Hell YES Spitzer Should Resign

From the Federal Affadavit:

According to the affidavit, Kristen called Lewis about 9:32 p.m. Wednesday, February 13, and told her she was in Client 9's room -- number 871 -- at the Washington hotel.

Four minutes later, Client 9 was in the hotel, Lewis told Kristen in another call.

No more calls were logged until 12:02 a.m. Thursday -- Valentine's Day -- nearly 2½ hours later. At that time, Kristen told Lewis Client 9 had left and she had collected $4,300.

Lewis told the prostitute she'd been told that Client 9 "would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think are safe -- you know -- I mean that ... very basic things," the affidavit says.

Kristen told Lewis, "I have a way of dealing with that. ... I'd be like, listen dude, you really want the sex?"

"I don't think he's difficult," Kristen is quoted as saying. "I mean it's just kind of like ... whatever ... I'm here for a purpose. I know what my purpose is. I am not a ... moron, you know what I mean."

Spitzer, who has not been charged, went before reporters Monday to confess to an undisclosed personal indiscretion, saying he had acted "in a way that violates my obligations to my family, that violates my or any sense of right and wrong."

Forget the titillating aspect of the NY Governor Elliot Spitzer case--he should resign immediately because, as Governor of the State of New York, he is given access to Classified material through the Department of Homeland Security. I mean, it's pretty obvious--he's into what a call girl would consider a "deviant" type of sexual practice. And if what you're doing with a woman paid to have sex with men is considered "dangerous," you have issues that go well beyond anything we have to consider as far as politics are concerned.

I mean, whoa. Get some help, Governor. And get your ass out of office now.

Regrettably, I am not an expert on High End Prostitution Rings. In only the satirical sense do I wish I was, but some things in life are just not meant to be. So I can't really speak to the idea of paying $4,300 just to roll in the hay with someone who is not Mrs. Pale Rider. But if you're the Governor of New York--and you have access to classified material AND you can pretty much direct the full Executive power of a major state against anyone you want--that is, shut down businesses, investigate people and call for people to be indicted--you probably shouldn't be using the services of a call girl ring AND you damned sure better not be crossing state lines to do so.

I know there's a Libertarian aspect here--fine, I'm not going to debate that. But when you start talking about the kind of money involved in one of these rings, I'll bet you dollars to donuts there's organized crime that's involved as well.

A sad day to be a Democrat, but that doesn't mean I'm going to turn into a shithead about it. Thanks for your service Governor Spitzer, but you're done. Now, can we get some better Democrats please? Thanks.

UPDATE I - PALE RIDER

One of my long-time friends on the blog front, shortstop, explains what "do you want the sex" really means.

That's what "very basic things" and her telling him "You want the sex...? [No glove, no love]" means.

Boy, am I red-faced. Thanks, shortstop! I'll just go back to GAO reports and impolite commentary.

Because Tom Tomorrow is so much smarter than I am...

[Click image to enlarge]

Monday is Saturday in Blue Girl's world, so I'm slacking today - and as soon as the grandkid's Daddy picks her up in a few minutes, I'm going outside to play - unless I decide to go drink beer in this dive I know that has a killer jukebox...

Either way, drunk or sober, I'll be back this evening. In the meantime, my most capable colleague Pale Rider has the reins.

The National Review Online NAILS it!!!

Yeah! This is the kind of brilliant analysis we need right now!

[by someone named Deroy Murdock]
Now that he has embarrassed the “experts” and naysayers by clinching the Republican nomination and securing President Bush’s endorsement, Sen. John McCain can focus on picking his running mate. Three potential vice presidents merit the Arizona Republican’s immediate consideration. [we're just gonna look at 1]

Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, 63, would add considerable executive experience to a ticket headed by a legislator. His experience in managing a $40.2 billion government with some 216,000 employees would prove an invaluable complement to the political skills of a president who mainly has written legislation, debated, and voted on Capitol Hill since 1983. Giuliani’s counterterrorism credentials are sterling, and would burnish McCain’s reputation as a foreign-policy hawk who would fortify America’s national security. Giuliani is popular with fiscal conservatives, given his mayoral tax-cutting record, as well as his maintenance of Gotham spending at one percent below inflation - an achievement that seems almost pious compared to the free-spending bacchanal that Republicans hosted between 2001 and 2007.

Giuliani also could help make New York and its 31 electoral votes competitive for Republicans, along with adjacent Connecticut and New Jersey.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I can't stop laughing! The only person who would pick Guiliani to run as VP would be...well, I would. But I sorta want to see the Republicans lose.

You don't pick the guy who collapsed, who proved to be a terrible retail politician, who showed that he was inept, incompetent, and unable to find decent people to run his campaign to run for VP. You pick someone who will help. Not hurt you mortally and draw the stink of failure and big manure-loving flies.

Murdock actually BELIEVES that New York and New Jersey would actually go McCain's way if Guiliani were on the ticket? Who pays for this kind of analysis? What kind of wingnut welfare actually pays an adult to write something so goddamned ridiculous?

Here's how Guiliani did in Florida:

John McCain - 36% (Winner)
Mitt Romney - 31%
Rudy Giuliani - 15%
Mike Huckabee - 13%
Ron Paul - 3%

And here's how he did in the aforementioned New York and New Jersey, albeit, AFTER he got out of the race on January 30.

New York
Candidate Votes %
McCain----------------310,814 51%
Romney----------------168,801 28%
Huckabee--------------65,648 11%
Paul------------------38,918 7%
Giuliani--------------18,566 3%

New Jersey
McCain-----------------310,427 55.43%
Romney-----------------158,974 28.39%
Huckabee---------------45,781 8.18%
Paul-------------------26,952 4.81%
Giuliani---------------14,721 2.63%

Wow--McCain sure would like to get that whopping 3 and 2.6 percent that Guiliani got, wouldn't he?

You can't make this stuff up--the Republicans actually believe McCain would carry NY and NJ with Guiliani on the ticket. THAT'S delusional for you.

Exactly What We Don't Need (Today's edition)

This is why I'd rather just not pay attention to the news some days...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Monday he had agreed the United States would help modernize the Polish military as part of a U.S. plan to base components of a global missile defense shield in Poland.

Bush made the announcement after White House talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government had demanded that Washington boost its military assistance in exchange for allowing the basing of 10 missile interceptors in Poland.

"The United States recognizes the need for Polish forces to be modernized," Bush told reporters. He said "before my watch is over" -- he leaves office in January 2009 -- U.S. experts will have assessed those needs.

HEY! Do you think it would be a good idea to modernize our own military? Do you think it would be a good idea to make sure our own troops have the gear they need and the weapons that will protect this country BEFORE you arm and modernize another nation?

In the wake of the dismissal of the US Ambassador to Belarus--you know, that country that sits immediately to the right of Poland--that is under the control of a tyrant right now, the election of a new leader in Russia, and the need for us to modernize out own goddamned military--why is this being done? Who is stupid enough to modernize the Polish military, in light of the fact that they face no threat whatsoever, except for maybe economic sanction from Russia? Do we really need to give the Russians a reason to squeeze Europe on energy prices? Is that our way of going after the Euro?

This isn't diplomacy--this is malpractice.

Brent Bozell Does His Best Impression of a Crazed Liar

Oh, now this kind of thing makes me laugh out loud:

In the Washington Post today, Brent Bozell, the president of the conservative Media Research Center, argues that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “may have the Beltway crowd in his corner, but grass-roots conservatives aren’t sold.” Claiming that McCain “is the one who arguably least qualifies as a Reagan conservative,” Bozell suggests ways that the Arizona senator can motivate the conservative movement.

But in making his argument, Bozell falsely claims that it was the Clinton administration, not the Bush administration, that created the current strains on the “military infrastructure“:

This is what conservatives call on him to do:

McCain must present a strategy to defeat the threat of radical Islam. He needs to call on the United States to rebuild its military infrastructure, so devastated by the Clinton administration.

So we're blaming Bill Clinton for the damage done to our military because of the Iraq War, now five years in? Let's do some math--the Iraq War is five years old this month. FIVE YEARS! And the military has been under the current Commander in Chief for Seven Years, two Months (or so). Bill Clinton left office in January 2001 and handed over a military that had 8 of its 10 active duty divisions--and virtually ALL of its Reserve and Guard component--ready to go to war and fully equipped and damned near full strength. He handed over Marine MEUs and Aircraft Carrier battlegroups that were trained and ready to deploy because they had been training and deploying and keeping our interests overseas defended admirably. Hundreds of pilots were experienced, having used Iraq as a live fire training range [while enforcing the No-Fly zones] for years. I served during that time, and that was a time when we were throwing criminals and gang members and anyone who didn't shape up out of the military as quickly as the rules allowed. NOW? Now we're keeping all of the broke dick people in, recruiting the criminals, and letting the gang members run wild in family housing units all over the country.

The only deployments that were taking a toll on the military were the rotations of units like the 10th Mountain Division and the 3rd Infantry Division to Kuwait and the Balkans. (I estimate on that, because, as I recall, we had various brigades moving in and out of the Balkans and we had done Operation Desert Fox with some elements of 3rd ID at Camp Doha.)

We still had all of our troops in Germany, although they were involved in some of the operations in the Balkans as well. We had the entire III Corps, ready to go to war. We had everyone else doing what they're supposed to do--training and preparing for any eventuality and any mission.

Clinton didn't "devastate" the military--the military was already drawn down by the decision--made AFTER the Berlin Wall fell but long BEFORE Clinton took office--to cash in THE PEACE DIVIDEND.

You remember the PEACE DIVIDEND, don't you?

Bush laid out the rationale for the Plan in a speech in Aspen, Colorado, on August 2, 1990. He explained that since the danger of global war had substantially receded, the principal threats to American security would emerge in unexpected quarters. To counter those threats, he said, the United States would increasingly base the size and structure of its forces on the need to respond to “regional contingencies” and maintain a peacetime military presence overseas. Meeting that need would require maintaining the capability to quickly deliver American forces to any “corner of the globe,” and that would mean retaining many major weapons systems then under attack in Congress as overly costly and unnecessary, including the “Star Wars” missile-defense program. Despite those massive outlays, Bush insisted that the proposed restructuring would allow the United States to draw down its active forces by 25 percent in the years ahead, the same figure Powell had projected ten months earlier.

That ten division army that we have right now? That "gutted" military that you claim was all Clinton's fault? That "hollow force" we have right now?

Cheney Proposed Cutting F-16 Aircraft. In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Cheney said, "If you're going to have a smaller air force, you don't need as many F-16s...The F-16D we basically continue to buy and close it out because we're not going to have as big a force structure and we won't need as many F-16s." According to the Boston Globe, Bush's 1991 defense budget "kill[ed] 81 programs for potential savings of $ 11.9 billion...Major weapons killed include[d]....the Air Force's F-16 airplane." [Cheney testimony, House Armed Services Committee, 2/7/91; Boston Globe, 2/5/91]

Cheney Proposed Cuts to B-2 Program. According to the Boston Globe, in 1990, "Defense Secretary Richard Cheney announced a cutback... of nearly 45 percent in the administration's B-2 Stealth bomber program, from 132 airplanes to 75..." [Boston Globe, 4/27/90]

Cheney Proposed Cutting AH-64 Apaches. In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, Cheney said, "This is just a list of some of the programs that I've recommended termination: the V-22 Osprey, the F-14D, the Army Helicopter Improvement Program, Phoenix missile, F-15E, the Apache helicopter, the M1 tank, et cetera." In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Cheney said, "The Army, as I indicated in my earlier testimony, recommended to me that we keep a robust Apache helicopter program going forward, AH-64...I forced the Army to make choices...So I recommended that we cancel the AH-64 program two years out." [Cheney testimony, Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, 6/12/90; Cheney Testimony, House Armed Services Committee, 7/13/89, emphasis added]

Cheney Proposed Cutting M-1 Abrams Tanks. In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, Cheney said, "This is just a list of some of the programs that I've recommended termination: the V-22 Osprey, the F-14D, the Army Helicopter Improvement Program, Phoenix missile, F-15E, the Apache helicopter, the M1 tank, et cetera." The Boston Globe reported on the impact of Cheney's cuts to armored tanks: "The Army's cupboard is left particularly bare. Coming in the wake of last year's killing of the M-1 tank and the Apache helicopter, the death of the M-2 means the Army will soon have virtually no major weapons in production." [Cheney testimony, Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, 6/12/90; Boston Globe, 2/5/91]

Cheney Proposed Cutting B-52 Bombers. In 1990, Cheney proposed cutting 14 B-52 bombers. Cheney also sought the retirement of two Navy battleships, two nuclear cruisers, and eight nuclear-powered attack submarines. In 1991, Cheney scrapped the Navy's A-12 Stealth attack plane, a fighter that was proclaimed to be a key part of the future of navy aviation in advanced stealth technology. [Newsday, 2/5/91; NY Times, 1/8/91; Boston Globe, 4/27/90; Boston Globe, 1/30/90]

Cheney's Record as Secretary of Defense Includes Cutting Troops and Bases
Cheney Cut Thousands of Active-Duty, Reserve, and Civilian Forces. In January 1990, Cheney banned the hiring of any new civilian personnel in the Defense Department through the end of September, which left more than 65,000 jobs vacant. Under the budget proposed in 1990, the Pentagon would have reduced active military personnel by 38,000; selected reserves would have fallen by 3,000. The budget called for the deactivation of two Army divisions. Long range, the Pentagon planned to reduce its work force by 300,000, including about 200,000 military personnel and 100,000 civilians. In 1991, he called for reduction of 200,000 active and reserve military personnel over two years. In 1992, Cheney called for cutting 500,000 active-duty people, 200,000 reservists, and 200,000 civilians over five years. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 2/2/92; Chicago Tribune, 2/20/91; 1990 CQ Almanac, p. 672; Washington Post, 1/13/90; Boston Globe, 1/30/90]

Active-Duty and Reserve Forces Endured Huge Reductions Under Cheney. The LA Times reported in November 1991 that the number of active-duty military personnel had decreased by over 106,000, or 5 percent of the total forces. The National Guard and Reserves had been cut by nearly 38,000, instead of the 105,000 the Bush Administration sought. [LA Times, 11/2/91]

Cheney Proposed Over 70 Base Closures. In 1990, Cheney proposed the closure of 72 domestic military installations and 12 overseas facilities. On April 12, 1991, Cheney proposed to close 31 major domestic military bases. The plan also called for shutting 12 smaller bases and reducing operations at 28 others. He submitted his list of closures to a commission on base closings on April 15, 1991. In 1992, Cheney proposed 70 overseas military base closures, three of which were in Turkey. [Aerospace Daily, 8/17/92; 1991 CQ Almanac, p. 427; Chicago Tribune, 1/30/90]

So, for the Brent Bozell types out there, shut up when you claim Clinton "gutted" the military. The budget was negotiated with Republican Congressmen more interested in cutting ALL spending wherever possible--negotiations that, at one point, shut down the goddamned government.

The current size of our military could have been changed in a heartbeat in 2001--and your President still can't get the right vehicles and gear to enough troops in Iraq.