Thoughts that seep from the Spitzer family photos

Anyone who's gone through a family death or divorce has, later, come upon some old photos that strike an entirely different emotional chord in the aftermath than they did in the split-second captured on paper. Knowing about ensuing events makes you think of other things, like the inevitable passing of time, maybe lost innocence, things regrettably said or not said.

That's the pathos we felt going slowly through this website's new photo gallery on the Eliot Spitzer mess. We never met Spitzer or his wife. He was to us just another distant political character who knew very well how to play the New York media's blind needs and drives.

All the caveats are, of course, true. Nobody made Spitzer seek public office. Nobody made him seek and get such publicity and delight in skewering wrongdoers for his own political gain. And nobody forced him to wander off the path of marital fidelity and allegedly violate federal laws.

Frankly, what struck us in this site's photo gallery was not the main character with that striking jaw, who was forced to resign as New York's governor Wednesday. What struck us was the face of his wife, Silda, who seems to age dramatically from the happiness in the early photo of election night to the forced straight face of photo No. 1 at The End.

No offense to the web editors, but we suggest you view them in reverse order, starting with No. 8, the one that hit us the most with the father we know so much more about today and their three innocent daughters, who didn't have a clue when the photo was taken at that party and now must know more than they ever wanted.

Makes you think a little, even during a torrid presidential campaign that continues. What those photos make you think about is up to you. But if you care to share some of those thoughts or roam through those of others, the Comments section is open below.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Pam Jooste]

Your article is 100% correct in that his wife has aged dramatically. Obviously as a woman i really feel for her she stood by him all the way and even now (i dont think i could honestly) She was a magnificantly well groomed lady and now looks older than him. Gosh what an eye opener i just cant seem to imagine what she and their 3 beautiful daughters are going through. Can such a marriage survive ? I very strongly doubt it. I feel for them (not him at all) but for his lovely wife and daughters.

[Kate]

Silda Wall seems like a dignified, elegant woman. I don't think the pictures show that she's "aged" - instead, she looks drawn and tired as any woman would if they had to endure such heartache and in such a public way.

[I told you so]

What was it that gave her the hots for this poor excuse
for a genitor ?

[Grant Williams]

Maybe this incident will induce the ex-Governor to rethink his position on the legal prohibition of victimless crimes. Not just prositution, but drugs, gambling, "insider" trading, "intent to monopolize", the any of the other myriad of ways people fail to prove to a government which presumes they're guilty that they're actually innocent.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he lost his job, but I certainly hope he stays out of jail. Perhaps, finding himself in exactly the same position, and as part of his defense, he can call for the pardons off all of the people who he's has robbed or their liberty over the course of his career.

Eliot Spitzer is a victim of his own statist agenda - gleaned perfectly, like an expert populist, from both the sentiments of both the Left and the Right. Yes, Spitzer should be facing legal trouble - but if he does, it shouldn't be for visiting a prostitute, but for repeatedly and routinely violation the Constitution of the United States.

[SimpleRep]

In as much as polliticians in general are considered "insincere" and "chronic manipulators", I can't help but feel for them when they are brought back down to earth. Sure, we make fun of Clinton, Villagairosa, Hart and now Spitzer. When I viewed Spitzer's photo gallery, as a man, I was very humbled. For some reason, particularly politicians or any man with power and money, seem to have accepted that infidelity as an initiation to an invisible code of entry to power and might.

They seek pleasure of the challenge of an affair they only can hide, only to ruin a family-unit that took decades to build. This is a hard lesson for any man to learn. The problem is, I would not be surprised if Spitzer does it again !

If only pictures of a man's loved ones were enough conviction to prompt politicians to think with the correct head.

Should any of his beautiful daughters develop promiscuous habits, what's daddy gonna do? Give them a lecture? The real tragedy for any father is when you have lost your credibility with your own family. There is no pain more hurtful than that. All the power and money in the world CANNOT buy it back.

God speed Mr. Spitzer, it is all you have left.

[wallace]

Irony: The Governor hires a high-priced prostitute but his family members are the ones that get screwed.

The good news for Spitzer: CNN will hire him as a political analyst any moment now...

[Gaily]

Each time a politician is caught with his drawers down, the public is treated to the bizarre spectacle of the wronged wife, standing by her man as he issues an apology. As a woman, I am utterly baffled by this display. I can understand the wives are reeling emotionally, and may or may not know whether their marriages will continue or not. But I don't understand why the wives feel they must stand next to their husbands. Why didn't Mrs. Spitzer...Mrs. Hart, et al, just say, "You're on your own, chum." Besides, I don't think the men look more sympathetic with their humiliated wives standing by. Any theories for this????

(The pain you know is less scary than the unknown if you change?)

[didi]

Like Humpty Dumpty, when an egg accidentally falls and hits the concrete, you've got a mess. You could clean it up with a broom, mop the soil it left on the ground, but all the king's horses and all the king's men could never put the egg back together again.

My heart goes out to Mrs. Spitzer and her beautiful daughters. It is difficult enough when marital affairs or scandals are exposed to a small circle of confidants, but when it is revealed to the entire nation and the world? I would not want to trade places with Mrs. Spitzer nor her beloved children. I hope the psychologica ramifications and trauma of this whole ordeal be minimum for them all, and that includes Eliot.

You almost have to ask why politicians have photos of their wives and children on their desks. To remind them of what? Of how much one could get away with? Shame, shame, shame...

[Yu]

Totally agree with Grant Williams' thought. These victimless crime laws really need to change. Not only could they never stop or even reduce what they are expected too, they create dishonesty and waste of law enforcement resources. 90% of inmates in federal prisons are drug related offenders!!!

We actually need someone like Elliot Spitzer who was such a good and passionate fighter against powerful Wall Street which causes the country and little people so much to accumulate personal wealth. Spitzer paid for sex from his own pocket. I solute to it. What failed him is the law. I believe that Americans and particularly politicians should rethink these laws if they can be honest to the country and to themselves.

[Marian Lee]

It's late in the day to add to this weblog but why are there no coments on the fact that this man was betraying his family and his constituents evaluation of him for a good long time-? Suddenly we and this woman have to stand and hear him say how terrible it was that he did this awful thing that needs atoning for and resignation. Can we honestly believe that if he hadn't been Caught with a capital c he was planning to Stop being so disgusting? He was showing such poor judgement and recklessness that he was planning on continuing forever. Doesn't the wife get that? How many of us who love NY will wise up and not let the spin blind us to the facts ? Even if we can't bring ourselves to start speaking out at least we will have the truth to mull over.

[Alice]

I haven't actually decided yet how I feel about Eliot Spitzer or his wife. Some reports say he has always been a mean mean man who enjoyed making the subjects of his prosecution suffer. He apparently enjoyed the rush he got from a sense of power. On the other hand, I see those Wall Street brokers cheering his demise and think the public has lost someone who did champion their rights.

Is his wife an opportunist who put up with this for a long time in the interests of retaining access to the family fortune? Or was she an innocent victim who is staying true to the man she married because she believes in the commitment she made? Despite the insane level of press coverage this got over the last days, the fact is we know almost nothing about what was going on here.

What sickens me is that the prostitute in this case will go on to benefit from this mess---not because she was an abused young woman who now wants to turn this disaster into a positive force for change in her life----but because she wants celebrity at any cost. The type of notoriety she gets doesn't seem to matter to this young woman; money is her bottom line. Not too surprising I guess.....