The Fox and the Hound

Excellent commentary on priorities in the press.

Admiral William “Fox” Fallon resigned as head of CentCom on Tuesday, reportedly in protest over the President’s push for war with Iran. Yet this was barely reported. Instead, the Spitzer scandal dominated the headlines. Why? Because people love them some drama, and the Spitzer drama was the tastiest kind of all.

I love everything about the Spitzer Sex Scandal. He’s a “man of the people” spending more money for an hour of sex than most people pay for their second car. He’s been trying to collect New York State sales taxes from internet retailers, literally nickel and diming his constituents, while he patronizes mob-run blackmarkets. Most ironic of all, the same abuses of the Fourth Amendment he championed as a zealous crime-fighter now have been used against him to destroy his life and career. You just can’t get better value for your entertainment dollar than in New York politics.

Meanwhile, the guy in charge of everything from Mombasa to Ust Kamenogorsk, including Darfur, the Horn of Africa, Iran, Iraq, all the ’stans’ from Afghan to Uzbek, and everyone of Israel’s neighbors, the guy in charge of US military operations in the largest contiguous “hot zone” on the planet, well he just had a fight with the President and walked out. I’d like to know what’s up with that, but I keep getting distracted.

Also see: Fallon’s Exit Provokes Concern on Bush’s Iran Policy