Political Sex Scandals

There used to be a time when people who felt the need, had to get porn. But these days, all they have to do is to just turn on the news. Here’s a new song to mark this new era:

There’s a lot more truth to this than you’d think. Some 30 or 40 years ago if there was a sex scandal you could expect the news media to hint at some of the details but keep a certain amount of them private. That era definitely ended with the broadcast tape of the questioning Bill Clinton under oath on the Monica Lewinsky affair.

But there have been other factors at play, too. The tabloid-ization of the America media, which reached its peak in the 1980s as the mainstream media began to compete with then powerful Supermarket Tabloids which had realized they could see circulation soar if they covered politicos as well as Hollywood types. And, of course, the growth of the anything-goes era of the Internet.

So, unlike 30 or 40 years ago, now if there’s a sex scandal all the details are likely to come out. Who needs porn anymore when the news and the Internet provide one, big, detailed reality show?