"Spitzer allegedly used the escort service for at least six months and paid more than $15,000 for numerous meetings, a source familiar with the case told WNBC.com..."

What's so tragic about this? The man exercised poor judgment, committed adultery (numerous times) and got caught. He should apologize and resign.

After reading the pathetic five letters the Salon chose I had to comment. Those left wing nuts don't get it. Spitzer, Craig Foley and others are hypocrites. They have to go. God do I believe in term limits to get these self important arrogant politicians off the landscape. Democrat, Republican are in it to either line their pockets (let's see the Clintons went from Arkansaw trailer trash to worth more than 30 million) or their power ego's ( Gingrich strike a bell? )

I voted for Spitzer and had hoped he would finally bring some sanity and sunshine to NY State's government where 3 people make all the decisions. But Spitzer's stupidity was shocking in its depth.

Upon taking office he achieved the impossible, making people feel sorry for Joe Bruno, the state senate leader, one of the more corrupt officials in recent history. Who else would have the chutzpah to have a local ballfield named in his honor when he allocated the money for it in the state budget? Spitzer's use of his own staff and NYS troopers to surveille Bruno was the first sign of his incredible political tone-deafness.

Second was his plan to give NYS drivers' licenses to illegal aliens. He released his plan with no groundwork being laid. It was rejected out of hand even though it had some merit to it (lower insurance costs, more control of NY State's illegal immigrant population, more security for the immigrants themselves), but the way he issued the plan looked amateurish and silly. It caused NYS Democrats a lot of problems including Hillary Clinton whom Spitzer supports.

Now his use of a high-priced prostitute using an account with his own name on it. Plus he transported the prostitute across state lines, a federal offense. His use of his security detail while he performed illegal acts with his money may invoke poltical corruption laws. Transfers of large sums, even if they fall below the $10,000 mandatory alerts, raise eyebrows. I believe some anti-terrorism laws require banks to inform federal agencies when such amounts routinely move between accounts. His money was going to a prostitution ring already under investigation for money-laundering. Nice. Spitzer knew what he was doing would generate interest because he used such information to catch suspects as a prosecutor. He did not heed his own advice to ABC News a couple of years ago (use nods and winks, he told Brian Ross, not emails).

Plenty of NYS governors have had mistresses and girlfriends including Rockefeller, Harriman and Pataki. To say a governor was dumber than Pataki about something is saying a lot.

In all, he was unbelievably stupid. This kind of stupidity may be the result of hubris, an arrogrance so deep that he really believed he couldn't be caught. Or perhaps it was a subconscious desire to be caught. Maybe he realized he was in over his head as governor and wanted out. In any event he has ruined his career, his family, his state party and his state. A very sad legacy to a promising start.

He will complete the trifecta in the NY metropolitan area. In less than 5 years the governors of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York have had to resign because of corruption, coming out and soliciting, respectively. Quite a neighborhood we have here. In Connecticut and New Jersey, at least, the dethroned governors were and have been replaced by someone much better.

Spitzer must resign now. To wait even another day can only do much more damage. NYS Democrats must force his resignation to end the pain and rally round David Patterson.

As a New Yorker I've always thought Spitzer was more posture than spine. And, anyone who took a good look at his face, which always seemed contorted, as if in pain—and no more horrible then when he attempted a smile—knew there was less there than met the eye. His ferocity directed at Wall Street excess always seemed more an Oedipal flailing than a reformist's zeal. Looking at the Street today, one has to ask, what reforms really punished the "Masters of the Universe." Elected to to break the Bruno/Silver stranglehold on the State, he leaves them stronger than ever. Let him go back to his father's house, after all, he never really left it.

You said it. It seems like it was one boneheaded move after another with this guy, with the prostitute thing being only the latest. (Side note: If he was so horny, why couldn't he have had a normal, non-commercial affair instead of the made-for-ridicule call-girl transaction?)

All in all, what a disappointment.

How could somebody so smart be so stupid? I guess that's a question for the ages.

All I want to know is: why is the FBI tapping the phone of the governor of New York? To me, that is the real outrage!

If anyone had ever earned the scorn and distrust of his electorate, it is Mr. Spitzer. Only now can he appreciate how such careless behaviour uncovered under the instensity of a spotlight affects his family, all four of whom deserved and expected far better based on the public personna that was so carefully cultivated and managed in the NY and national media...

Or looked at another way, when it comes to taxes, Uncle Sam does not turn a blind eye...

Another politician "forced" to resign because of a sex scandal. What must the world think of us? Actually, I think we already know. Aren't we tired of watching a government official publicly apologize to his family and loved ones when that is the apology that should be kept most private? So what if he went after sex rings and then allegedly became a part of one himself. Horror of horrors! What a hypocrite! Is it possible no one in this country knows another hypocrite or is one themselves?

Aren't our troops still fighting a war in Afghanistan? How about the 22 million children in this country that are aged 5 and under and obese? What about the financial crisis our country is currently facing? I can't imagine these issues or less important than a politician involved in a sex scandal. The US needs to grow up and really focus on what is important.

Lola Kern of Internal Energy Plus™