman who knows markets and men well told me she believes that it was Eliot Spitzer’s public humiliation which bolstered the market’s morale and luck. His fall led to their rise. It was a sense of payback that led to the big pay day. The cigars were out!

The NY Post reported that champagne was flowing on Wall Street–”cheers erupted on trading floors”— when the man once considered the “Sheriff” of the industry was named in a sex and financial scandal. How thrilling for them to learn that the man who prosecuted, some believe even persecuted them is up for prosecution himself. It allows them to feel righteous again as if they have been vindicated. They traded with a vengeance.

Some of Spitzer’s old enemies were back in the spotlight, hoop dancing all around the Stock Exchange. Investment News reports:

Kenneth Langone, the target of former New York State Attorney General Eliot G. Spitzer’s lawsuit regarding the hefty compensation package for former NYSE chairman Dick Grasso, felt little remorse for the Empire State’s embattled governor, who is charged with having dealings with a prostitution ring.

“We all have our own private hells,” Mr. Langone said in an interview with CNBC television on Monday night.

“I hope his private hell is hotter than everyone else’s.”

BACK AT THE CIRCUS

The media circus continued today with The NY Times reporting what did NOT happen—ie. New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer embroiled (ALLEGEDLY I WOULD ADD, A WORD NOT IN MUCH USE) in a prostitution/money laundering scandal did NOT resign as the purveyors of this morality play had hoped and expected.

Here’s a link to the coverage on a site properly labeled as a cicus.

Humorist Andy Borowitz reported on one “resignation.”

Spitzer Resigns From Emperors VIP Club
Client Number Ten to Succeed New York Guv

Amid calls for him to resign, embattled New York Governor Eliot Spitzer held a hastily-scheduled press conference in Albany today.

“After much deliberation, I have decided to resign my membership in the Emperors VIP Club, effective immediately,” Mr. Spitzer said. “I hope that in doing so, I will allow the healing to begin.”

Mr. Spitzer expressed his regret over the recent sex scandal, telling reporters, “I have let down my fellow Emperors and VIPs, whose privacy has been unfortunately violated.”

Under a transition plan worked out with the Emperors VIP Club, Customer Number Ten would immediately succeed Governor Spitzer and become Customer Number Nine.

Mr. Spitzer confirmed that he had already handed over his key to room number 871 in the Mayflower Hotel to his successor.

In a parting shot, Gov. Spitzer lashed out at the New York Post for serving up “an embarrassingly unimaginative headline” the morning after the sex scandal broke.

“I gave you a juicy story like this, and the best you could come up with was ‘Ho, No’?” the governor said.

The NY Post did far more than come up with one headline. There were eleven full pages of “coverage” or should we say “uncoverage” exploiting every detail of this Democrat’s disgrace and hypocrisy. No mini-bar was left unopened. All that is missing is the picture of prostitute “Kristin.” No doubt her agent is in the process of selling it for muchismo dinero to Larry Flynt or Karl Rove.

Spitzer was assumed guilty of every charge that has still not been filed. He has not be arrested except by the press. His guilt is assumed. His sentence is death by ridicule! The media is carrying it out, and not by court order.

SPITZER NEEDS A LAWYER AND AS A LAWYER, HE SHOULD KNOW THAT!

But what of “the law,” which is treated so reverentially in much of the press? This is from A Wall Street Journal Blog:

Many are asking, why and how the Feds have involved themselves in a prostitution charge, normally a state offense.

Daniel Steven Parker, the lawyer who’s representing Cecil Suwal, the 23-year-old woman accused of heading the prostitution ring, says his client will plead not guilty, but that she has never met Spitzer. “You have to wonder why the feds are looking at this,” he says. “As a general rule, I’d think the federal government has better things to do than prosecute prostitution rings.”

Federal prosecution of prostitution-related offenses are rare, Michael Bachner — a former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office — told the WSJ. He said to the extent Spitzer is charged it would likely be under the Mann Act, which prohibits transportation of people across state lines with the intent to commit prostitution.

But “the Mann Act really was designed more towards those who get someone to travel against their will,” Bachner said. “If Spitzer gets indicted, it would seem to me he would be indicted based on who he is rather than what he’s done. Those who frequent prostitutes are very, very rarely the subjects of a federal prosecution when clearly it’s commercial and consensual.”

As for possible state charges, he said “customers are rarely prosecuted in the state” and charges that are brought are typically disposed of with a plea to disorderly conduct, “which is akin to a traffic ticket.”

Tales of lurid political sex-deluxe style– was all over the media but I noted that one former Republican governor and Vice-President was given a pass. Not even a fleeting mention of the great Nelson Rockefeller, a former NY Governor, whose own flagrente delecto with an intern/assistent left him dead on a New York office floor in a state of embarassing exposure. His wife was not so Happy. The Repugs don’t savor that memory and the media buries it for more replays of Bill wagging that finger about Monica.

The Republicans in Albany are gloating, and making political hay. They are demanding their pound of flesh by threatening an impeachment.

DEMS DIVIDED

No peace and reconciliation there.Dems are distressed because it seems like Spitzer said one thing, did another. The NYT: “FOES OF SEX TRADE ARE STUNG BY THE FALL OF AN ALLY.” Said one advocate: “It leaves those of us who worked with his office feeling betrayed.” Spitzer was a critic of sex-trade trafficking, but he clearly made a distinction between what he seems to have considered his personal voluntary-consensual practices and this industry. Not all prostitution involves international sex tourism or the coercive slavery it is based on. His case also was triggered more by a probe of suspected financial money laundering. There may be more to that aspect of the story to be investigated.The bank that turned him in–described in the NY Times as a “large New York Bank” was not named.

At the same time, there are cultural attitudes (and practices) about sexuality in our own culture that may be even more dangerous in terms of health and well-being, not just morality. As this scandal continued to make headlines, federal health officials reported that one in four girls and young woman are infected with sexually transmitted diseases.

SOME DEMS FIGHT BACK

Over at Democrats.com, there was an attempt at counter-spin. They called on Spitzer to stay strong: “Don’t let the Republicans and the rightwing media drive you out of office!

You made a lot of powerful enemies in your career because you took on the most powerful crooks on Wall Street. Now your enemies are trying to get even by destroying your career and your life. Don’t let them!”

They also tried to cast some shame elsewhere:

Bush Tied to Child Prostitution - Resignation or Impeachment Expected

George Bush has been tied to a prostitution ring involving as many as 50,000 women and girls and is expected to resign or be impeached, according to Congressional sources.

The prostitutes, some as young as 13, are among the 1.2 million desperate Iraqis who fled to Syria after Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the U.K. Independent.

Bush’s invasion destroyed the Iraqi government and unleashed a wave of political and sectarian violence that has killed over 1 million Iraqis and forced 4 million to become refugees, according to the UN.

Facing starvation, as many as 50,000 women and girls have been forced into prostitution in Syria alone, according to Hana Ibrahim of the Women’s Will Association.

A LAMENT

Citizens for Limited Government issued a lament:

Impeachment Proceeding? [Gee, I’ve waited *so long* for this headline, but no. Not Bush for war–Spitzer for sex. –LRP] Republicans Set Deadline For Governor’s Ousting: ‘I’ve Asked Him to Resign’ 11 Mar 2008 If Gov. Eliot Spitzer opts to roll the dice and not resign, state Republican leadership will force him to go all-in and call for his impeachment from office, according to a state Assemblyman, who admitted he asked the governor to step down.

Sources told CBS 2 HD shortly after it was reported that the governor was linked to a prostitution ring that he would likely hand in his resignation, which could happen within the next 36 hours. [Oh, but what about David Vitter? See: The Double Hypocrisy of the Rightwing: The Vitter’s Victual By Michael Rectenwald 16 Jul 2007.]

BUT EVERYONE DOES IT….

Unfortunately, the everyone does it argument is not flying. Except perhaps over at the UN where a staffer told me last night that there was no alarm except more handwringing over how naïve Americans are. Yet the international press is all over this scandal too, at least in “Old Europe.”

Over here, no one apparently wants to hear that or change the subject.

A neighbor grabbed the NY Post out of my hands in the elevator. She had to gulp it all down at once, almost as if she had an addiction to savoring the sleaze. The story is seductive.

Everyone seems to want more disclosures, new juicy details, hot stuff, B-L- 0-O-D. “Did he really spend “$80,000? on hookers?” “Will he go to jail?” Should he? Stuff like that. In other cultures, this incident might be downplayed and ignored or he might be stoned or quartered.

Here Spitzer becomes another one of the fallen, a symbol of arrogance and hypocrisy to be referenced forever, that is, until, the next case comes along as it invariably will.

Who will want to crusade against powerful interests when they can be targeted this way even if their own downfall is often the result of self-destructive behavior? Who among us has not sinned? Ah, never mind, forget it. I am not a preacher. Calls for rationality and proportionality are hard to make in such irrational times. It’s also hard to beat the IRS when they are on you like a dog on the old bone. Ask Al Capone.

I am waiting for shrink Paul to take this issue on in the HBO series IN TREATMENT. I guess actor Gabriel Byrne already is.

A DEFENSE?

What about the argument that a sex addiction forced him to do it? Sheldon Drobny floats that on Huffington Post:

The Eliot Spitzer scandal is difficult for many rational people to understand. How could he have been so careless? The real question should be: What is the psychological pathology that caused this self destructive behavior? Like many crimes of morality, the pathology of the brain is usually the last suspect. In this case, there is no other rational answer. Elliot Spitzer is a sex addict who cannot control his sex drive. Much like a drug addict, he really has no choice. This condition is sometimes called “irresistible impulse” that was the topic of the 1959 movie, ANATOMY OF A MURDER.

Could that be a defense like, say black rage, or childhood abuse?

Larisa Alexandrovna is more political:

Spitzer’s selective prosecution? Consider that more and more evidence is amounting with regard to Karl Rove’s involvement in Alabama and the imprisonment of Don Siegelman. The mainstream news actually began to finally pick this up. Now, as though by magic and even … http://www.atlargely.com/

Journalist Linda Milazzo suspects other forces behind the sting on Spitzer”

Isn’t it odd that just when New York Governor Elliott Spitzer has introduced the RHAPP Bill — the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act — which guarantees women the right to choose or refuse birth control and abortion, he is simultaneously the subject of a highly publicized sex sting that threatens to destroy his career and possibly send him to prison?

Surely, what Spitzer is accused of — an interstate tryst with an expensive prostitute — is egregious for a family man and a high ranking public servant. Nonetheless, it’s striking that the Governor comes under attack NOW when he’s proposing the country’s most comprehensive protection for women.

Meanwhile, overall the Progressive Dems are projecting optimism:

WASHINGTON — A new report to be released on Wednesday will show that the 2008 election has the potential to not simply be a change election, but an election that will mark the end of the conservative era that has dominated American politics since the 1980s. Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and progressive blogger Jane Hamsher will join Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage on a news conference call to present the report’s findings and their significance for this year’s “Take Back America” conference, which will bring thousands of leaders and activists to a three-day “progressive convention” beginning Monday. Organizers will also preview key events and highlights of this year’s gathering.

Maybe, the conservative era has ended. But also, just maybe, this Spitzer sting will harden cynicism about all politicians and be used by the bloodhounds on the right to put all the Dems on the defensive. Morality is a social issue they love to exploit. Here we go again.

THE WARS GRIND ON

Veterans For Common Sense reports that the Veterans Administration has treated THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND CASUALTIES OF Bush’s Wars.

And there may be another in the offing:

IS WAR WITH IRAN CLOSER?

Top Middle East military commander resigns –U.S. Central Command leader Adm. William Fallon to step down 11 Mar 2008 Adm. William Fallon is stepping down as head of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees military matters in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Tuesday. Gates said Fallon took the decision because of recent statements attributed to him that Fallon felt had created a misperception about his goals [?] and those of President [sic] Bush. [See: Fallon ‘may lose job over Iran war’ 07 Mar 2008 Adm. William Fallon, the head of the US Central Command, may lose his job for opposing President [sic] Bush’s plans to wage war against Iran.

According to a new Esquire article by Thomas Barnett; Admiral Fallon may be prematurely ‘relieved of his command’ as soon as this summer to be replaced with a more ‘pliable’ commander. “If that were to happen, it may well mean that the president and vice-president [sic] intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don’t want a commander standing in their way,” says the article which will be published on March 12… The Navy admiral has vowed that an attack on Iran would ‘not happen on his watch’, calling the White House warmongering echelons ‘not helpful’.

Defense Department Denies that War With Iran More Likely.

Afghan Deaths Soar to 8,000

Matthew Weaver, reporting for The Guardian, writes, “The United Nations has delivered a grim assessment of the conflict in Afghanistan, reporting that violence increased sharply last year and resulted in the deaths of more than 8,000 people, at least 1,500 of them civilians.”