As the scandal over Secret Service agents sleeping with prostitutes continues to unfold, I have a question: Wouldn't it be more scandalous if the women those agents slept with weren't prostitutes?
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House committee that oversees the Secret Service, says the key question is whether the prostitutes gained access to "any data or information that could have compromised the president of the United States or made an enemy force aware of the practices and procedures of the Secret Service."
I can think of several reasons this sort of damage is more likely to be done by ordinary sex partners than by the kind you pay for:
1) That's the way it happens in the movies! When a foreign spy service sets a "honey trap," the bait isn't typically a call girl. The victim is usually under the impression that he's successfully picking up some woman who finds him irresistible. And that makes sense because:
2) If you were setting a honey trap, why would you create some barrier to entry, such as a fee? As the hapless agent who started this scandal illustrates, sometimes a guy doesn't have much cash on hand. And the first rule of patronizing prostitutes (" The Jerry Springer Rule") is: Never pay with a check or a credit card!
