I'm not trying to have it both ways. You know full well that there are degrees of criminality or illegality. We know that prostitution, at its worst, has ties to kidnapping, slavery, drugs and abuse. We know that gambling, at its worst, has ties to more gambling, to loan sharks, extortion, etc. We also know that they are enforced differently, and that the public stigma of each is quite different, as well as the cultural history related to each. Prostitution has already been established as a very touchy (no pun intended) subject for politicians, on many recent occasions. Gambling on sports has not. So it also ties into questions of judgment.

Exactly. Add to that that Spitzer has a history of busting up this same industry and braying about his good deed publicly in doing so and the whole thing just stinks of hypocrisy to high heaven. It's been a big let down for me as he was truly a hero to me. I have no idea why he didn't resign, but it's not as if he'll ever get anything done again and considering the daily debacle of Democratic circuses these days I can't help feel the best thing he can do is resign, get out of the spotlight and stop embarassing us.

Why, thank you Elliot, for your noteable contribution to the daily debacle of carnival acts that has become the hallnote of our party.

Seeing as how the ongoing circus of a primary and embarassing Florida/Michigan debacle weren't enough, now we can add to the ever-growing list of things that make us seem incompetent our famously "Take No Prisoners" DA revealing himself as a patron of the same sleazy prostitution rings he used to brag about busting up. Yes, thank you, Mr. Spitzer. At this point I humbly suggest the only thing missing is the band.

Please do collect your things and leave now and not a moment too soon. Get out of the limelight and stop embarassing us. Please let Lt. Gov. Paterson step up and take the show from here and not a moment too soon. (And please, God, let the blind man not have any noteable skeletons in his closet).

The GOP is going to have a FIELD DAY with this.

While we've all come to expect you to engage in your vulgar slurs, I'd be careful here. I'd be outright shocked if an established mega-egomanic like Barrack Obama had a straight arrow history of never straying from Michelle.

If this suspicion is correct you better believe someone is going to unbury it.

He obviously knew he was engaging in a risky, illegal act that was most incompatible with his position and with his historical prosecution of the same industry he elected to patronize. And yet, he did it, on his own free will.

This really is entirely his owned damned fault. It's all as depressing as hell on Christmas.

Yes it is, because those were the precise claims made here in comments that she was not free to which I was responding. High-end "escort services" -- het or gay -- are not bad employment as considered by the many women and men who choose that work.

We could go on and on all night arguing about whether or not prostitution is truly the victimless crime many are saying it is, but it really isn't the issue.

SW: The issue is that a District Attorney has broken the law by engaging in sex for hire, and that he just happens to have a high-profile history of prosecuting the exact industry his pants were caught down in.

He's now a governor, former DA.

Irrelevant. He became governor precisely because of the image he built as a Mr. Clean "Take No Prisoners" DA. Which including busting up the same prostitution rings he engaged in.

I'll leave you and Glenn to do your thing splitting hairs about what criminal charges he ultimately will or won't face. Because that too is a side issue.

Obviously the problem is he willfully planned and then engaged in an illegal act knowing it was incompatible with his current position, DA history and prostitution ring busting record. An intelligent man, he obviously realized the sensationalistic headlines his being caught would entail. (to suggest it's the same as a swampy near unknown LA Senator being found in someone's black book is ridiculous).

So the smartest man in the world turned out to be a bigger idiot than we thought.

Considering it's the already struggling constituents of the Democratic party that will pay the real price of his reckless behavior, suffice to say I'm decidedly unamused The best thing he can do know is steer his poorly timed carnival out of the limelight and let Lt. Govt Patterson and the adults take over the ship.

The same old shrill energy creatures making the same tired shrill arguments that have absolutely nothing at all to do with the electoral math to win an election, which should have been the ONLY thing we were talking about for the past year.