The Art of the Media Takedown
by shep
Considering the people he went after, Elliot Spitzer painted one giant target on his back. The uber-rich never forgive or forget; they get even. Once you’ve sold your soul, “the game” is all that’s left. So I can’t speak much for the wisdom the Governor showed getting caught with his pants down because there was no there there (wisdom, I mean, I have no knowledge of what’s in Spitzer’s pants).
But, (listen up, Blitzer) having sex with a prostitute isn’t:
1) “being involved in a prostitution ring”
2) any of the public’s business, just because he’s a public official
or
3) unethical.
He had sex and he paid for it. Sad but, considering our puritanical, repressed and otherwise backward attitudes toward the perfectly normal and healthy (and quite fun I might add) act of having sex with another person (I do have some standards), it is totally understandable. And, unlike many gasbags in the media and on the political right, he was never self-righteous and hypocritical about sex.
On the other hand, what the whores in the media sell and what they sell it for is a completely different and a completely shameful matter.
Apparently there are more people glad he got taken down than there are (so far) who wonder how a name gets leaked -- with apparent impunity -- out of a Federal investigation.
And another thing: the investigation got the go ahead, last summer, at the highest levels of the Justice Department. Given what we already know about the Governor of Alabama and various fired US Attorneys, wouldn't you love to know what Alberto Gonzalez and Karl Rove had to do with this?
I'd like to know who wrote the gratuitous and inaccurate Times lead. You know, the "involved in prostitution ring," mislead. Sounds pretty nefarious compared to "caught meeting prostitute." Ever heard that described in such a way before?
Anyway, mission accomplished, he's toast.