NY media ready to pass along GOP's "Spitzer is a hothead" meme

This is the first I've heard of it. Frankly, I don't care if Spitzer is tough. No one cared that Giuliani, Koch or D'Amato was "hard-edged," why should it make a difference if Spitzer is? But this is going to be the story the GOP will hammer at all year long. Mark my words.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/nyregion/08spitzer.html?ei=5090&en=5e6450c519f52661&ex=1294376400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

G.O.P. Finds Hope in Spitzer's Hard Edge
By PATRICK D. HEALY

<F>or the first time in a long time, some Democrats appear worried for Mr. Spitzer, and are trying to portray his tough style as an asset. Meanwhile, Mr. Spitzer is expressing new regret about his behavior.

Stories about Mr. Spitzer's blunt, brash style have circulated in business and political circles for years. Yet few spilled into the news media until last month, when John C. Whitehead, a Wall Street power broker whom Gov. George E. Pataki named as chairman of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Commission, said that Mr. Spitzer had told him that there was "a war between us" because he had criticized Mr. Spitzer as an overzealous, overreaching prosecutor.

Mr. Whitehead made his complaints known in a letter to The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post ran articles on the dispute last month, including one with a front-page headline that said Mr. Spitzer was a "Liar!"

Since then, the issue of Mr. Spitzer's personality has begun to emerge in political circles, with Republicans circulating reports of his behavior in several disagreements over the last several years.

Wow, that's really exciting. Wake me when it's over so we can get back to things that actually matter.

Does he even have a credible candidate running against him? I ain't worried. The Republican Party in NY is, to put it mildly, in vast disarray.

Weld was being foisted on us as a likely replacement for Pataki, but he's got some very lively fiancial skeletons in his closet. All the Republicans can do is aim a klieg light on Spitzer's flaws (real and imagined) and hope to melt his early lead.

of attack, all style and no substance.

This is how they operate.