Eliot Spitzer: Some final thoughts

Admit it. Don’t you long for the days when Britney Spears and Paris Hilton dominated the news? I wasn’t going to write any more about Eliot Spitzer. Might as well wait until his book comes out. But as I was running this morning I thought that maybe this affair does provide a teachable moment in a few areas: media, history and writing. So here goes.

First media. Interesting story in The New York Times this morning by Susan Dominus, “Emperor’s Club Sold an Oxymoron: High-Class Prostitution.” Good perspective on sales — and marketing. And then there is the TV promo for Inside Edition promising the scoop on “Kristen” the woman who brought down the governor. Oh really. Wonder how many times she called him?

Next history.  Given all the recent resignations and allegations about senior elected officials isn’t it time that we took another look at the legacy of Richard Nixon? I’m not sure that Nixon is getting the credit he deserves for the actions that led to his resignation. After all, Tricky Dick tried to screw all of us.

Finally writing. Anyone who has taken media writing at Kent State knows this only too well. Much better to be caught frolicking with a hooker than dangling a modifier. Or misplacing an apostrophe. OK. What is it? Emperors Club? Emperor’s Club? Or Emperors’ Club? Even The Times can’t seem to decide. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want my canceled check to show up on e-Bay with a punctuation error.

So it goes.