I wonder if "The Insider" will take the same glee in their host Pat O’Brien checking into rehab (again) that they enjoy when Kirsten Dunst, Eva Mendes, Lindsay Lohan, or any other Hollywood star does the same thing. I don’t like to see people suffer, but I have to admit I feel a certain poetic justice when evangelists (like Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart etc.) political commentators (like Rush Limbaugh), politicians (like Larry Craig, Tom DeLay, etc.), and tabloid reporters (like O’Brien) are caught doing exactly the same things they rail against….adultery, drug abuse, tax evasion, corruption, gay sex, etc.
Yeah, it makes you wonder. Newt Gingrich confessed that he was having an affair with a married woman when the GOP was investigating the Monica thing. And was the Monica thing really worth all the attention it received? Or was it just a vehicle used by the parties involved for their own purposes rather than for the professed purpose of upholding the credibility of political offices? Does the tabloid media have a legitimate duty to report gossip to the public? Or is it exploiting some sick, dark hunger within the Public Sensibility? Could any person stand up to such intense scrutiny or escape public censure for everything about their personality and their past?
Anyway, I never read the tabloids or watch any tabloid TV. I’d rather judge actors and other talent by a first hand look at the work they do rather than a second hand look at a tabloid writer’s opinion or the gossip of a third party.