Tuesday
The downfall of Eliot Spitzer has recently been celebrated on this blog, and rightly so. However, I believe the major casualty of the affair will prove to be Hillary Clinton, rather than Spitzer. This juicy scandal will deliver the Democratic nomination to Obama. You could almost - almost - feel sorry for Clinton; the press was only just starting to crack the shiny Obama veneer, when this had to go and happen. Who will pay any attention to Rezko and co. with this circus unfolding over the next few weeks? It will suck the oxygen right out of Hillary's campaign at the critical juncture - just when it was catching fire.
Not that Obama as the Democratic candidate will necessarily be a bad thing for the Republicans; the more I see and read of him, his views and his actions, the more I am convinced that Obama08 is John McCain's smoothest path to the White House.
The voters have known that Spitzer is a scumbag since such events as the drivers licences for illegal immigrants policy (a scam to increase the Democrat vote - as New York is a "moter voter" State where people can register to vote by producing a drivers licence) and the use of State Troopers to try and frame the leader of the Republicans in the State Senate.
So this scandal will just confirm what people already knew - he will go and replaced by quota man (black, legally blind, member of powerful Democrat family ......).
However, Hillary Clinton would be in real trouble if it was the Governor of Pennsylvania next door to New York who had been caught.
Hillary is counting on this man to deliver the State - and his machine is powerful enough to do it.
Posted by Paul Marks at March 11, 2008 05:05 PM
Again; there will be a second ballot, and it will likely be the Clinton forces that choose Al Gore.
Posted by RRS at March 11, 2008 05:54 PM
It could be that one consequence of this might be that high profile political prosecuters like Spitzer and Nifong (Duke Lacrosse Case) will have less and less credibility when they face juries.
Which means that liberals will only be able to convict conservatives in 100% Democratic places like DC or vice versa.
Posted by Taylor at March 11, 2008 10:57 PM
Alisa:
It would be worse for Hillary if this had happened to the Pennsylvania governor because Pennsylvania hasn't held its presidential primary yet. Their Governor (Rendell) is strongly supporting Hillary and has a powerful party machine that can get out the vote to deliver the state to Hillary.
New York has already held its primary.
I don't know if Spitzer will get impeached: the state Assembly, which would do the impeaching, is dominated by Democrats, with a Speaker (ie. Majority Leader), Sheldon Silver, who once famously said that legislative salaries were less than minimum wage. That was 10 years ago. Instead of being laughed out of Albany, the asshole is still Speaker.
Oh, and the piece of shit got his pay raise for legislators.
Posted by Ted Schuerzinger at March 12, 2008 03:02 AM
