Spitzer Continues Comeback With Today Show Appearance

Lately, former governor Eliot Spitzer has been edging back into the public eye, perhaps beckoned by the siren song of public unhappiness with financial firms. He was, after all, the "Sheriff of Wall Street" during his Attorney General days, so he's parlayed that into a column for Slate, a Washington Post editorial, an appearance on Fareed Zakaria's CNN show and now a one-on-one with Matt Lauer on the Today Show.

Naturally, before discussing the economy, Lauer asked Spitzer about his super-public fall from grace. Spitzer said of the whole Hookergate scandal, "This is something that has caused excruciating pain to [my wife] and my daughters. What I did was an egregious violation of trust to my family and my colleagues and the state, and I’ve paid for it.” Lauer pointed out that since Spitzer isn't being prosecuted for his activities, people won't know the extent of his hooker proclivities...so Lauer asked for a "ballpark" figure on how often Spitzer did pay for sex. To which Spitzer replied, "Not frequently, not long in the grand context of my life," before launching into the "there's no excuse" explanation. Hmm, "not long in the grand context of my life" is a cop-out—what about in the "grand context" of his life as an elected official? Anyway, kudos to Lauer for at least asking—here's the interview.

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Oh, and on the financial mess: Spitzer said, “We should give them enough liquidity so they do not drag down the entire economy, and then we should break them up. If they’re too big to fail, break them up.”

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By Jen Chung on April 6, 2009 10:39 AM

Comments [rss]

Clarice City

I don't care what he does in his bedroom. Just get us out of this mess.

leftylib

Glenn Greenwald on Spitzer on C-Span .... Spitzer, the sheriff of wall street was taken out by the Bush Administration.

@ wasted potention comment at the top ... yeah wasted potential of this nation.

PETTY SCANDAL compared to all the GOOD SPITZER DID. Didn't even use TAXPAYER DOLLARS for the PETTY SCANDAL.

rdsizzle

What, no picture of Ashley wiht the bikini top?

grendel_loki

Nothing wrong with relaxing with a few hookers....

zpk

Prostitution should be a mandatory service for all public officials in high offices. We'd all be better off that way.

microdot

Holy Sh**, I think you just hit on a policy that would actually let the elected officials get things done.

schadenfreudian mensch

The State is going to hell in a handbasket with the incompetence of Paterson and we're still talking about Spitzer's dalliance with hookers? Man, we should all have the compassion of his wife and just take him back. Anything's better than what we have now.

ANGRYGOD11

Once again it's time to point out the obvious: Spitzer was facing Federal felonies when he resigned and NOT for cheating on his wife. If he stayed in office, he would be facing disbarment and Federal jail time (That means no parole) after a long, painful legal process. By walking away he avoided all that.

hotstepper

must these douchey reporters preface each spitzer story like a gaggle of giggling schoolgirls..."heehehe! aren't you that former gov that loves the hookers?"

hotstepper

must these douchey reporters preface each spitzer story like a gaggle of giggling schoolgirls..."heehehe! aren't you that former gov that loves the hookers?"