Spitzer has done the nation a great service by going after corporate sleazbacks and Wall Street corruption. For his service to his nation he should have received a lifetime of free upmarket callgirl service.

MCE007 says:

"Not to belittle any of the ALLEGATIONS against Spitzer, but it seems the media was in seventh heaven Monday, licking its lips at the chance to bring Spitzer down...":

Let's be perfectly clear here. Spitzer took a chance when breaking the law and he has brought himself down! And his wife and daughters. And his state.

I hope he resigns and if not I hope he is impeached. Then I hope he is disbarred and can never practice law again. I hope his wife dumps him. She has to deserve better. (If Hillary had divorced Bill she would now be the "presumptive" Democratic nominee for POTUS). Everybody loves a good "Gotcha!")

When he was A.G. he had no problem seeing others arrested and convicted of the very same crime he has committed.

Personally I do think prostitution should be legalized. Of course it kind of already is, only a guy has to work harder to make it happen ("dating").

Everybody knows the typical scenario: A guy is married, wants to do the anal thing and his wife isn't down. So he goes out after work to a bar and picks up some sexy secretary who IS down. Maybe dinner, some drinks, a nice hotel room. Maybe he kicks down some $$ for a pretty new handbag she's just DYING to have. Whatever. The ol' quid pro quo.

I wonder. Would he be in the same mess today if he had simply "strayed" with the secretary? You know, since that's not technically "prostitution"?

Men. Arrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!!!!

Until I read this thread, I never would have thought so many would argue what a man does with his putz among consenting adults is his own business. I've argued repeatedly the self-righteous judgement is naive but lost hope the moralists wouldn't win.

Surprise! Because he's such a hypocrite, I don't like Spitzer personally, but that has nothing to do with his ability as a public servant. Perhaps, the Clinton experience had more of an impact to help Americans grow up than was assumed given what happened to him.

It makes me wonder even if the sheep quite believe what their preachers are telling them, but then the question becomes: how representative are the contributors to Salon? Has it become a little island unto itself?

If the principle is what matters, rather than the politics, that means giving Craig et al the same break. I bet that eliminates half the "liberal" posts. As for the moralists who want to jump down his back--I don't trust them. Tomorrow we'll read about them on the blotter. That's why all the phoney moralizing doesn't work.

As an Albany native, I feel terrible for Gov. Spitzer! The guy certainly isn't perfect, but he was a wonderful change from Gov. Pataki. Spitzer should tell critics that he will resign when Larry Craig and David Vitter resign. Anyway, if Spitzer does resign, I hope that Conservatives restrain themselves from making tasteless jokes about Lt. Gov. Patterson's (who would complete Spitzer's remaining term) being Black and legally blind.

This is classic behavior of a sex addict: risking all for the thrill of acting out.

This leads to criminal behavior, lying, leading a double-life, becoming a hypocrite, etc. It isn't pretty. Believe me, I know all too well the consequences of out-of-control behavior.

Spitzer should resign for the simple fact that in order to get his life together, to heal himself, and enter therapy, therapy which will take years to complete, he will need the peace and quiet to concentrate on himself and his family. Nothing is worse than trying to deal with your personal issues while everyone is painting a scarlett "A" on your chest.

Spitzer, in my opinion, is not a criminal. He's an addict, and deserves compassion. For his own sake, he needs to join a twelve step program and get a sponsor, to be surrounded by other men who know what he is going through. He should also get a therapist right away, there are some really good ones out there who specialize in sexual addiction.

You are not alone, Eliot!

Why all the hooplah? Let's face it, people. To get to the level of governor in states as large as New York, to become a US Senator or Representative, to be a serious contender for the White House, mega-egomania probably is a prerequisite. I imagine that, given our Victorian --pretend we all hate extramarital sex, but please feed us titillation anywhere we can get it --attitudes and a media that feeds us sexual messages at every turn, it's almost expected for politicians to have some sort of smarmy secrets somewhere. I think most of them seperate their public personas from their private practices and don't even register it as hypocrisy. I think it's about power, not sex. Release. A sense of entitlement, somehow.

I don't see the tragedy here. It's the status quo. All this shock in the not-so-new New World. All this wringing of hands over the immorality of it all. We are not, in this day and age, behaving like a "moral" nation in any important sense of the word. The man was idiotic. He thought he was above his own PR, above the corruption he was fighting. How many politicians don't feel they are somehow insulated from the judgments of mere mortals?

Feh. Let New Yorkers decide how to handle it and lets move on to something that matters. THE WAR. The disparity of disbursement of wealth, health care, education in our OWN country. And a culture that fairly BREEDS hypocrisy.

Now, to work.

I think it's a very serious thing to take away somebody's freedom. But I think the War on Drugs has made it too easy to do and people have gotten too used to the idea of throwing people in jail. That's how we became the most incarcerated country in the whole world.

As a prosecutor, Spitzer took away the freedom of people for selling sex.

But he doesn't seem to have taken that act of his very seriously.

He didn't take THEIR freedom seriously.

If he had, he never would have dreamed of breaking those same laws himself.