Spitzer's Fall Shocks Biographer

Experts wonder why smart guys do really stupid things

(NEWSER) - Eliot Spitzer's reported involvement with a pricey call-girl ring has left, well, everyone scratching their heads, the AP reports. What makes a public figure show such jaw-dropping disregard for the consequences of private actions? One analyst calls it "the psychology of the exception. People in power sometimes feel they can do things that us, mere mortals, are forbidden to do. There's a sense, as with adolescents, that 'I won't get caught.'" More»

'The remorse I feel will always be with me,' New York governor says

(NEWSER) - Eliot Spitzer, with his wife again at his side, announced his resignation in a short press conference this morning. The New York governor apologized for his "private" misconduct, again without making direct reference to the prostitution scandal that has ended his political career. "I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me," he said. “I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people’s work.” More»

Shrink says it's time women balked at helping with cleanup

(NEWSER) - Silda Wall Spitzer, the Harvard-educated lawyer who stood grimly alongside her husband during his somewhat perplexing apology yesterday, joins the ranks of political wives who suffer publicly the sex scandals of their disgraced mates, ABC writes. She follows in the footsteps of Larry Craig's wife, Suzanne; Jim McGreevey's then-wife, Dana: and, of course, Hillary Clinton, an exception in that she didn't share the podium with Bill at his nadir. More»

(NEWSER) - In a brief press conference, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer this afternoon apologized to his family and to the public, "whom I've promised better" for failing "to live up to the standards I set for myself." The former attorney general is reportedly identified as Client 9 in a federal wiretap investigation that brought down a high-end prostitution ring called the Emperors Club VIP last week. More»

David Paterson will resign after New York Times exposé: source

(NEWSER) - Less than 2 years after extramarital indiscretions cost Eliot Spitzer the job, a sex scandal is about to chase his successor as New York governor out of office. Media circles have been abuzz with reports that the New York Times is working on an exposé involving Paterson's personal life and the hammer is about to come down, a source tells Business Insider . More»