It's against the law. At least ONE party should care about that, no?

Aside from the suspicious nature of the federalizing of a prostitution case, the wiretapping, and the prejudicial release of sensational details, there remains the double standard.

Senator David Vitter (R-LA) continues to be applauded as a paragon of moral virtue despite nearly identical circumstances.

tommydsz writes: "the outrage is gonna come from the Left

personally I dont care what Mr.Spitzer does in his private time as long as he does a good job running his office..but the problem is that even the left is guilty with all this moralizing..wait for all the feminists to now start ganging up on him for abusing a poor hapless woman and using her body for sex.."

Last I knew this was still a point of contention between some feminists, but I think it's worth pointing out that many feminists think prostitution shouldn't be a crime. Especially given that (a) the laws involved are far more often enforced against the women involved and (b) the laws (and sexist enforcement of them) tend to make life worse for women in the business.

Lets see...G.W.Bush invades Iraq on false pretense and repeatedly uses more false pretense,fact and truth abuse,outright lies and fiscal fraud to stay on in Iraq. For years.

G.W.Bush breaks laws,breaks more laws and seems content to use crony and pal thresholds only for many appointments in his WH.For years.

The United States Constitution? That little dance he did the other day could have just as well been on the Constitution as that would be accurate portrayal of what this guys take on it as been on it. For years.

Anyway...the point is...where have been/is the American political media on G.W.Bush and his WH regimes shortfalls and drop-outs on truth,fact and forthright conduct? For years?

Meanwhile today has been a smorgasboard of Spitzer appetizers,main courses and desserts with no end in sight at this point for days to come. It is an American political media High Feast. If Enron,KBR or Blackwater were held to such standards it would indeed be a spectacle of media reveal.

Would indeed if it ever happened.

Makes one yearn for Weekly World News standards.Sheesh.

Thanks, Glenn-- I do not understand this outrage, and hope that Spitzer is as tough as Bill Clinton and waits this out. Within a couple days, we'll all be wondering more important things, like what the heck the feds are doing wasting our tax money on investigating prostitution (or were they investigating the Dem governor, huh).

Your article has some troubling anarchistic undertones.

Spitzer's actions go far beyond the personal hypocricy you outline in your article.

He is a democratically elected official, put into power as a public representative, and enforcer of state law.

Forget that Spitzer's image is one of "ethics champion", that is not the issue here.

The issue is simply he has violated the very laws he has been elected to uphold.

If you pooh-pooh this you basically pooh-pooh the integrity of our democratic and legal systems, a system that protects you every day (including your right to publish this article and my right to respond).

He's not my Governor, but if he were-- I'd care that someone so arrogant and hypocritical and so idiotic as to engage in this risky behavior (to himself, his career, and to everyone who believed in him and/or loved him) had any sort of governing power over me.

I agree that prostitution is a victimless crime and that in an ideal world this would be a private matter, but sometimes people who become this kind of stupid are at the same time being other kinds of stupid. This was a lot of money for that service. What else was Spitzer overpaying for, losing his mind over? This story may be the thin wedge of a broader story about poor judgment and, maybe, even real corruption. I for one am waiting for further revelations.

If this does turn out to be a political hit job, I like others here want to see an explanation why Spitzer couldn't see it coming. I also hope that there will be some real investigative reporting connecting the Republican dots.

It's morally repugnant, unethical and a crime. Period.

I would also ask you to reread the very small portion of the transcript that was released by the feds. A very unflattering and frankly, disturbing picture is emerging about Eliot Spitzer. What makes a john "difficult?" Let's all guess...

According to this ABC News story, federal prosecutors didn't intend to go after a prostitution ring. They were pulling a Lester Freamon and following what looked to be illegal wire transfers (i.e. possible bribes)

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4424507&page=1

As it turns out, they were the payments for the girl.

As long as our current political system has its way, all of our American politics will be about all sex and all death, all the time. It will be "The Streetcar Named Desire" 24/7, with no intermissions and no curtain.

How many of us Americans want something else from our politics besides sleazy titillation and fear? That is a fairly fateful question right now. I believe the numbers of us who do want more is quite large, and growing all the time. Let's find out.

Has a single crime of the Bush administration generated even a fraction of the attention or moral outrage which this oozing, petty sex scandal is well on its way to generating?

I think it’s time to remember that Republicans gave Vitter a round of “thunderous applause” when he returned from hiding soon after the statute of limitations ran out on his crime of soliciting a prostitute (in both D.C. and New Orleans).

Too bad Spitzer isn’t a member of the “family values” party. He could then survive politically. Heck he could even have the right-wing press (Human Events) sing his praises for not being gay:

In fact, I’m a huge fan of hypocrisy, since the alternative is apparently a world without standards for anyone, lest someone risk being called a hypocrite. Here is the difference between the average hypocrite and the average liberal: the hypocrite has the common courtesy to be embarrassed about what he does. The liberal thinks what he does should be taught to your children at school.

But, unlike Vitter, Spitzer won’t be receiving any applause from his fellow Democrats, and he won’t survive politically. That’s because the intensity of our “moral condemnations” are always exaggerated when the perpetrator is not just “immoral” but from the “immoral” political party.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/10/vitter/

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21505