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March 10, 2008

Panel on the Eliot Spitzer News

FOX News Special Report With Brit Hume

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ELIOT SPITZER, (D) NEW YORK: Today, I want to briefly address a private mater. I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family, and that violates my or any sense of right and wrong.

But I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUME: He may say that was a private matter, Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York, but it isn't a private matter now.

The word is, of course, that this is done in the face of an investigation into a prostitution ring which yielded a criminal complaint-- not an indictment, but criminal complaint--in which the dealings of a prostitute with someone called "Customer number nine," said to be Spitzer himself, are set forth.

Lurid details that give us all a bit of an understanding of why Eliot Spitzer is so far charged with nothing and not identified by name, felt called upon to make that statement.

Some thoughts on all this now from Bill Sammon, Senior White House Correspondent of "The Washington Examiner," Mara Liasson, National Political Correspondent of National Public Radio, and the syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, FOX News contributors all.

Bill, I guess of all the guys that, because of the posture he had taken in his public dealings that we might not have expected this from, this was the last man on earth we would have imagined would have allowed this to happen.

BILL SAMMON, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: I think it's safe to say there is a fair amount of Schadenfreude going on on Wall Street and elsewhere where this guy has crusaded against, some would say sanctimoniously, anybody who--in fact, he went after two prostitution rings.

So this is a major blow to Democrats. When it rains, it pours. Democrats--you have Barack and Hillary at each other's throats, you've got this train wreck in Florida and Michigan. Every day it looks like a brokered convention, that's looks more likely.

And now you have the governor of New York State, a Hillary super delegate, caught up in a prostitution scandal. This is a bad week for Democrats.

HUME: Schadenfreude, for the benefit of the members of the audience who may not know, is the word for taking delight in the mystery and misfortune of others, which is what Bill was suggesting a lot of people who have been bedeviled, perhaps, by this guy might be doing.

Mara, does this carry over as Bill suggests to other Democratic issues?

MARA LIASSON, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: The only carry-over is with Hillary because she needs every single one of them. That is the only significant aspect of this.

HUME: There is no sign he is going to resign as a super delegate.

LIASSON: And if he doesn't, believe me, she'll take his vote.

HUME: Does she have to disavow his support now? Somebody is going to ask her to.

LIASSON: Somebody has to ask her to do that. I don't think she will. She needs every one of them and more.

No--I think this is one of those political tragedies/farces at the end of a career of a guy who had risen very high. And they used to call him Eliot "Ness" Spitzer, because he was the crusader against crime of all sorts. And, no, I do not think, outside of Hillary, there are any repercussions on the Democratic race.

HUME: The conventional wisdom now is that the Republican brand is damaged, not least because of series scandals financial and otherwise, financial and personal, that beset the Republicans, particularly the Republicans of Washington, over the past several years.

This guy was a big famous Democrat, leader of a big state, meteoric rise, and so on. Does his downfall not--no damage beyond New York?

LIASSON: (INAUDIBLE) The scandals really hurt a Party when there are a bunch of them and they happen in Washington. If it's a governor here and there, I don't think it has that same effect on the race.

SAMMON: Mark Foley was a Republican national figure, but he became a national--

LIASSON: No, I'm say when they are outside of Washington, they have to be national figures to have that kind of effect.

KRAUTHAMMER: If it becomes a trend, it damages the brand. If it's one guy, it's not.

Look, but what is really interesting is that normally, or at least traditionally, the ones who get stung in these sex scandals are Republicans, because they have a tendency to present to themselves as the family values guy. They will campaign on morality. They'll inveigh against homosexuality or other supposed sins.

And if they're caught, then it is not only the offence, it's that it's hypocrisy.

The reason that Spitzer is unusual as a Democrat is that, as you say, he was the caped crusader who was the guy who went after sin in Gotham. And, in fact, he did prosecute a couple of prostitution rings, and at the time issued rather juicy statements denouncing the enterprise.

Now that is what gets you in the end. A sex scandal is one thing. If it's mixed with hypocrisy it's another.

But I think the worst offense here, the one that is truly unforgivable, is having the wife stand by. That, I think is the one thing- -I can forgive--

HUME: They all do that, though.

KRAUTHAMMER: But it is cruel. You have already humiliated her, and to make her stand there as a prop, I think, is a hanging offense.

HUME: He's over, right? Career over?

KRAUTHAMMER: He's done, I'm afraid.

HUME: Do you agree?

LIASSON: I agree with that.

SAMMON: He is only hanging around as a bargaining chip as part of some plea that he would resign to lessen any crimes that he made.

HUME: When we come back, Barack Obama's response to the suggest that he might become Hillary Clinton's running mate. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've won more of the popular vote than Senator Clinton. I have more delegates than Senator Clinton. So I don't know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice-presidency to the person who is in first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUME: Well, that was Barack Obama hooting at the idea suggested by Senator Clinton herself sort of, and then by her husband actually, over the weekend that he ought to be her running mate.

This didn't work out very well, it doesn't seem to me, as an idea floated by the Clintons, do you think, Bill?

SAMMON: No, it is ridiculous for the second place person to suggest that she will be on the top of the ticket and the first place person is going to be on the bottom of the ticket.

HUME: Particularly after the latest round of attack on him has been that he's not ready to be the guy--

SAMMON: And that was an effective comeback. He said if I'm not ready to be the president, why am I such a great vice president? Because the only job of the vice president is to be ready to step in.

But Hillary understands that one of the arguments against her is that a vote for her would mean that Barack goes away, and that a lot of Democrats don't want that.

So she is essentially saying we can work something out here. Vote for me and I will bring him along, and he will be the next president. So you can get two for one.

I don't think it is working now, but it does plant that seed in the back of people's mind down the road, six weeks from now when votes are cast, and maybe it will be a little bit more palatable then.

LIASSON: She is appealing to all those people who want both of them on the ticket, who are torn. She is saying to Obama supporters, just like Bill said, you can elect him by voting for me.

And she is sending a message to the super delegates. The super delegates are her audience right now. They do not want to see this Party ripped apart. They're thinking in their minds would it be fair to give this to Senator Clinton, to override his lead--

HUME: Do you think it might work?

LIASSON: All she has to do is assure a couple of people--

HUME: Doesn't it seem like another example of Clinton presumptuousness?

LIASSON: Yes, it does, but it seems like a lot of things.

First of all, it is the ultimate act of political chutzpah-- somebody said it is the audacity of audacity.

But these are super delegates who are listening to her people, who call them and make this long involved brief about why she should be the nominee even though she going to lag behind in a lot of these important indicators, like delegates.

KRAUTHAMMER: The audacity of audacity--it is a normal Sunday afternoon in Clintonland. It is the ultimate in condescension. After all, he is ahead.

But if in the end she wins the nomination, it will be in circumstances in which he is still ahead in delegates, he is still ahead in the popular vote, he is still ahead in number of states.

HUME: Still ahead in elected delegates.

KRAUTHAMMER: No matter what happens, he is going to be ahead--of course, in elected delegates--all the indices of legitimacy that the super delegates will be looking at. So if she wins it, it will have to be against all of that, and it will look as if it was stolen.

So the only way in which she could win the nomination under these circumstances, which would be inevitable, would be offering the number two spot to him as a way to placate his supporters and get them aboard. So, ultimately, it will happen.

But offering it now, I think, is an act of condescension and of arrogance. But from his perspective, I think accepting it if it is ever offered, would be a catastrophe.

HUME: Why?

He does not want to spend four or eight years carrying water for the Clintons. Any other nominee--a Dodd or anybody else--it would be a good idea. It would prepare him and give him experience.

But to be a subordinate to the Clintons, who have a history of leaving messes and having number two clean them up--look at what happened to Al Gore, who had peace and prosperity, and lost an election. It would be a disaster if he took it, and I think he will refuse it.

LIASSON: This is all part of a very complicated dance. It is not that he would take it now, but she is saying to the super delegates this is the kind of ticket you can have.

And, don't forget, she could get very close to him in the popular vote if Michigan and Florida are resolved, and pretty close to him in delegates.

KRAUTHAMMER: But still not overtake him.

LIASSON: No, not overtake him.

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