It wasn't all that long ago that sexual contact between two men was illegal in my state.

The Constitution is whatever the SCOTUS decides it is.. Which is why the Interstate Commerce clause can be used as justification to imprison people for growing a particular weed in their yard.

Ok. For the sake of argument, let's assume that there is nothing wrong with prostitution, cheating on your wife, and breaking numerous laws.

Now, given the amount of money that spit-lizard paid for sex (thousands) can anyone argue that the man has good judgement?

That the people of New York State have a leader whose decision making ability they can rely on?

That spit-lizard will look out for the down-trodden?

-It's fascinating to me that visiting a call girl is cause for resignation, but violating the Constitution, torturing people, waging aggressive war that causes hundreds of thousands of innocent deaths, all mean that impeachement is "off the table." What interesting times we live in-

Amen

LWM, just to be clear - I have never been in porn, or a hooker for that matter. I was quoting another letter from a salon story that struck me. That woman made the case I have made for years - the porn industry is abusive and damaging in a unique way.

As for the abortion/porn industry analogy below, I don't think that sticks because an abortion is a medical procedure that happens in private but porn makes private sex public by design. I think that's the point. Thanks for the kudos - I realize my position is unpopular but I feel it's important to make the case not from the position of moral zeal but from the position of a liberal standing up for what's I feel is right - protecting those who would otherwise be exploited.

Glenn Greenwald: "Are there actually many people left who care if an adult who isn't their spouse hires prostitutes? Are there really people left who think that doing so should be a crime, that adults who hire other consenting adults for sex should be convicted and go to prison?"

What - the - hell is going on here with your questions, Glenn?

Spitzer was Attorney General for New York. He was charged with upholding the law. As governor people expect him to set an example and be a representative of the values of their state, etc. You really question whether there is something wrong with him breaking the law and paying strangers to stimulate his pud?

As for whether prostitution should be a crime -- hey, have you ever done any researching into the vast rings of kidnapping for prostitution schemes in Eastern Europe? Forced underage prostitution? Did you know that illegal immigrants are frequently forced into prostitution or threatened? Do you have any idea how sleazy most prostitution organizations are?

Go ahead and throw your hat in with organized crime all you like, but I think a governor caught using prostitutes is a big, big story.

It sounds like you would, if you were the appropriate federal prosecutor, decline to prosecute here. The argument, as I understand it, is that what he did shouldn't be illegal, and so (a) it is OK to decline to prosecute and/or (b) Spitzer should not be treated more harshly than the rest of us would be. But (a) seems a lot like Mukasey's rationale for declining to prosecute Miers and Bolten -- the law is clear, as are their violations of it, but Justice doesn't agree that they did anything wrong, so they stand pat.

That's actually not my position. I didn't say that Spitzer shouldn't be prosecuted because it's a bad law. I said he should be treated the way the average citizen is who is caught hiring prostitutes.

But that leads to the real point -- people who hire prostitutes are almost never prosecuted. Why? Because law enforcement officers and prosecutors have to exercise discretion about where they devote their resources, and they almost universally deprioritize prostitution.

Why is that? Because the "harms" from that "crime" are so much less than most other crimes. There is almost never any victim (if someone is forced into prostitution, then the crime is no longer prostitution). That's the judgment I am urging -- robotically saying "it's illegal" doesn't get us very far. We make judgments all the time about the seriousness of the crime, the impact it has, the costs of enforcing it or not enforcing it.

That judgment is largely missing from the lynch mob ready to string up Eliot Spitzer.

They hide behind "liberty" and "privacy" but the truth is they don't care how many people, mostly women but not exclusively women, are harmed in the prostitution and porn industries.

Not sure which profession came first, soldier or prostitute, but both of them are older than William Timberman. Maybe it is philosopher but I doubt it.

It is probably not the case that those of us who have considered this issue carefully over many years don't care.

What do you propose be done about it that will not do more harm, or even equal harm of a different nature?

One of the points that I've heard made is that prostitution exploits women,sometimes underage, in fragile circumstances, that they are often little more than captives in the initial stages of their involvement in prostitution, that abuse is routine and that they are often without recourse, trapped in a life against their will.

I don't doubt that this is often true. But I'd argue that it is the illegality that creates this oppression. If prostitution were legal, licensed, prostitutes subjected to periodic health exams and their businesses subject to the usual labor laws, then the problems of coercion and abuse would largely disappear.

There is no shortage of women who have worked as prostitutes or in other parts of the sex industry who say that they did what they did with their eyes open, uncoerced. One such woman just won an academy award for Juno.

To the degree that prostitution involves the exploitation and abuse of women, making it illegal makes it worse. And, picking up on the update, the reports of abuse and exploitation of women making pornography are just as widespread as those of prostitution, although when Glenn and DCLaw1 ask whether pornography should also be banned, I think they'll find that many of the people who feel this way about prostitution are consistent in their beliefs.