Eliot Ness was asked what he would do if Prohibition were overturned.

[Shakespeare]

He said he supposed he'd have a drink.

This exemplifies why I'm so bitterly disappointed in Spitzer. He built his career on being a squeaky-clean crusader against crime and corruption--just like the Eliot from the previous generation--and by default put himself up to a high standard.

People are asking why it should be so bad for two consenting adults to have sex--and that completely misses the point. Prostitution, for the time being, is illegal. Period. Maybe it's a stupid law, maybe it isn't--but regardless, it is the law. Spitzer should have respected the very laws he insisted others obey as well; not doing so destroys his credibility, his reputation, and any current and future attempts to continue to prosecute corporate corruption.

Ness, from everything we know, obeyed the laws he was hired to uphold, even though they were demonstrably stupid. He understood that it wasn't a matter of whether a man should be allowed to have a drink, it was a matter of honoring his oath to enforce those laws, and so he did. Too bad Spitzer wasn't able to do the same.

[depakid]

1. You're assuming that Ness never had a drink during prohibition

I don't make that assumption.

[Shakespeare]

2. By EVERY account, that man was as clean as they come. And no one has ever even suggested...

...that he had a drink while Prohibition still stood.

And that also doesn't change the point of my post one iota.

[depakid]

3. Maybe, maybe not

Did Spitzer disappoint? Surely. But it seems to me the corollary of that point is very few can meet the sort of perceptions that they set up -and when compared to "mythical figures. they'll almost always disappoint..

People are all flawed- and some have worse judgments than others.

My pet theory is that someone had dirt on Mario Cuomo -which is why he didn't seek the presidency. I have no reason to think that -just a hunch and a recognition of the way things tend to be in New York in certain circles....

[Shakespeare]

6. "very few can meet the sort of perceptions that they set up"

I'm sorry, but how difficult is it to refrain from employing the services of a high-priced call girl? Give me a fucking break.

I have no doubt at ALL that there were many people out to get Spitzer, which is all the more reason he should have obeyed the law.

[Sal Minella]

8. That was my theory on Cuomo too -- when politicos were debating his potential, I felt he was just so

drop-dead sexy that way too many old girlfriends would show up in front of microphones willing to tell their stories, if Cuomo ever tried to run for higher office. Yes, just a hunch.

[JackRiddler]

4. Are you talking about Eliot Ness...

or Kevin Costner?

[Shakespeare]

5. I'm talking about Ness, who did become an alcoholic AFTER Prohibition was overturned.

There was a reason his group that went after Capone was called "the untouchables," and it's because he sought out men like himself who obeyed the laws and were immune to bribery.

Ness died of a heart attack in his mid-50s, no doubt helped along by his eventual alcoholism (which by most accounts was pretty severe).

That, however, does not change the point of my post: if one expects to have any moral authority whatsoever in a position like Spitzer's (and Ness'), you have to obey the laws. If you don't, you lose moral authoriy, you lose your reputation, you lose your career. Ness kept his nose clean while he was in a position where that was vital; he understood it was vital, and Spitzer should have, too.

[elehhhhna]

I'm just shocked that he was so stupid -- he should assume the Repubs are tapping his

phone.

[elehhhhna]

7. I'm just shocked that he was so stupid -- he should assume the Repubs are tapping his

phone.