Some Scumbags Are Worse

There are scumbags and there are scumbags. 

Here's the thing.  We NEED guys like Spitzer.  He went after corporates like a man obsessed.  When news hit, the New York Stock Exchange trading floor cheered.  Not me.  He prosecuted price fixers.  He put the hammer on investment bankers inflating IPO prices (sub prime anyone?).  He exposed payola taking DJs plugging the record company's agenda.

Even if they are just individual cases, they and the long history of Spitzer as a hardline attorney general acted as a strong deterrent for cheaters.  This is cheating by individuals, ala Ken Lay and cheating by big business ala Worldcom.  The definition of a cheater is someone who screws you to get ahead.

As far as I know, the only people who got screwed by Elliot Spitzer are his family and more literally, his hooker.  Incidentally his family stands by their man.  I don't know if that makes Spitzer not a cheater.  That's up to him and his wife.

As I said, there are scumbags and there are scumbags.  Elliot Spitzer may be a scumbag but he never screwed me.  Hence, I don't care about what happened.  He did on the other hand screw the scumbags that screw me financially every day, and now that man is out of office.  NOW, you have my attention.

At the end of the day, why should you care about Elliot Spitzer?  Is he going to steal your girlfriend?  Clearly not.  He pays $1000 an hour for that.   What difference does it make in the kind of governor he is?  The kind of prosecutor?  And so why do we care?  Why do we get involved in this political freak show that often brings down our best politicians?  JFK had Marilyn, Clinton had Monica, and don't get me started on Martin Luther King.  We didn't care so much then.  Maybe because in that time their priorities were our priorities.  If that's the case, what are our priorities today?