Consensual or not, prostitution is illegal and that’s why Spitzer needed to resign. Plus Spitzer portrayed himself as so self righteous in his career, it really became a got you moment
“Why should I care what he spent his personal funds on? He didn’t use government funds and I’m not his wife.”
Because he was charged with enforcing the law. If he were the Secretary of Transportation or something, then his illegal extracurricular activities wouldn’t undermine his authority to the same degree. But if you have responsibility for putting people in jail for doing what you did…this ought to bring you down.
“But since the Clinton thing, and then the Spitzer thing, it occurred to me that it must be tough for really famous people who have unmet needs on the home front.”
Are you privy to the inner workings of their marital relationships??
Vitter didn’t resign and was re-elected. Spitzer was righteous about corruption. He wasn’t a “family values” pol like Vitter. He didn’t espouse socially consecutive laws that aim to curtail a woman’s right to privacy.
To go back to the topic. Here’s a list of 28 women who camje oujt so far on HW.
As attorney general Spitzer had prosecuted at least 2 cases against prostitution rings.
He didn’t just hand over cash. He wired money abroad to a corporation.I forget the specifics, but it amounted to money laundering. (It was the required reporting of cash transfers that lead to his undoing. ) And he certainly put himself in a position to be blackmailed.
So that is your litmus test? People can break the law willy-nilly as long as they support policies you like? No wonder Weinstein was able to cover this up for years.
“Because he was charged with enforcing the law. If he were the Secretary of Transportation or something, then his illegal extracurricular activities wouldn’t undermine his authority to the same degree. But if you have responsibility for putting people in jail for doing what you did…this ought to bring you down.”
Governors can’t put anyone in jail.
The Attorney General and his/her office also does not put people in jail for soliciting prostitutes (which is only a misdemeanor.)
“So that is your litmus test? People can break the law willy-nilly as long as they support policies you like? No wonder Weinstein was able to cover this up for years.”
No, I don’t care what anyone does in their personal lives just as long as they are not being hypocritical - IOW doing the thing they publically rail against and make policy about. Like the guy last week from PA.
So by that standard, apparently it is fine what Harvey Weinstein did, as long as he wasn’t publically railing against that sort of behavior. 
Like it or not, that is how most people (not necessarily those posting here) think. For example, a politician seeking election caught making “locker room talk” about being touchy-feely to unwilling others only lost a few percentage points in the polls, and then only temporarily.
Pimping, pandering and engaging juveniles below a certain age as prostitutes are felonies in most states. Here is a press release from the New York Attorney General boasting about breaking up a prostitution ring, so yes, the AG does get involved in these types of crimes.
http://www.businessinsider.com/attorney-general-cocaine-and-prostitutes-party-packs-2014-1
“So by that standard, apparently it is fine what Harvey Weinstein did, as long as he wasn’t publically railing against that sort of behavior.”
Not that I necessarily agree with the stance some are making, that is not what is being said. HW wasn’t engaging in consensual activity.
Vitter was re-elected, but he was not elected governor, and the prostitution allegations were a factor.
^Senators are law makers also. Didn’t seem to bother the people of LA then. I have no problem with what Vitter did either except that he ran as a “family values” candidate. Same with Sen. Craig. I wouidn’t vote for either of them, but not because they had extramarital sex. I couldn’t care less about that except for their hypocrisy.
What anyone does in their private life between consenting adults is not my business. What Spitzer (and Vitter and Craig) did is nothing like what Weinstein did. None of those men are sexual predators, harassers, or rapists.
Has anyone talked about the fact that NBC squashed Ronan Farrow’s report on Weinstein? And when the story broke, they were late to report it when CBS and ABC spent considerable time on this on their morning shows.
After NBC told Farrow not to report on this anymore and would not give him any resources (he paid a cameraman on his dime after NBC told him to cease) that he went to the New Yorker and they published his very good investigative reporting
@zinhead “The only difference is that Weinstein sometimes paid off his women after the fact; Spitzer did it before the fact.”
I am surprised that you are making this argument. There is a big difference between the two, even though they may both be illegal. One is still consensual, and the other isn’t. There is no comparison.
No one has mentioned the fact that these men seem to have an insatiable need for sex. It’s all about sex for them. Even Spitzer, Weiner, Clinton, Weinstein, Trump, Cosby.
Women hear no, and understand no. We’re not obsessed, and we’re not driven to engage in risky sex because of our hormones. Men – even these “old” men, not adolescents – seem incapable of restraining themselves. What’s that about??
If you want a politician who was guilty of abusing his office for sex, it’s Kennedy. He was swimming naked with interns and secretaries every day at lunch. He had an affair with one of his staff. Women were arranged for him in Hollywood and on other trips. Everyone knew, but back then the Press was ‘the boys on the bus’ and no one reported it or thought there was anything to report. FDR had a mistress, Eisenhower had one. Or more.
If you don’t like Woody Allen, don’t go to his movies. I try not to hold the scandals against the wives, and try not to figure out why they stay with their husbands. I don’t understand the attraction to Clinton, Trump, or now Weinstein, but try to admire or dislike their wives on their own merit. It is getting harder and harder to do that.
How do you know that? Many people who engage in prostitution do so against their will, or do so because they feel they have no other options. The women that Spitzer and Vitter paid for were likely as powerless as the women that were victimized by Weinstein.
People frequently refer to prostitution as a victim-less crime. That is not the case at all, as frequently women and boys are kidnapped or held against their will and forced to become prostitutes. See the following:
https://sex-crimes.laws.com/prostitution/prostitution-statistics
You are right in that there is no comparison between the two. The women that Weinstein victimized likely went on to have fairly normal if not successful lives. The women that Spitzer and Vitter paid for likely went on to have miserable lives. As shown by the above website, prostitutes are beaten by clients on average 12 times a year, they have a murder rate 20 times the national average and have a 50 percent chance of contracting HIV.