Eliot Spitzer Is No Anthony Weiner

Spitzer has a tougher road ahead: Alex Pareene
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 8, 2013 12:03 PM CDT
Eliot Spitzer Is No Anthony Weiner
Politicians who have who have sought second chances after sexual indiscretions, from top left: Eliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford, David Vitter; bottom row from left: Barney Frank, Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner.   (AP Photos/File)

When you heard Eliot Spitzer is launching a comeback attempt, you may have been tempted to compare it to Anthony Weiner's similar attempt to get back into politics. But while Spitzer and Weiner are both "extremely outspoken Jewish New Yorkers whose sexual proclivities are far too well-known," that's about where their similarities end, writes Alex Pareene on Salon. Weiner never even attempted to accomplish anything while he was in Congress, so he never made any big enemies. Spitzer, on the other hand, actually made it his mission to fight white-collar crime while he was New York's attorney general, meaning he does have powerful enemies.

That's why Spitzer shouldn't take Weiner's good poll numbers as encouragement. Spitzer will have a much more difficult "road back to respectability," Pareene writes. It's a bit ironic, since Weiner only cares about politics as "a popularity contest." Spitzer, on the other hand, could actually be great as New York City's comptroller. "The return of Eliot Spitzer in full-on crusading asshole mode would be a good thing for the city, and for the Democratic Party in one of the country’s biggest and most Democratic states. He at least pisses the right people off." Click for Pareene's full column. (More Eliot Spitzer stories.)

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