The guy was running into scandal trouble before all the furniture made it to the governor's mansion. Is this really a surprise to anyone?

Yes. To Dawn Summers. But I've been unable to reach her for reaction.

Dawn was a big fan of Elliot Spitzer, right?

And she does have a lot of aliases, right?

Perhaps one of them was "Kristen".

I have a long-running argument with a friend from Chicago over who has the worse governor.

I think that debate ended two hours ago, apprx.

Umm...well, he promised change. Our last governor didn't solicit hooker in the statehouse and have to resign. He changed all that. At least Hillary won't be caught with chicks in her...um...yeah...

As soon as I heard this news, it reaffirmed that old addage - "what goes around, comes around" - and this could not be a more appropriate example.

At least Spitz is doing the right thing and quitting which is more than I can say for men's room sodomite Larry Craig.

Spitzer is just one more politician who thinks he is above the rules and conduct that the rest of us try to follow. Increasingly, I am thinking that no normal and sane person will ever run for office at the state and national levels. Egotist elitists seem to be what we are getting these days (I mean come on; since Ike we have had two and only two normal and sane men in the White House).

Or maybe the jackass stays.....like Sen. Wide Stance.

Von Bek,

Who are the two guys you think were sane and normal? I'm just asking because I'm not sure I'd even swear to one.
Somewhere I think there are many Founding Fathers spinning in their graves. I don't think their intent for "politician" to ever be a profession.

Bush patria and Ford. While I like Reagan, a movie star does not seem that normal.

Gotta love Democrats, they represent the party of perverts, and throw rocks when they find one who isn't in their camp. Who can forget Gerry "the ass-fucker of pages" Studds, or Barney Frankmuncher?

Reagan and Nixon were crazy? Crazy like that, we can use. Go educate yourself VB. You're an idiot.

Spitzer lived by the sword. Now he doesn't have a friend in the world. Thus is it ever with lawyers.

Von,

I can roll with those two. Ford's biggest error was pardoning Nixon, but other than that I can't say anything he did was really out to lunch. Papa Bush also didn't do anything too nutso.
As for Nixon not being crazy, Casca, maybe it is you who needs education. When Kissinger is having to tell the Pentagon to ignore orders from the President (both Haig and Kissinger acknowledge this in interviews), that might be a clue for starters.
I'm willing to argue that Reagan wasn't crazy, but if you're going to defend Nixon's sanity, you might want to pack a lunch--it's going to be a while. I think the '60 defeat changed Nixon and not for the better.

Von Bek,

So your characterization of Reagan as 'not normal' sounds like it is more incumbent upon your image of a movie star, rather than Reagan.

There are movie stars who are/were surprisingly normal.

Reagan was as normal as they come.
Especially considering he had to drag his alcoholic father in the house when he was a kid.

Casca, no I don't think Reagan was nuts but I don't think Hollywood is normal America either. I said normal and sane-I'll concede the sane part with Dutch. Like I said, I am a fan of the Gipper. I think he was the best president of modern times (not that that means that much).

I have little use for Nixon. Adding to what James mentioned, there was something big time unhinged with the guy. I mean come on he would drive Pat when she was on dates with other guys. Then there is the big government, the EPA.....while few can deny Nixon's anticommunist side, I don't think he had much of a conservative core besides it.

The point is well made BadBoy but I'd remind you that Dutch made training films in the 1st Motion Picture Unit during WW2 (yes, he was nearsighted which helped keep him out of the field). Most of the men of the greatest generation did not serve as the faces of loan drives. Most Americans of his time did not serve as the boss of the SAG. Most did not divorce in the 40s. Look, I like Reagan but to call his life an example of normal American life is silly.

----------------
"Look, I like Reagan but to call his life an example of normal American life is silly."
----------------

This is a pretty good example of how you often confuse comparisons.
You had been talking about Presidents who were actually normal p-e-o-p-l-e. Now you're talking about about normal "lives."

Truth is, anyone who ascends to the Presidency does not have a 'normal' life.
But they can remain a normal p-e-r-s-o-n.

There are plenty of movie stars who are 'normal' people. And a movie star can making training films for WW2...and still remain...normal.

Boo hoo, Von Bek thinks people who get divorced are "not normal."

Von Bek, does it ever occur to you that people in their early 30s in 2008 who happen to have an outspoken soft spot for the Confederacy are the ones who are "not normal" ?

I said divorce in the 1940s was not normal. Sorry to break it to you but it was quite uncommon at the time. Talk about confusing comparisons.

I think most Presidents and Presidential candidates are like NHL goaltenders.

Just like it takes a certain kind of crazy (or chutzpah) to purposefully get in the way of hard rubber flying at 90 miles per hour, it takes a certain kind of crazy to subject oneself to the constant attention and media barrage that comes with the Oval Office.

"Look, I like Reagan but to call his life an example of normal American life is silly."
----------------

Von Bek,

Nice try, big guy, but read your quote above.
"...an example of normal American L-I-F-E is silly."

Like I said before, anyone who ascends to the Presidency does not have a 'normal' life.
But they CAN be a normal p-e-r-s-o-n.

And getting divorced in the 1940s does NOT make Reagan "not a normal person."

But I would say that someone in 2008 who cannot divorce himself from the Confederacy is "not normal."

Nice slight of hand with the continuing personal jabs. So if you bring up the Confederacy should I bring up Pollard?

Look, I agree that a man can be a normal man and can be president (Truman comes to mind). But I would also say Ford was pretty much a normal guy with a normal life despite his presidency-and it may be why he was so forgettable in office. On the other hand, we don't remember Ford for his idiotic naive conduct (a la Carter) or his psychotic highwire pursuit of the ladies (this may be a stunner but I'm thinking Clinton and not Fillmore despite Millard's raging passion for Dorthea Dix). On the other hand, Churchill was not a normal person and was one of the great men of our times.

Von Bek,

How pathetic...you couldn't effectively respond to my correcting you about what you actually had said about Reagan, so you fillibustered about...Gerald Ford !

Von Bek, do you deny that you support the Confederacy ?

I don't support Pollard in his spying against America. In fact, I don't recall that I've ever brought up his name at AlarmingNews.

Like I said, Reagan was a normal person, despite the fact that he appeared in movies, made some training films during WW2, and got divorced in the 1940s.

However, I would say that a guy who can't divorce himself from the Confederacy in 2008 is, uh, not exactly all that normal.
:)

Filibuster? Look here BadBoy, I think we have bashed each other so many times at this site that I hope you would know that I usually go off into the weeds on whatever subject pops up in my mind and, more often than not, never quite work myself back around.

I think Reagan was not normal and was a gifted man of rare abilities. A generation sees a handful of such men. The West could use one now.

Do I support the CSA? No. I generally think the war came down to slavery and its future and the problem of what would happen if the slaves were free. I had ancestors fight for both the Union and the South. Since my people did not own slaves, I can not imagine they were fighting to defend slavery even though that was the cause of the war.
They were probably giving into peer pressure and would have made a good 1980s ABC after school special. I do like some of the Confederate ideas-free trade and one six year term in office for the president. But am I glad the CSA went down? Yes. Does the road to secession fascinate me more than any other event in American history? Yes.

"I think Reagan was not normal and was a gifted man of rare abilities."
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Right, and you think the reason he was "not normal" is because he "got divorced in the 1940s," "and was a movie star."

But those things do not make him a "not normal" p-e-r-s-o-n.

I really don't think you see the delineation between a "not normal" life vs. a "not normal" person.

Ultimately, it's like I said, anyone who ascends to the White House has a "not normal" l-i-f-e.
But that doesn't mean they are a "not normal" person.
Person.
P-e-r-s-o-n. Comprende ?

And I don't know how you believe that Jonathan Pollard has anything to do with me.

The Pollard bit was an ill timed attempt at humor on our past spats. You call me redneck; I call you a Ziofacist and off we go. It obviously bombed.

Again, I have already said that a normal person can be president and still have something of a normal life. I gave the example of Ford. So if there is anyone who does not understand, it seems to be you amigo.