Eliot Spitzer’s Groupies: The Liberal Media

Wall Street Journal: Spitzer’s Media Enablers By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

The fall of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer holds many lessons, and the press will surely be examining them in coming months. But don’t expect the press corps to delve into the biggest lesson of all — its own role as his enabler.

Journalists have spent the past two days asking how a man of Mr. Spitzer’s stature would allow himself to get involved in a prostitution ring. The answer, in my mind, is clear. The former New York attorney general never believed normal rules applied to him, and his view was validated time and again by an adoring press. “You play hard, you play rough, and hopefully you don’t get caught,” said Mr. Spitzer two years ago. He never did get caught, because most reporters were his accomplices.
[Spitzer's Media Enablers]

Journalism has many functions, but perhaps the most important is keeping tabs on public officials. That duty is even more vital concerning government positions that are subject to few other checks and balances. Chief among those is the prosecutor, who can use his awesome state power to punish, even destroy, private citizens.

Yet from the start, the press corps acted as an adjunct of Spitzer power, rather than a skeptic of it. Many journalists get into this business because they want to see wrongs righted. Mr. Spitzer portrayed himself as the moral avenger. He was the slayer of the big guy, the fat cat, the Wall Street titan — all allegedly on behalf of the little guy. The press ate it up, and came back for more.

And if Spitzer was a Republican, would he have gotten away with his ruthless use of power?

Photos Of Eliot Spitzer’s Hooker — Meet “Kristen,” the 22-year-old woman who brought down the governor

Spitzer Resigns

NY Gov. Spitzer resigns amid sex scandal By VERENA DOBNIK and MICHAEL GORMLEY

“Over the course of my public life, I’ve insisted, I think correctly, that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself.”

Watch resignation speech here.

Speaking of Democrats resigning…

How We Treat Our Animals

Reuters: Nicaraguans celebrate mass for dogs, pray for cures

Hundreds of dogs, many dressed as babies or clowns, were taken to celebrate mass in this Nicaraguan town on Sunday, an annual ritual where the owners pray for their pets to be cured or avoid falling ill.

A long queue of Catholics, carrying their pets or leading them on leashes, waited their turn to pass by an image of a saint in a tiny church in this town 20 miles to the south of the Nicaragua capital, Managua.

Contrast such a touching gesture with heartless and grisly treatment that dogs (and cats) endure in Communist China.

Better Late Than Never

Yes, I’d like to renew this, please…

A Finnish library-goer apparently thought ‘better late than never’ and quietly returned a book on loan for more than 100 years to a library in Vantaa, in southern Finland.

Personally, I would have kept it.

War with Iran?

US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: 6 Signs the U.S. May Be Headed for War in Iran by Terry Atlas