Holy Spitz - NY Gov to resign

...And he should.

Wow - another politician undone by a sex scandal. You'd think that would-be politicians, especially ones who have made their bones by putting criminals in jail (and thereby making enemies in the process), would know one of the cardinal rules in politics - never take the bait, because you are going to be hyper-scrutinized. I guess soon-to-be-former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer never got that memo, or that lesson.

Spitzer shocked New York citizens, as well as the political world around the country, by copping to the use of prostitutes on over half a dozen occasions. It's a press conference we've seen all too often in the last 15 years - a disgraced male politician, with his wife standing by his side, no doubt humiliated on the inside, but putting on a brave face for the cameras.

Spitzer's tale is an amazing one, and not in a good way. (You can always count on the NY tabloid dailies to supply amusing headlines, and since it's a Democrat, of course the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post isn't going to miss an opportunity (left).

According to HuffPo, Spitzer will announce he will step down within the next day or so. Even if he doesn't want to, he probably doesn't have a choice - NY GOP legislators are threatening impeachment, a battle Spitzer would be sure to lose.

Two things bear watching from this scandal - 1. who will run for governor to replace Spitzer (my money is on America's Profiteer, Rudy 9iu1ian1), and 2. how New York and national Repubes will spin this about how Democrats are immoral and not with family values. Of course, going all the way back to the circus impeachment of President Clinton, Repubes don't even come close to representing the so-called "family values" they claim to uphold, but since most of the voting public has a memory span of about 15 minutes, it may not matter.

I don't believe this scandal with have much of an effect on the presidential election, though; New York is solid ground for the Democratic nominee, no matter if it's Hillary or Obama.

Anyway, it appears it's not the actual use of prostitutes that sparked the investigation of Spitzer, but how they were paid for. From The New York Times:

After a report that Gov. Eliot Spitzer had patronized a prostitution ring, officials in Albany greeted the news with shock, and some on Wall Street, a frequent target of his investigations as attorney general, were unsympathetic.

Mr. Spitzer received counsel from his advisers late Monday at his Fifth Avenue apartment, and had not emerged as of early Tuesday morning. A top administration official said Tuesday morning that no announcement had been scheduled. ...

Mr. Spitzer's family and his top assistants debated Monday morning at Mr. Spitzer's apartment about whether he should step down, a person who spoke to the governor said. Silda Wall Spitzer, who was among them, told her husband that he should not resign in haste; as did Lloyd Constantine, a senior adviser and a longtime friend of the governor. But most of his others saw no way for him to survive.

Seems pretty cut and dry - Spitzer is toast, and he deserves to be.

What's worse, the guy has three teenage daughters. I can't imagine the humiliation that they must be going through. Here is the text of his brief press conference yesterday:

Good afternoon.

For the past nine years, eight years as attorney general, and one as governor, I have tried to uphold a vision of progressive politics that would rebuild New York and create opportunity for all. We sought to bring real change to New York and that will continue.

Today I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and violates my, or any, sense of right and wrong. I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public, whom I promised better.

I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas, the public good, and doing what is best for the state of New York. But I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.

I will not be taking questions. Thank you very much. I will report back to you in short order. Thank you very much.

I love how when politicians announce misdeeds, they never come out and say what they did. Probably because they don't want that footage replayed, over and over, on the likes of Fox News and CNN.

Maybe Spitzer and former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevy can start up their own company - Govs Aren't Us.

Sheesh - here's hoping that Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell hasn't had his hands where they shouldn't be, or we'll have a tri-state trifecta of gubernatorial idiocy.

More on Rendell later today...