memo to politicians: you’re all playing by tabloid rules now

In the wake of the incident in which George Allen was (inappropriately) asked about his supposed Jewish heritage by a reporter, it has become clear that everything is fair game in a political campaign from here on out … notwithstanding Arianna Huffington’s attempt to draw the line at a candidate’s marriage and sex life (which is, famously, a shady area in her own life) on Reliable Sources, where she was drawn into an argument by David Frum:

FRUM: In the last segment of the show we are going to discuss Bill Clinton’s refusal to answer questions about the intimate state of his marriage, and I think many of the people [who] would say, why, it’s perfectly appropriate to ask George Allen about the state of his soul, would then turn around and say it’s inappropriate to ask Bill Clinton about the state of his sex life. …

HUFFINGTON: You cannot honestly think that the private state of a politician’s marriage is of the same caliber in terms of honesty and questioning and, indeed, permissibility for the press to ask about that as the heritage, the ethnicity of his parents?

Huffington will have a tough time explaining why one area of a candidate’s personal life—his or her religion—isn’t off-limits but another area—his or her sex life—is. This, of course, is Clinton’s point of view, too:

In the “Today” show interview, Vieira asked about a recent front- page piece in “The New York Times” dissecting his marriage and examining whether it will be an issue if Hillary Clinton makes a White House run.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that the thing that I think is going to be interesting is whether the American people, after — with all the problems we’ve got, really want to see the press basically follow the Republican bloodhounds and do all that sort of stuff again, and whether or not the people that are doing can escape the same scrutiny. They have in the past. It’s been a free ride.

I think it’s a stupid way to spend our time.

Well, it may be stupid, but apparently, if two other guests on Reliable Sources are to be believed, that’s exactly how audiences, who have now officially been conflated with voters, want to spend their time: finding out about candidates’ peccadilloes.

Listen to Bloomberg’s Roger Simon’s explanation of why Peggy Fox’s questioning of George Allen was not inappropriate:

KURTZ: Let me come back to the question at the debate, Roger Simon. Peggy Fox said — we heard that the issue was honesty. She told me in an e-mail that she’s not the issue, Allen’s character is.

Was this a journalistically appropriate question?

ROGER SIMON, BLOOMBERG NEWS: It was not an inappropriate question. There’s plenty in George Allen’s background to give you an excuse to raise it. …
The point is, however, that even if that wasn’t there, she was asking a question because we want to know about celebrities in American society. And all politicians today are celebrities. How many newspaper columns, how many magazines, how many TV shows are devoted to celebrity gossip? This is just another form of that.

Kurtz seemed incredulous (a tired routine by now):

KURTZ: So celebrity gossip is OK in the context of a Senate race?

SIMON: Because people want to know about politicians for the same reason…

KURTZ: They want to know who they are?

SIMON: Absolutely.

KURTZ: All right.

Later in the show, Kurtz was lower-key when he asked blogger John Aravois a question about Clinton’s position that it was stupid to cover his marriage:

KURTZ: John Aravosis, is it realistic for Clinton to say the press shouldn’t cover his marriage when he his wife may run for president and he could be the first spouse?

ARAVOSIS: Well, it’s realistic for him to say it. I don’t think it’s realistic to expect the press to actually do it just because, you know, in a sense, we’ve got a paparazzi culture that goes all the way up to the White House.

I mean, people — people want to know about Bill Clinton’s marriage even though it’s kind of not relevant in terms of whether Hillary Clinton is credible as a presidential candidate or as president. I mean, I want to know how she does on the war on terror, I don’t want to know how she does in the Clinton bedroom. It’s irrelevant.

Right: it’s irrelevant to the press—they’re high-minded, and interested only in the issues, of course. But the people, who are gossip hounds, who like bread and circuses, want to know.

And so the infotainment industry, which now encompasses the nation’s news organizations, will make sure that the people are served. So it goes.