Silda Wall Spitzer is not the first, and will by no means be the last, political wife to stand by her embattled husband – soon to be former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer announced his resignation Wednesday morning after it became public that he was involved with an international hooker ring – perhaps for the last decade.

Imagine the horror of standing next to the person who shamed you and your family and looking at them with endearing love as they apologize to their constituents for straying from the marriage (or dating) bed. The whole thing is unseemly and it would not be a big deal if it did not happen over and over and over again.

The most famous example is Hillary Clinton who went out defending her husband after news broke on the Drudge Report that he was involved with a White House intern. Former President Bill Clinton took to a podium and pounded his fist and pointing at the camera to deny the charges and the next day his wife and surrogates took to the airwaves to stand by Clinton.

Then the truth came out and the nation was thrust into the first impeachment of an elected President in the history of our nation.

Other political wives stood next to their husbands when they were caught up in sex scandals. Think back to the bathroom arrest of Idaho Senator Larry Craig when he denied charges of soliciting sex from an airport cop in a Minneapolis International Airport bathroom. Sure as anything there his wife stood looking on in shame as her husband defended himself, after pleading guilty to misconduct, declaring that he was not being gay and did not do anything wrong.

I have been cheated on and it was a devastating experience that sticks with me to this day, but I cannot imagine having to go through what I went through in the glare of the public eye. I find the level of privacy that is invaded in simply being a talk show host and therefore a public figure bad enough, but the scrutiny of a bad marriage on top of that - not me! And to have to stand next to a philandering ex would be far too much to deal with and one has to ask what is wrong with these political wives?

What brings political wives to the podium when their husbands find themselves in trouble with the law or caught in the midst of marital infidelity?

Perhaps it is the perks that come with being a political spouse since many of them are treated almost as good, if not better, than their husbands. In the case of the former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, outside of the health care debacle that brought her public scorn, she was able to travel the world and end up with a U.S. Senate seat in a state she was a mere visitor and is now fighting for the Democratic nomination for the White House.

The other issue could be one of force. Maybe not the physical force that comes in domestic abuse, but I find it hard to believe that so many of these women are not privy to the private lives of their husbands. There is something to be said about women’s intuition that nobody in the public should believe does not apply to the wives of political figures. Maybe they know and simply do not care what their husbands are up to because they become used to the good life as the spouse of a political figure.

Whether the wife is someone like that of former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, who resigned in disgrace after his homeland security advisor (a person uniquely unqualified for the position) turned out to be the former governor’s gay lover or Hillary Clinton who knew of her husbands infidelities and was in charge of helping cover them up – the wives of politicians are willing to stand by their men no matter the case.

I find that simply amazing.

Granted, I am not a psychologist and have no desire to attempt to psychoanalyze any of these women (I've been on that couch and there is nothing I gleaned from it that qualifies me to analyze them), but there is something odd about women who are willing to throw away their dignity and publicly support the men that scorn them.

My experience with infidelity was one of personal turmoil and the last thing I wanted to do was talk about it. I certainly did not want to hear from the person who hurt me, but these women are trotted out as political props for disgraced politicians and look upon them, sometimes ashamedly, but sometimes with adornment and love.

There must be something that can be gleaned about their public appearances by someone in the psych world who can teach us all about what it means to stand next to a person who willfully destroys a partnership in the most public of ways. Surely if these political spouses have some gene or type of personality that makes them more amiable to public humiliation many of us would like to have a bit of it injected, but there are too many from too many walks of life for there to be anything there except force in helping the person they love make it through a very tough time.

From looking at these people on television, none of them are comfortable in their role as political prop and none of them appear outwardly stupid. Their body language and eye movements look disgusted at the people they stand next to and whether they are separated by a dog (as was Hillary Clinton when she and Bill Clinton left the White House for the first time) or a simple podium – it makes no difference if they were forced to stand next to their spouses or not – they consistently do.

They seem ashamed and humiliated and the fact that their spouses put them through it is sick.

Politicians and public figures lead lives that are tough and the scrutiny that they (we) undergo on a daily basis is something that you are not always aware of going in, but once you know that the scrutiny is there you lay your cards on the table and hope that you do the right thing. We've all made mistakes and Lord knows I've wronged people in my life, but you learn from it and the thought of taking the person I love on the walk of shame with me (should there ever be one) is something I cannot fathom.

To think that I would read one day that my significant other was paying for sex or having an affair with interns would be something that I could not ignore and would never stand next to as even a tacit observer. I would hold my head up with some dignity and let him carry the burden of his sin, but that is from a guy who went through a messy break up that hinged on infidelity, but surely even a guy like me learns and if I only had women's intuition things may have been different.

Let’s just hope that Spitzer’s prenuptial agreement left him open to a huge settlement to be paid to his wife who is standing next to him in public, but if she is anything like a normal man or woman is sleeping alone and wondering where to get her next home.

The Lincoln Bedroom at the White House is where Hillary Clinton took refuge – not even the 5th Avenue apartment of Eliot Spitzer is enough to separate the former Empire State first lady from the man who ruined their marriage with $80k in prostitutes over eight to ten years.

Steve Yuhas is a radio talk show host on AM 600 KOGO in southern California and may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com

On Wednesday’s edition of the O’Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel Bill O’Reilly made an observation about the Academy Awards, more affectionately known as the Oscars, saying, “nobody cares.”  I’m all for O’Reilly coming to our fair city, but come on – nobody cares about the Academy Awards?  Have you tried to book a hotel, car or restaurant on the days leading up to the ceremony on Sunday evening?  People do care – they may not like all of the movies, but Hollywood is hardly poised to fold.

So what is it about Hollywood that O’Reilly is willing to pretend that nobody cares about the biggest night in Hollywood?  He put forward the argument that nobody cares about Hollywood anymore and people (presuming he means the ‘folks’ that he so often references) feel disassociated with movies and entertainment.  He even said, “It’s over out here.”

Nothing could be further from the truth and for a guy who had to book the Four Seasons in April and for those less fortunate who are now on a waiting list for rooms within 20 miles of the theater – I’m hard pressed to find anyone who would agree with O’Reilly on the downfall of Hollywood.

One thing is certain, though, and that is too many people in politics and in the media (including my fellow conservative commentators and talk show hosts) attempt to paint Hollywood as a bad guy because movies are made that do not meet with one side or the others social or political agenda.  It may be true that some movies are not exactly the wave the flag dramas that we saw after or during the war years, but Hollywood is no less patriotic than any other city in America – it is just Hollywood has a lens pointed to it every single day of the year where a place like Madison, Wisconsin or Houston do not.

The problem with O’Reilly’s analysis is not only that Hollywood is far from dead – it did have a tumultuous few months with the writer’s strike, but dead – is that the evidence he uses is how many millions of dollars a film grosses and whether or not George Clooney made movies that he liked.  According to the intrepid analyst for Fox News Clooney made “anti-American” movies over and over again – same movie; same message: America is bad.

Kind of harsh and completely untrue; not because Hollywood has done a lot of good in not only making movies that are worth seeing, but also because over the years I have been lucky in life and have been able to get to know people who work in the industry and no matter where I go or who I talk to – people in Hollywood (and the general area) all want greatness for the country.

Let’s be clear – I disagree with much of the political positions taken by a lot of the people in Hollywood, but the paradox is that I can disassociate the Hollywood full of entertainers and hard working people behind the scenes with the Hollywood activists who try to bring their political issue to the forefront by using their well-known brand.  It sounds almost “insider” and ostentatious, but it is true: people in Hollywood may be “misguided” as it relates to my political world view, but for them it works and like it or not they are involved in the American culture.

A culture, by the way, that is not distinct to Hollywood, but is shared with liberal places around the country, but focused on Hollywood because of the glitz, glamour and shows devoted to watching the famous arrive and depart from red carpets and the mediocre trip to a restaurant or store.

The other day I was at Jose Eber in Beverly Hills and I overheard one of the most interesting things.  When a person is getting a manicure the ears wander and you can be taken in any direction – this day I was taken to the chair behind Rosa and the conversation was about politics.  The stylist asked her client (a client most of you would recognize), “Do you want Clinton or Obama to win?”  Client’s answer, “Neither, I’m supporting McCain.”

Huh?  I wasn’t the only Republican – and not in the closet either – in the salon?  It was like I saw a straight guy doing hair or something from another planet.  This client is Hollywood to the 9th degree – don’t get more Hollywood and he openly gave his opinion of the race for the White House not by hiding behind the salon’s namesake either – he was out and out saying, proudly, that he was voting for McCain.  Hollywood may be a place where people make controversial films about controversial topics (some may very well have the feel of an anti-American movie), but when it comes to politics there is nothing about Hollywood that makes it any different than any other city in America – except you can recognize everyone… even in the comfort zone of a salon.

People like Bill O’Reilly are smart and I’m sure he didn’t mean to say that Hollywood was an irrelevant entity simply because he disliked a few movies this year.  Moreover, it was probably not his intention to say that people are walking away from movies (they’re not) because they no longer relate to the American people.  If that were the case studios and production companies would be folding up shop and that is not happening.

What is happening is that people are being given a choice in what to watch.  Want a kids movie? Sure, Disney will make one.  Want something that makes you think about America’s foreign policy?  Clooney will make one.  And if you want a romantic comedy or something with a bit of action, thrill or horror – that can be had as well – so what is changing in Hollywood that makes many in the GOP (my party) and many in the press believe (or wish) that Hollywood was going away?

Simple: it is an applause line.  It is very easy when you need a sip of water or need to turn the page on the stump to say “I don’t want Hollywood culture; I want American culture.”  Emphasize the American part for a few sips – it assures more and longer applause.  Hollywood does not want you to adopt the values of a film; Hollywood would rather raise questions about issues and entertain.  Movies are a business, after all, and it can only sustain people ‘walking away’ for so long before it gets back on track and people are not walking.

As to the Oscars: people may not be as excited about them this year as they were in years gone by, but that is a result of many things – not the least of which is choice.  To compare the Academy Awards ratings of today against those of even a decade ago is to ignore the advent of new technologies and mediums to be entertained.  Cable allows you to keep up with the Jones’ while the Internet allows you to know who won what with a ticket across the bottom of the computer screen.

Hollywood is not evil, the people working in television and film are not evil and nobody wants any harm to come to our nation – least of all those people who work in film (I think their work after 9-11 proves their patriotism regardless of the movies they make).  They rally around the flag like anyone else, but they are also provocateurs when it comes to things happening in the country.  Some are nutty, but the loons are booed off the stage (Michael Moore).

Counting Hollywood out today is just the wrong way to look at the multi-billion dollar industry that it is.  There is an easy way to test whether or not the Oscars excite people in the industry: try to book a room, reservation at a good restaurant or a car on Sunday.  You won’t be able to get it and that, more than anything else, is proof positive that Hollywood is not only relevant, but cares – whether or not O’Reilly or anyone else does.

The funny thing is that with all the talk about the irrelevance of Hollywood there are sure a lot of politicians and pundits who spend time talking about it.

Steve Yuhas is a radio talk show host on AM 600 KOGO in southern California. He may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com