Character and characters

Good riddance to bad rubbish:

Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York state embroiled in a scandal of his use of prostitutes over many years, was poised to hand in his resignation as the political, media and public pressure for him to stand down became irresistible.

With new details emerging almost by the hour about the extent of his involvement with prostitution, it became increasingly clear that his resignation was only a matter of time.

A lot of the buzz around this case has been about Spitzer's wife. Why do wives in these high-profile cases not only stand by their men but literally stand by them in abject public humiliation while he gives out the standard "I got caught but now I'll be a better man" nonsense. I think it's at least as interesting a question to wonder why those men put their wives through it. Wouldn't a caring person say, "Honey, I know I have caused you great public embarrassment -- why don't you lay low for a few days while I deal with this"? But of course they aren't caring people, are they? What they put their spouses through after getting caught says as much about their characters as what they did in the first place.