I do not think that prostitution should be illegal, but it is, and Governor Spitzer broke the law. Whether or not he should resign is up to New York voters. Were he my Governor, and this his only infraction, I'd say no.

It's a real shame, because we expect Democrats to obey the law, unlike Republicans.

Speaking of which, George Bush and Dick Cheney routinely violate the law. As long as they're still in office, Spitzer should stay in, too.

What the **** are these creeps doing wiretapping him in the first place? They didn't have a warrant to do so.

THAT is the real issue.

Oh yeah, I forgot - we don't have any rights to privacy anymore, or habeas corpus.

Anyhow, thanks for the well written article.

greypaladin wrote: "A rather ironic comment, to claim that a justification for prosecuting prostitution is because it's a front for organized crime. Of course, if it were LEGALIZED then there wouldn't be the risk/reward profit structure that invites organized crime."

If this is in response to my comment, then the real irony is that you've reworded my argument so much that you're responding to something I didn't say.

If it were legalized, then organized crime wouldn't be involved -- or at least, no more involved than they are in other legal businesses. But it currently isn't legalized. While it's admirable to and worthwhile to consider how the world should work, it's generally a pretty good idea -- especially for someone in a major leadership roles, like a state governor -- to also pay attention to how the world does work.

It's a joke that Vitter remains in office to this day, it will be a joke if Spitzer is in office at the end of the day.

And yes, Glenn, since Mark Foley might have led to a Democratic House (and I'm lumping sex offenses together), I do think these crimes get some attention when they're on the Right side, too.

I don't remotely care he hired a prostitute. I think he overpaid and went to far too much trouble. But, if he's going to be on the warpath against that industry in one press conference and then crying with his wife in another, I'm sorry, but he's gotta go.

Considering they weren't even giving Client #9 credit, who knows who else this agency serviced. So, there might be more names down the pike.

He's the former attorney general, he ran on ethics and law and order, and he's alleged to have finagled a variety of sketchy wire transfers so he could pay hookers with untraceable cash. No, Glenn, that does not qualify to remain Governor.

And, I'm absolutely a left-winger...if he was a Republican I'd be much fiercer in my outrage...but I'm not a total hypocrite.

for being dumb enough to do something like this in the first place. The reason the MSM latches onto it is because it's always the politicians who are most sanctimonious or willing to throw dirt at others who are always the dirtiest. Bob Barr, Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer.

All 3 have either:

A.) Been sanctimonious to the point of nauseum. (Bob Barr, Elliot Spitzer.)

or

B.) Excelled in throwing dirt at their opponents and using dirty politics to win. (Bill Clinton.)

Hence when they get it thrown back at them that's called karma. However they're all smart enough to prey on the American people's odd habit of feeling sorry for anyone caught in anything. Even if it is their own doing.

Elsewhere in the rest of the civilized world this revelation would have been greeted with a rousing chorus of "attaboy." I know it would have been to our southern border as I was in Mexico when Monicagate broke, early Monicagate that is.

It's such a comfort to know that even as we enjoy our evening meal state and/or federal agents are zeroing in other adult acts of passion, entered into consensually, of a remunerative or contractural nature. How awful life must be in much of the rest of the world where nation states have given up any attempt to monitor the morality of their citizens.

Thank God for America. Thank God for law and order. Thank God for the Republicans.

I know I feel safer.

I'm personally outraged that there aren't daily mass demonstrations against the US war on Iraq-a clearly criminal adventure that has killed thousands of US troops, hundred of thousands of Iraqi civilians and is creating an economic holocaust here that will change this nation forever. Whether Eliot Spitzer survives this affair politically is of no concern of mine, but the fact that the media and public are all in a state of stupor becaue of a private and basically victimless activity while the Bush/Cheney criminal gang is continuing their criminal and horrendous war while the public and media barely pay attention, is what we all should care and be outraged about.

The notion that if Spitzer has betrayed the trust of his wife then he must necessarily be untrustworthy in every aspect of his life is to move from the specific to the general without giving pause.

If someone is untrustworthy then they are untrustworthy.

Why split hairs?

I do wholeheartedly share the suspicions of Digby and Glenn about the involvement of the Bush DoJ in this case. After Siegelman, and the partisan purging, and Sarah Taylor and the perversion of the civil rights division, the Bush DoJ has a presumption of malfeasance on my part.

They've railroaded one governor into prison, they would do it again.

I'm not saying this would make Spitzer less culpable, but only that of course they're not targeting Republican governors for this kind of behaviour.

The irony is this kind of partisanship is ultimately counterproductive. By ignoring all the flaws of Republicans in office and aggressively prosecuting Democrats, the end result is that the Democrats are much much cleaner than Republicans and we get 2006 blowouts. If the Republicans want to let all their crooked state level politicians graduate to the national scene unobstructed, it only helps Democrats make the case for being the obviously less corrupt party.