-Prostitution involves the direct payment of money for sex.-

I find that distinction dubious. It would be two people being paid to engage in sex, each with another individual who may or may not be getting paid, in front of one or more cameras which may or may not be recording the event.

-I believe the legal difference is that people who act in porn movies or photos are not being paid to have sex, they are being paid for having it filmed and sold.-

And 'it' is...? They must be paid to have sex to make a sex film.

Unless they are community volunteers.

Maybe it was a classic honeytrap.

Quite possibly it was for all I know. In fact I'd be surprised given the size and pocketbooks of the enemies he'd made if it wasn't.

He obviously knew he had dangerous enemies who would go to any lengths to nail him. What happened to Bill Clinton when he decided to redeploy fiscal sanity by raising taxes on the Gilded Class should have taught ALL of us what they do if you ask 'em to give up a nickel.

Which is all the MORE reason it's insane he acted so recklessly. Call me a tough-lover, but when you factor in the political damage he's done to the party, I just don't give a rats nest what happens to him now. I just want him GONE and the sooner the better.

Do words have meaning? Are marriage vows and the Governor's oath of office conditional? Is there any point to legal codes? How about consequences for misdeeds/crimes? Can the leader of a government avoid being a role model?

Should he not be pursued with the same vigor with which, in 2004, he prosecuted 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island?

Speaking only for myself, I should point out that no one here is arguing that under the existing law, Spitzer should NOT be held accountable. His hypocrisy is another matter not for the courts. Words do have meaning and people will expend many words debating what a given word means. Marriage vows are for those who believe in that stuff. I don't. Legal codes like prohibition of alcohol (and hopefully medical marijuana soon), had no point. Again, no one here has argued for Spitzer to not be held accountable. I think Glenn's title may be the problem. The one time it isn't a pretty good thesis statement, everyone sees it and keys in on it.

And of course, anyone who advocates ending the drug war is a doper.

I've had that particular argument used against me so many times that I started telling people ahead of time they were going to say it and they *still* couldn't help themselves.

You beat me to the punch: I can pay someone to fuck me, video tape it, and it's legal, but if the camera is off, it's a crime.

Not to parrot HRH (who has a point), what is the difference between that and other victimless crimes, such as smoking a plant, or a plant extract, or shooting it up, or snorting it?

You'd have to consult the legal expert on entrapment.

I do. His glaring hypocrisy and the field day the GOP is having with it is giving it to the Democratic party a lot harder than he could ever give it to some dimestore internet hooker, and that's just unforgivable.

For all your concern over the victimized women who are driven into prostitution, you haven't suggested any ways in which keeping prostitution illegal will help these women. Remember, prostitution IS illegal in the US and has been for a long time. How does criminalizing these people do anything to solve the problem. It's a much broader issue of class, education and gender inequity that is not going to be solved by simply outlawing the practice.

it's not about hairsplitting the technical legalities of the punishment. It's about the reckless act and hypocrisy the man engaged in which has tragically turned himself into a laughing stock and at the same time embarassed the entire party. Hell only knows what this is going to cost us. Governor Bloomberg probably.

Glenn, if you've never been on the receiving end of clandestine marital infidelity, count your blessings. Whether the sex was paid or unpaid, it's a bitch for a blindsided spouse.

Then your problem is with adultery, not prostitution.

You're close. What I object to is the notion that paid sex is somehow a "no harm, no foul" activity regardless of the customer's living situation.

As I already asserted, in my opinion when an unmarried man (or, more precisely, an uncommitted adult of either gender) pays another adult for sex, that is a matter between two consenting people. They're not screwing anyone but each other. I've made no bones about the fact that I'm not crusading against prostitution--but I don't think that it's necessary to downplay the harm of adultery where reasonable people are involved. Can't we agree that the prostitution angle per se is No Big Deal, while still allowing that this guy probably didn't do right by his wife?

Sure, marriages come in all forms, and thus it's conceivable that the Spitzers had an arrangement entr'eux that permitted one or both partners this type of extramarital entwinement--but that's hardly a statistical likelihood. And even if they've both been swingers from the get-go, they must know that these days, given his public-figure status, either of them being busted for "illicit" sexual activity would bring the house down on both of them. But who knows? Perhaps they both agreed to assume that risk as well.

It may be that Mrs. Spitzer is just fine with all of this. And I personally do not wish to see Mr. Spitzer resign or face prosecution, although the puritanical winds may blow him in that direction. But let's be honest, please, about the fact that sex with a prostitute is an act of betrayal to a spouse who is laboring under the assumption that his or her marriage is a closed loop.