It's a coast thing, happening in the home state of the newspaper of record. The national, coast-based, media routinely ignores more interesting scandals in flyover land.

It distracts from the dismal Clinton campaign, which the media would prefer not to talk about.

Also, it allows reputable media to talk about sex! Call girls! Unsafe acts!

Letterman had the best insight: We can't catch Bin Laden, but we can catch Spitzer!

typo. You do have a brain though.

The next day, the governor says, my conscious is bothering me. I have to resign because I'm the chief enforcer of the law and I've just broken it. I can't be a hypocrite and do my job.

The judge says, I too must resign, because how can I judge johns fairly knowing that I am one?

The congressman laughs and says, I don't know what you guys were doing, but I was turning tricks and making money. Isn't that exactly what I was elected to do?

Dude is so ugly they should arrest him for having sex with his wife, let alone a stranger.

I think Joan Walsh wrote these nonapologies for the Monster:

On Bill's Jesse Jackson remark:

''I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive,'' Hillary Clinton said. ''We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama.''

Put it in context (you're taking it out of context.)

Sorry if you're offended (not sorry for having said it.)

Not meant in any way to be offensive (we wanted to racebait but still expected the black vote).

Proud of Jackson and Obama (repeated what Bill said in the first place!).

On bigot Ferraro:

''I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn't speak for the campaign, she doesn't speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.''

It was said (passive voice)

She doesn't speak for the campaign (not my fault).

She has resigned (I didn't fire her, I didn't take any responsibility).

very large committee (I hardly knew she worked for me!)

That one made me laugh. As if Obama's money-raising operation needs any advice from a member of Clinton's finance committee.

Pass the doughnuts, please.

The French have never understood American comedy. I'm sure Tina Fey is overjoyed to find herself in the company of Jerry Lewis in the pantheon of comics-frenchies-like.

The French can't distinguish between American irony and cynicism, and SNL has become profoundly cynical. Michaels doles out his donations like a US corporation, a little for each side, let's buy the influence. No one dares poke fun at Giulliani's fascism, it's just tepid jokes about his lack of success in the primaries, jokes he could, and did, make himself. Bob Hope stuff. SNL was more than happy to repeat an entire sketch just to please Clinton.

Maybe Canada will take Michaels back.

Lately on the news he seems increasingly befuddled and borderline nonverbal.

I told him that if I had written the skit, I would have had Hillary roll over in bed and ask Bill Clinton what to do. Then I would have had Bill Clinton roll over in bed and ask Monica Lewinsky what to do.

"Gosh, I hope there aren't any old photos around of Barack Obama smoking. Then we'll have President McCain for sure."

Why do you think SNL showed "Obama" with a cigarette in his mouth?

...not even a short paragraph, not even a sentence, but after it's over you write the longest post you've written yet to explain why you refrained from mentioning the issue.

At the same time, you somehow managed to post teaser after teaser on Sptizer. He is resigning. No he's not. This time I really mean it. No I don't. Blah blah.

You crack me up.

No time to discuss racism. Plenty of time to talk about hookers.

The real issue was that the Clinton campaign didn't nip this stinky flower in the bud. Instead they allowed it to blossom awhile. They were not so slow about Samantha Power's very mild "monster" epithet. Conason is trying to let the Clintons off the hook, that's the point of this article. Who cares what Ferraro says anymore.

Except, it is fun to replay her statements. Another favorite of mine is her claim that her first amendment rights were violated by people disagreeing with her. That is rich on more than one level. The Clinton campaign has had an ongoing war against the media, most notably censoring Shuster.

Just to review: the First Amendment grants freedom of speech to Ferraro to say racist things, yes, but it also protects people who want to complain about what she says. But the constitution also protects the speech of a political campaign, and the ability of the campaign to fire its people wen they wander off message. The Clinton campaign chose not to exercise that right for weeks. Why?

If the next president and congress doesn't immediately close the gulag of Gitmo and secret prisons, and then appoint judges who actually give a damn about the Constitution, we will have to have another democratic revolution to reinstate the rule of law.

I favored impeachment for Bush, Cheney, and prosecution of all the administration criminals. But, I think they will have a post-presidency that increasingly confines them in a circle of disgust, like Idi Amin or Pinochet.

Nixon could "rehabilitate" because he was knocked out of office. You have to go down to the mat before you can pick yourself up.

The exposes on Bush will continue throughout his lifetime as more records are leaked, more people abroad feel safe to talk about their torture, and more lower level staffers retire or leave their government jobs. A liberal administration that reduces fear of retaliation is Bush and Cheney's worst fear.

We need a truth commission to purge these poisons from our system.