As Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama can attest, to be a political spouse is to be a subject of great scrutiny - even when there’s no scandal involved.

So when Silda Spitzer silently stood beside her husband in abject misery the other day, she spurred remarkable amounts of online and TV debate.

From Hillary Rodham Clinton to Dina Matos McGreevey to Suzanne Craig, a long line of wronged spouses have done the same. But why?

Silda Spitzer was obviously in the worst kind of pain after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was snared in a federal probe of a prostitution ring.

Proving himself both hypocritical and morally bankrupt, he broke the law by paying for trysts with a call girl named Kristen. Why stand there and take it, Silda?

Amy Ephron of the Huffington Post says just wants “one of them - Hillary, Silda - to stand on the steps of the White House, the governor’s mansion, and stamp their foot and say, “And another thing, I’m keeping the house.’”

Donna Webster, a product development executive in Boston, wished he had faced the music alone, but empathized with Silda Spitzer’s choice, which she assumed was for the sake of their three teenage daughters.

UNDER A MICROSCOPE: Silda Spitzer arrives at the news conference where her husband, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, admitted his personal indiscretion.

“I’ve been thinking about this constantly. I cringed when I saw her next to him,” Webster said. “I think he should have taken it like a man - without her.”

“[Silda Spitzer] was in crisis mode. She was like a mother bear protecting her cubs. When crisis hits, you do what you think you need to for your family. Later, you can step back and think about protecting yourself.”

UPDATE: Eliot Spitzer has announced that he will resign as Governor of New York State, effective Monday. Spitzer said that he will step down from the state’s top office and promised to “atone for my private failings” with family members.

Aides to Spitzer and Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who will become the Empire State’s first African-American governor, have begun planning a transition.

His political demise was inevitable, but whether Spitzer will face criminal charges is uncertain. Spitzer’s lawyers are in discussions with the U.S. attorney’s office in New York, trying to negotiate a plea deal, according to various news sources.