Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Hiding behind the wife and kids

A lot of people in Colorado are angry that the media interviewed Ted Haggard about his meth-fueled whore sex in front of his wife and children. Here the response by the editor of the Rocky Mountain News:

It was Ted Haggard who stopped and rolled down the window and made news by admitting in front of his children and his wife that he had purchased drugs (and thrown them out) and that he had known his accuser, whom he said he had paid for massages. Haggard's remarks were national news because they marked the first time he had admitted knowing the escort and buying drugs. The context of his admission, in his car in front of his children, is newsworthy.It was not a context we selected. It was a context he selected. He just as easily could have walked out of his house to talk to reporters alone, without his wife and children, and that's what he should have done in my view to protect them. But that's not what he chose to do. We report the news. We don't make events happen the way we wish they would. And the fact that he chose to make these admissions in front of his children reveals something about his character.