As the details of the story become available, it is clear to me why Spitzer would be apologizing to his family – tomorrow’s New York Times reports: “…Mr. Spitzer, identified only as ‘Client 9’, had arranged for a high-priced prostitute to meet him in Washington on the night before Valentine’s Day.” Now that is a real gentleman! I am sure he wanted some additional practice before he was going to surprise his wife with a special move or a new sex position. Read the rest of NYT piece here.
A quick question though: Why is the wife everywhere in the pictures? If I found out that my partner was not just cheating, but paying for sex ($4300 a night, according to NY Sun), I would be understandably upset and not in the public eye – what is she trying to say? “I will stand by my husband even though he’s a creep who pretends to fight injustice and immorality but hires high class hookers on the side?” Or is Silda Wall (yes, that is her name) just your regular politician’s wife who took a special class on how to help their ambitious husbands during the political campaigns? So sad… especially considering that they have three teenage daughters.
But wait, Spitzer technically has not explained or even admitted anything yet, did he? So maybe it will just all blow over, I am sure it is a misunderstanding of some kind…
Perverse Egalitarianism 
Christina and I were just discussing this. There is no way either of us would stand by, especially before newscameras, to show some sort of fictional support for our ficitional asshole husbands. Christina is becoming increasingly curious as to why American Political Wives continue to do this as if it’s some sort of natural activity.
I am sure it is because “politics industry” is becoming so dehumanized – basically human machines running for an office, any office – wives react in a way they would not in real life… As a recent expert in political campaign management, you should know!
The most pathetic, not to mention quasi-homophobic and all around awkward display was when Larry Craig’s wife stood by his side after Larry Craig was caught cruising for sex in a bathroom. Not least, was the display around Haggard when it came out that he too had engaged in activities that, like Craig, he finds oh so offensive.
I don’t know what Mr. and Mrs. Spitzer’s religious beliefs are, but growing up in sort of mainstream American Christianity, I noticed a distinct tendency and pressure to put up an image that everything was just fine, no matter how bumpy it was on the inside – I think it was a way of making the world at large (as opposed to the Christian world) believe that Christianity made your life nice and comfortable and easy to deal with (which a lot of people who are Christians expect, and expect of each other), as well as of course the idea that if you say it enough times, you’ll start to believe it yourself. So that’s to say, I think this kind of pressure to put on a face of being in control, of having things together and in order comes from many different places in society, especially for public figures, because for some reason we do have this expectation that they will be unusually upstanding citizens, despite their being human, and we seem to always be shocked when they aren’t. I think a lot of the world was a bit confused when there was such a big scandal around the Clinton and Lewinsky fiasco, simply because they don’t hold the same expectations about their public figures.
Anyway, I agree that if I was this guy’s wife, I would find it pretty tough to leave the house, much less appear at all these events with him. Maybe she beats him within an inch of his life each night (just below the neck, so the bruises don’t show) 🙂