* There’s a lot not to like–and not to even get–when it comes to the Manti Te’o-virtual girlfriend affair. Namely, the hoax, the hoaxer, the hoaxee and the end game. But it’s beyond bafflingly bizarre once media ambulance chasers move in. Then it’s just old-school exploitation.
First, Katie Couric got the get. Not coincidentally, she shares a publicist with Te’o. Then it was Dr. Phil McGraw who landed the hoaxer, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, accompanied by his parents. It was highly promoted and teased, including shots of the teary-eyed Tuiasosopo and outtakes about homosexuality. Insensitive, even by network psycho-babble sub-standards.
* Didn’t George Will used to be a voice of relative reason and even wit within the conservative punditry? A welcome respite from the usual classless attacks dogs that dominate the talk-radio and cable-TV scene. No longer. Where there’s a Will, there’s a won’t. He’s no longer William F. Buckley in a bow tie. More like a bespectacled Sean Hannity engaged in ad hominem attacks on President Obama or cheap, “moral-grandstanding” shots at those lobbying for stricter gun laws.