The Democrats' Future, And Past

I disagree. The only reason Spitzer is in trouble is because he was that EXTREMELY RARE Democrat who campaigned as a moralist, was exposed to be flawed, and is thus being treated as a Republican. Clinton had no pretensions to being other than the randy, pandering man he was exposed to be and thus survived having those faults exposed.

I disagree.

You disagree with what?

Both parties are experiencing a melt-down. I'm not sure how this is going to work itself out. Could we be looking at a 3 or 4-party system in 2012?

McCain-Arnold-Lieberman

vs

Gore-Obama-Clinton

vs

Thompson-Romney-Limbaugh

vs

Huckabees

I am enjoying the schaudenfreude of l'Affair Spitzer, but this line stopped me short:

"...a massive meltdown resulting from its own internal contradictions"

Considering how the Republicans in Congress spent 2000-06 spending money like drunken Democrats, those of us on the right can't crow too loudly.

Considering how the Republicans in Congress spent 2000-06 spending money like drunken Democrats, those of us on the right can't crow too loudly.

That's nowhere near as big a problem as the Democrats have. All the Republicans have to do to fix it is to start performing consistently with their stated principles. The donkeys don't really have that option available to them without destroying their own party.

Both Clinton and Spitzer are classic narcissists.

They are prolific liars and know only one thing; their personal desires.

They are ruthless people who will take risks that most sensible people would never imagine undertaking. They do it because they have zero self control when it comes to satisfying their appetites for a) power b) sensual gratification.

Narcissists, as a consequence of their pathology, are incredibly dangerous and destructive people. They're capable of anything simply because they have no conscience, period.

The other classic sign of narcissim is never believing you're wrong. Everything you do or did was or is right, therefore, anything that is wrong is someone else's fault. Dealing with Borderline Personality Disorder is tough enough, but Narcissism I think is worse, because the person in question does not recognize a problem at all.

"That's nowhere near as big a problem as the Democrats have (Republicans spending like drunken Democrats)."

There IS a problem, and it IS a big one: nobody considers incompetence or malfesance of elected officials a problem anymore! It's become the standard mode of behavior for the Congress, and at worst, generates a "what else can you expect" moment and we move on.

Republi-crats, Demo-cans, we're screwed either way.

Our family is high level in insurance. We've been waiting for this guy to fall for ten years. The wait
was worth it. I wonder which of his enemies got him.
Not all Dems are this big of an A--hole. Believe me, Elliot Spitzer will never have hemorrhoids because he is the perfect a--hole.

Not to nitpick, but I think the sexual harrassment law that Clinton got nailed with was actually signed by Bush I to make up for the Clarance Thomas nomination. It was however, written by feminists lobbyists and shoved down his throat by a Democratic congress, so the point still stands. We were told by the feminists that sexual harassment was all about power. As I remember it, that law that Bush I signed essentially made a man's sexual "history" fair game in sexual harassment cases (previously, it was a forbidden line of questioning I think). It would display a "pattern". Well, he was Governor and Paula Jones was a secretary of some sort. Clinton was the President of the U.S. and Lewinsky was an intern. Sure, there is no reason to think this latter relationship wasn't totally consensual. But, I defy folks to find a better definition of a power imbalance than POTUS and an intern. That law is the very reason that Clinton's relationship with Monica was even relevant. And yet, the feminists who wrote the bill got amnesia and then stood by their man.
The more disturbing thing about Spitzer is that we yet have another well educated intelligent woman who apparently intends to stay with the "flawed" husband. Three cheers for girl power! Just another example of the internal contradictions of this self righteous political party.

Dude! You mis-spelled her name! And I just realised that I don't know how to spell mis spell, so why am I talking?

Anyway, as she notes, Spitzer had them scared half to death. He was quite frank about the fact that if you didn't toady up to him, he would get you. ask Sean Hannity. None of them had the guts to take him on.

Considering how the Republicans in Congress spent 2000-06 spending money like drunken Democrats, those of us on the right can't crow too loudly.

Repeating the Lame Stream Media's talking points doesn't make it true. Give the Democrats a fillibuster proof majority in the Senate and the White House and you'll REALLY see how drunken Democrats spend. in 1993 Bubba tried to ram through a $50 Billion dollar giveaway to the cities as a reward for helping him get elected: it got quashed in the Senate. If there hadn't been 40+ Republicans in the Senate that would have only been the first of many lootings of the Treasury.

If there hadn't been 40+ Republicans in the Senate that would have only been the first of many lootings of the Treasury.

Er... there have been 40+ Republicans in the Senate for years and the looting's been going very well....

PersonFrpmPorlock,
If you think the looting has been going well so far, just wait until the Democrats have 60+ senators, the house, the presidency, and a supreme court controlled by justices chosen by the above. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Speaking of serious narcissists, Sen. Obama absolutely fits the bill, and is perhaps more of one than Spitzer, either of the Clintons, or anyone else. I'm willing to go as far as to say he is the most narcissistic candidate to ever run for President.

The empty faux-eloquence, the presumption that he can lead the World's single most powerful nation, and "transform" it to boot, despite his very thin resume. His need for a teleprompter, and his impatience with "impertinent" questions that stray from his puddle-shallow non-message. When a man is a walking, talking house of cards, what else has he got but his giant gas bag of an ego?

Russ Goble,

Do you know the name of this law or details thereof? I am willing to stand corrected, but the articles I saw in 1998-1999 said that it was a law that Clinton had signed which led to his thus being hoist on his own petard, for example, from http://www.slate.com/id/21213

There is, as has been widely noted, one pungent irony about Clinton's policies. In 1994, he supported the Violence Against Women Act at the behest of women's groups. The act permits much more expansive discovery into the sexual history of defendants in sexual harassment and sex crimes cases. Judges and legal scholars warned that the new rules would be intrusive and prejudicial, but Clinton signed the bill into law anyway. Four years later, he found himself a victim of the sort of voyeuristic, nasty snooping that the law authorizes.

IIRC, it was the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which Cinton signed, that directly burned him by allowing the Lewinsky matter to be introduced in the Jones lawsuit.

Wikipedia says that Joe Biden's office drafted it and that Clinton signed it on 9/13/94. This was the law which, as someone noted above, made a defendant's sexual history, especially in the workplace, admissable in a harrassment suit.

Rand, haven't you remarked more than once that you wished for better choices?

The Democrats' problems are already being discussed in the Washington Post. Some self identified liberals think McCain will win -- OK, not lose.

Expect a narrowly divided Congress -- both houses.

Oh -- McCain is 71. His father died at 71. His grandfather at 61. Both were 4 star admirals. Did you know his grandfather was also a "prisoner of war" during WW II? What? Didn't he work in the Pentagon? Well, according to Wikipedia, he worked himself down to 100 pounds before the end of the war. Although in poor health, he attended the Japanese surrender ceremony on September 2nd, 1945. He flew back to the United States and died in California on September 6th, 1945.

Here's an off the wall prediction. McCain wins -- becoming only the third sitting U.S. Senator to win the Presidency. The other two were Harding in 1920 (died 1923) and Kennedy in 1960 (assassinated 1963). McCain -- with health problems stemming from his captivity in Vietnam -- also dies in office, providing lots of fodder for the superstitious tabloids. His VP becomes President. Hmm? Who could that be? Why not Christine Todd Whitman? Former New Jersey Governor, former EPA Administrator. 61 at the present time. Prochoice. Bipartisan appeal. From a big state in the Northeast.

You read it here first, folks.

Eliot Spitzer does represent the party's future. Which is to say, that it is facing a massive meltdown resulting from its own internal contradictions and self-righteous coddling of corruption.