The pageant of the bizarre
Sarada Peri
Issue date: 2/21/07 Section: Op-Ed
The Bush Administration is on the verge of a meltdown precipitated by, among other things, the trial of Dick Cheney's former top aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Increasingly shady journalist Judith Miller testified that Libby revealed to her the name of Valerie Plame two weeks before he admits having ever learned her identity. Libby denies her claim.
Plame says he spoke of some "clandestine guy" going to Niger. Libby's lawyers are questioning her memory, the quality of the ink in her pen, her margin-heavy note taking. Karl Rove says it was Mrs. Peacock in the dining room with the candlestick. Except that Bob Novak says it was Karl Rove in the conservatory with the lead pipe.
Isn't this more exciting than the sad but relatively unimportant death of a fame-seeking blip on the cultural radar screen?
A quick glance at CNN.com in the days following Anna Nicole Smith's death reveals an unwavering devotion to covering her tragic death in all its tedious detail. But what about the U.S. gearing up to go to war with Iran? What kind of Iraq resolution will Congress pass? What about the increasing violence in New Orleans?
And how about that climate change problem?
You got me. Maybe the only reason we haven't yet bombed Iran is that Anna Nicole's come hither photos and compelling personal narrative (she was a brunette who went blonde) were too distracting for the powers-that-be to focus on the business at hand.
It's a critique as old as the guy she married - the media doesn't report the real news. This is problematic under normal circumstances. At a time when the world is seemingly going to hell, it's borderline criminal.
And yet lately the Libby trial has become almost as media saturated as Anna Nicole. The more of a circus it becomes, the more names that are implicated, the more like a bad O.C. episode it resembles, the more air-time it will get. And hearkening back to the 1970s wisdom of Woodward and Bernstein, the key to thoroughly investigating government activity is to keep the scandal on the front page for as long as possible.
Plame says he spoke of some "clandestine guy" going to Niger. Libby's lawyers are questioning her memory, the quality of the ink in her pen, her margin-heavy note taking. Karl Rove says it was Mrs. Peacock in the dining room with the candlestick. Except that Bob Novak says it was Karl Rove in the conservatory with the lead pipe.
Isn't this more exciting than the sad but relatively unimportant death of a fame-seeking blip on the cultural radar screen?
A quick glance at CNN.com in the days following Anna Nicole Smith's death reveals an unwavering devotion to covering her tragic death in all its tedious detail. But what about the U.S. gearing up to go to war with Iran? What kind of Iraq resolution will Congress pass? What about the increasing violence in New Orleans?
And how about that climate change problem?
You got me. Maybe the only reason we haven't yet bombed Iran is that Anna Nicole's come hither photos and compelling personal narrative (she was a brunette who went blonde) were too distracting for the powers-that-be to focus on the business at hand.
It's a critique as old as the guy she married - the media doesn't report the real news. This is problematic under normal circumstances. At a time when the world is seemingly going to hell, it's borderline criminal.
And yet lately the Libby trial has become almost as media saturated as Anna Nicole. The more of a circus it becomes, the more names that are implicated, the more like a bad O.C. episode it resembles, the more air-time it will get. And hearkening back to the 1970s wisdom of Woodward and Bernstein, the key to thoroughly investigating government activity is to keep the scandal on the front page for as long as possible.
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