How the Spitzer Sex Scandal Could Help Hillary

A woman president is not going to be Client 9 of the Emperor's Club VIP sex service.

A woman president is not going to get arrested for soliciting sex in a rest room at the Minneapolis airport.

A woman president is not going to be caught sending hot text messages to young congressional pages.

Many voters may find these arguments persuasive in the wake of the Elliot Spitzer story: if you want to avoid losing your leaders to sex scandals, vote for a woman.

The voters most likely to be persuaded by this argument are, of course, women. And there are a lot of women voters in the Democratic primaries yet to come, and among the superdelegates.

The notion that Hillary could benefit from the Spitzer scandal goes against the conventional wisdom in the blogosphere today, which holds that it hurts Hillary because, as Matt Yglesias wrote, it will "make people worry about the fact that putting Bill Clinton back in the White House seems to raise the possibility of once again having a Democratic administration derailed by a sex scandal."

To say that many voters might find Hillary more appealing at this point is not to say that Barack Obama or John McCain is likely to be caught in a sex scandal. Either possibility seems extremely unlikely.

Of course it also seemed extremely unlikely that Elliot Spitzer would be caught violating the Mann Act.

The question is not whether we will see new revelations, but whether disgust over Spitzer's destruction of his career will lead some voters to look to a woman for freedom from sex scandals.

Comments (20)

1. Many people sure have naive views about women.That seems to include many women.Of course,many women commit adultery,like kinky sex,are closet lesbians,engage in bisexual sex,etc.

   Posted by i'm nobody at 03/11/2008 @ 2:52pm

2. This view surpasses amusing & approaches pathetic. Analytically bankrupt, it should have been filed in the writer's best friend, the trash basket.

   But I am looking forward to the TV ad, as Billary grow more desperate.

   Posted by sloper at 03/11/2008 @ 3:06pm

3. it hurts Hillary because, as Matt Yglesias wrote, it will "make people worry about the fact that putting Bill Clinton back in the White House seems to raise the possibility of once again having a Democratic administration derailed by a sex scandal."

   And this is a REAL worry!

   Hillary can barely control Bill on the campaign trail with his "fairy tale" or "just like Jesse Jackson" remarks, so how is she going to control Bill in the Whitehouse?

   Sex scandals for Hillary are something to cover up, not something to avoid and not get into in the first place.

   Posted by Metteyya at 03/11/2008 @ 3:15pm

4. Posted by METTEYYA 03/11/2008 @ 3:17pm

   Please, no more Jerry Falwell spam. This nonsense was posted elsewhere, once is more than enough.

   Posted by sloper at 03/11/2008 @ 3:20pm

5. Posted by METTEYYA 03/11/2008 @ 3:17pm | ignore this person

   Barack Obama is probably next

   Posted by dscott at 03/11/2008 @ 3:21pm

6. Hogwash!

   Women are just as scandalus as men. There are just fewer in positions of power, except in teaching... Search for: Kathy Denise White Pamela Rogers Turner Debra LaFave Sarah Bench-Salorio Rebecca Boicelli All of the above have had innapropriate relations with their male students.

   Posted by Extraneous at 03/11/2008 @ 3:52pm

7. Press Release, office of the Attorney General of NY April 7, 2004

   'OPERATORS OF "ESCORT SERVICES" INDICTED Authorities Say the Business Was a Front for a Massive Prostitution Ring

   Attorney General Spitzer said today that 18 people associated with popular "escort services" operating in New York City, Long Island, Westchester and New Jersey have been indicted for promoting prostitution and related charges.

   The indictments by a Staten Island Grand Jury follow a lengthy investigation of the escort services, which authorities believed were really a front for a massive prostitution ring....'

   Posted by HonestLiberal at 03/11/2008 @ 3:57pm

8. Sorry should be commas- Kathy Denise White, Pamela Rogers Turner, Debra LaFave, Sarah Bench-Salorio, Rebecca Boicelli

   Posted by Extraneous at 03/11/2008 @ 3:58pm

9. Ferraro Remarks on Obama Decried Published: March 11, 2008 Filed at 3:32 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The first female vice presidential candidate and a fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Democrat Barack Obama only achieved his status in the presidential campaign because he's black. The Obama campaign called on Clinton Tuesday to denounce the comments."

   Now here's another of those Billary can-only-be-helping hands. Lest Spitzer remind voters too much of Big Dog's behavior, let's remind them of Obama's skin color that we seemed to have been tricked by the sexist MSM into not noticing.

   Right, Ms. Ferraro, he became president of the Harvard Law Review because he was colored, and HRC flunked her DC bar exam because she was a she. Got it. And now we'll all be reassured that she can't fall into scandal, because she's a she, and the young colored man, well, we know what they're like, right ... just ask Jon Weiner.

   Posted by sloper at 03/11/2008 @ 4:00pm

10. I guess it's true...Hillary will probably NEVER get caught in a sex scandal. Honestly, I don't think sex is among the things she gets off on...which is pretty scary actually.

    But I think the thinking will be less "Obama might fool around in the Oval" than..."While Hillary's playing President, Bill will be banging White House interns 2 at a time like Fredo at Moe Greene's casino!"

    Posted by Mask at 03/11/2008 @ 4:36pm

11. Let's see...a reminder of how her husband can't keep it in his pants and embarrassed the nation somehow HELPS her? The best thing she can do is put a huge amount of distance between herself and Eliot and not look back. Of course she didn't help herself when she said, "[M]y thoughts are with him...". I didn't think the Clintons committed such blatant faux pas.

    Posted by yutsano at 03/11/2008 @ 5:10pm

12. While according to studies, wives are less likely than husbands to have sexual activity outside of marriage, most statistics seem to show that female adultery occurs about two--thirds as often as male adultery.

    There is also a correlation between sexual adventures and people in positions of power. The drive for power, whether it be political, corporate, or otherwise, appears to be, at least in part, a modern sublimation for the drive to become the alpha, and therefore, get breeding rights to spread your genes as widely as possible. Men who have a compulsion to seek power may well be driven by a sublimation of a stronger than average sexual drive. This may also be true with women. I'd love to see some studies on both situations.

    As was pointed out, it seemed highly unlikely that Spitzer would get caught patronizing a high-class prostitution ring and possibly committing a federal felony (the Mann Act) in the process - at least it seemed unlikely until it happened.

    There is no guarantee that Hillary Clinton or any other woman in politics won't get caught some day sleeping with an aide or advisor (male or female). For all we know, while Bill was getting his pipes cleared by Monica, Hillary was diddling the Secret Service guys. For all we know, Laura Bush has a deep and abiding sexual relationship with Barney. One wonders if some of those BarneyCam tapes haven't been quietly destroyed along with the waterboarding tapes.

    Posted by Nonny at 03/11/2008 @ 5:44pm

13. It might help her if she was another woman or if she was divorced from Bill Clinton but Hilary still married to Bill and that history I dont see it. If anything it may just remind people again of the illicit possibilities of another Clinton white house.

    Carol

    Posted by harriscrl3 at 03/11/2008 @ 6:10pm

14. Sorry, METTEYYA But it's not Hillary's job to control Bill. Nor should it be the job of any wife to "control" their husband. This is an old outdated gender stereotype. That may fly with you, but it doesn't fly with me nor many other women voters who can see through the whole "Bill needs to be controlled cause otherwise he will be off staining some girl's dress" hysteria.

    Posted by meeneecat at 03/11/2008 @ 7:54pm

15. Scandals should NOT "help" anybody but they surely hurt a lot of people.....here's something that may actually "Help Clinton", again, I'm mighty proud of Florida:

    From Ben Smith at Politico:

    March 11, 2008

    Re-vote picture clouds

    For a moment, it looked like party leaders were marching toward a Florida revote. But Obama's campaign signaled today that the mechanics would be an obstacle, and Florida's congressional delegation just took a hard line against a re-vote in a joint statement:

    "We are committed to working with the DNC, the Florida State Democratic party, our Democratic leaders in Florida, and our two candidates to reach an expedited solution that ensures our 210 delegates are seated.

    "Our House delegation is opposed to a mail-in campaign or any redo of any kind."

    --------------------------------------------------------

    Obama's name WAS on the ballot, my home state folks' have spoken.....Doesn't this just gets better by the day.....now Michigan and Florida are TWO SEPARATE GIANT headaches instead one BIG headache.

    Surfs Up, guys (& gals)!! Let's go surf Maverick!!

    Posted by Happy at 03/11/2008 @ 11:31pm

16. Posted by HARRISCRL3 03/11/2008 @ 6:10pm

    Carol, I think your post is right on. If Hillary were not a Clinton, then I could see how the current scandal could help her, especially to naive voters. But any sex scandal helping a Clinton is ludicrous, unless, of course, it involves Obama. Other than that, I can't see how Hillary could gain any ground because of this. Even if Hillary had divorced Bill over the Lewinsky affair, I still don't see this as helping her.

    I feel for the families in this. Even for Hillary and Chelsea. This type of stuff has to bring up bad memories.

    Posted by FritztheCat at 03/12/2008 @ 09:52am

17. this blognote of weiner's is frivolous, trivial. but amusing. it does utterly vitiate any serious reckonings (e.g. about responsibilities, public trust, and prudence as qualities of elected officials) that could proceed from the events it embraces tho.

    i explain what's being discounted, or lost, by entertaining this article longer than an involuntary sneeze.

    first, from the point of view of biology and logic, a female is neither a more nor less likely candidate to be in Client 9 shoes. what logic is weiner using? Isn't our now public, and scolding, contextual understanding of "client 9" actually the scolding of a "client 9 vis a vis some woman"?

    Is this not proof, that a priori there is some "woman" who may not have the (up)right stuff to fulfill the role of female prexie??? The ‘right stuff' implied in this short weiner note has female behavior categorized in a procrustean bed, that the author seems to be lying in--i intend no subtextual metaphor here. Maybe i should have said, "laying" rather than lying.

    anyway, it takes two to tangle, i reckon.

    oh, one more thing: if it comes to sanctities, such as the virgin virtues (note, oxymorons!) of women, let's call categories as they really lie! there are politicians and corporate helmsmen, on the one hand,

    and then, on the other,

    there is an overlarge voting, and non voting, populace--that was once ‘the democracy', the body politic. Two categories!

    Now, hillory clinton is a politician (and of the first camp)--which means, she works hand in hand with those who finance the high offices in which ever so many of these "elected" federal officials so cynically play out their "executive" puppet roles. Hillory calls this ‘getting things done.'

    Never mistake it; for Clinton man or woman, the record of "thirtyfive years experience" clearly shows behavior and policy agendas that are structurally arrangements of pandering and prostituting values. Weiner makes a declaration, in his humor note proposing that ‘a woman' is a better ‘bet' for not abusing the high public offices; he says, "The voters most likely to be persuaded by this argument are, of course, women."

    Don't you believe it! That's all just part of the costuming, and there's plenty of corporate money to keep the puppets dressed, males or females as necessary--but always, in the profound service of the oligarchical fortunes.

    Posted by camarada at 03/12/2008 @ 11:19am

18. "A woman president is not going to be caught sending hot text messages to young congressional pages."

    Unless that person is named Huma. Bill and Hillary fish off the same side of the dock. They stay together for the power that foolish voters give them for unfulfilled promises.

    Posted by Next Door at 03/13/2008 @ 10:13pm

19. waving my ‘cut and paste' wand will not be taken as the tooling of a narcissist, i trust.

    It is meant as a "conservative" gesture (i.e. it's only a binary rearrangement, virtually no expense of natural re-sources!) with an end of circumspect copyediting--to deliver the more honed exhortatory version of a hasty, original post yesterday.

    to help the cat, indeed, to slip out of the ideological baggaging, i preface these few, amateur views by noting their "orientation": Socialist. Deal with it.

    REVISED POST:

    this blognote of weiner's is frivolous, trivial. but amusing. [and i like weiner, don't git me wrong) it does utterly vitiate any serious reckonings (e.g. about responsibilities, public trust, and prudence as qualities of elected officials) that could proceed from the events it embraces tho.

    i explain what's being discounted, or lost, by entertaining this article longer than an involuntary sneeze.

    first, from the point of view of biology and logic, a female is neither a more nor less likely candidate to be in Client 9 shoes. what logic is weiner using? Isn't our now public, and scolding, contextual understanding of "client 9" actually the scolding of a "client 9 vis a vis some woman"?

    Is this not proof, that a priori there is some "woman" who may not have the (up)right stuff to fulfill the role of female prexie??? The ‘right stuff' implied in this short weiner note has female behavior categorized in a procrustean bed, that the author seems to be lying in---i intend no subtextual metaphor here. Maybe i should have said, "laying" rather than lying. whatever; a bed he's fallen into.

    it takes two to tangle, i reckon.

    oh, one more thing: if it comes to sanctities, such as the virgin virtues (note, oxymorons!) of women, let's call The Categories as they really lie! there are Politicians and corporate Helmsmen, on the one hand, and then, on the other,

    there is an overlarge voting, and non-voting, populace---that was once ‘the democracy'; this is the second camp---the Body Politic. Two categories!

    Now, hillory clinton is a politician (and of the first camp)---which means, she works hand in hand with those who finance the high offices in which ever so many of these "elected" federal officials so cynically play out their "executive" puppet roles. Hillory calls this ‘get-ting things done.'

    Never mistake it; for Clinton man or woman, that record of "thirty-five years experience" clearly shows behavior and policy agendas that are structurally arrangements of pandering and prostituting values. Weiner makes a declaration, in his humor note proposing that ‘a woman' is a better ‘bet' for not abusing the high public offices; he says, "The voters most likely to be persuaded by this argument are, of course, women."

    Don't you believe it! That's all just part of the costuming, and there's plenty of corporate money to keep the puppets dressed, males or females as necessary---but always obedient, in the profound service of oligarchical transnational fortunes.

    Posted by camarada at 03/14/2008 @ 10:51am

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