There’s a number of people in the sphere saying if the sex is the extent of the crime, that Spitzer shouldn’t resign. However that may be, it’s not just the sex. Apparently the feds were looking at many, many investments of less than $10,000 ea, put into dummy corporations. This is something known as ‘structuring’ and something that Spitzer himself prosecuted others for.
I gather it’s possible that this was a payment method for the call girls (as for example in this story [1]) but that’s not confirmed yet. If that’s the case, he has a serious sexual addiction, that much is certain. Given the number of transactions involved, I think it safe to consider the idea that there was far more involved here than simple payments for sex.
Now, of course Spitzer has his defenders…. [2] but I think we can take this with a grain of salt, given if it’s a Democrat, that crowd will defend them. If this involved, say, Dick Cheney, (Yeah, fat chance) would Kos be defending him? (Again, yeah, fat chance)
Addendum: (David L)
Eliot Spitzer has his defenders, the likes of Glenn Greenwald. Ace, Ace of Spades Hq [3], is clearly enjoying himself as rips into Greenwald.:
Could it be that Glenn Greenwald is just making shit up as usual? Casting himself as the sane voice of reason in a world gone mad?
Yes Spitzer has his defenders, but he also retains all his old enemies. like, via Michelle Malkin [4], the Wall Street Journal [5]:
One might call it Shakespearian if there were a shred of nobleness in the story of Eliot Spitzer’s fall. There is none. Governor Spitzer, who made his career by specializing in not just the prosecution, but the ruin, of other men, is himself almost certainly ruined.
And his new enemies via Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review [6], like the New York Times: [7]
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer could not have been more wrong in his brief public appearance after the world learned that he was suspected of patronizing a prostitution ring. He did not just betray his family in a private matter. He betrayed the public, and it is hard to see how he will recover from this mess and go on to lead the reformist agenda on which he was elected to office.
Spitzer’s defenders are too few. He old and new enemies too numerous and too powerful.