Anti-poker hypocrite

My first thought upon hearing today that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was allegedly involved with a prostitution ring was, "Wasn't he involved in prosecuting online gambling sites?"

A little online investigation confirmed my hazy memory. He was instrumental, e.g., in getting PayPal to stop accepting money transfers to fund online gambling accounts, via threats of prosecution. (See http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6429.)

When caught paying big money for prostitutes, however, he refers to it as "a private matter." (See http://www.gambling911.com/New-York-Governor-Eliot-Spitzer-Prosecution-Ring-031008.html.)

Strangely, I agree with him. I don't think prostitution should be illegal. The goverment, in my view, has no legitimate role in policing who one chooses to have sexual relations with.

But why doesn't he similarly view playing poker from one's bedroom as "a private matter"? Because he's a fucking hypocrite, that's why--and I mean that quite literally. He will presumably think that he should not be prosecuted for renting a hotel room and a hooker, because it's "a private matter," not suitable for prosecutorial interference. At the same time, he wants to reserve the right to bash down your door and throw you in the can for daring to defy the community standards of decency by playing a $5 sit-and-go tournament on Poker Stars to relax before you go to bed. Because that's no "private matter," in his moralizing, self-righteous, politically ambitious, roving eyes. No, you're a threat to the decency of society and must be stopped.

I was going to rant further along these lines, but I see that the entites at Wicked Chops Poker already said about what I had in mind to write, so I'll just quote them (http://wickedchopspoker.blogs.com/my_weblog/2008/03/eliot-spitzer-c.html):

Playing online poker, evil.

Scoring yourself an expensive ho when you're a self-righteous, moral
crusading married father of three, good.

At least that's what New York Governor and thorn-in-the-ass of the
online gambling industry Eliot Spitzer, aka Client 9, was thinking on
February 13 when he contacted Emperors Club VIP to arrange a meeting in a
Washington hotel with a high-priced prostitute named Kristin (or Kristen), who
we hear was "an American, petite, pretty brunette, about 5'5" and 105
pounds."

That about says it all.

It's been said that there's nothing scarier than a law-and-order liberal. Eliot Spitzer proved that in spades (bad pun intended) when he was attorney general of New York, muscling all sorts of legitimate businesses and business practices for his own political aggrandizement. Now that he's governor, he makes the point even more forcefully--though in a way he didn't exactly intend.