I can't say I'm a big fan of covering the "celebrities" mentioned in the first paragraph.
But the McGreevey court battle -- that's a different story. At least I think it is. No question there's a sleaze factor that most find repugnant. Threesomes made public will do that - especially when it involves the (former) Governor of New Jersey.
But the angst and foibles and errors in judgments and selfishness that have emerged during this divorce case, I think, provide lessons for all of us, mostly in how not to behave. I keep thinking about how the McGreeveys' young daughter is dealing with all this, and how she'll look at it later as an adult.
Neither Jim McGreevey or his estranged wife, Dina, are examples of how to conduct a high-road divorce. That's a lesson for all of us.
And there's a bigger issue as well. I'm no lawyer, and so the legalities of the process matter less to me than the humanity. But Jim McGreevey is declaring virtual poverty -- making $48,000 a year, with $6,000 going to tuition at his seminary, and with $250,000 in debt owed to his live-in boyfriend/lover/partner. That other man happens to be wealthy and lives in a gynormous house.
Dina McGreevey, meanwhile, lost her job because the hospital where she worked virtually went out of business, and is struggling to make ends meet. Just like her ex husband, except that he's in partnership with a guy who is wealthy.
So what's the right thing to do here?
I'm not going to propose it, but it seems to me that what's in the best interests of their daughter should be the only -- THE ONLY -- thing driving the warring McGreeveys. And clearly it's not.
So, to my smart friend who busts my hump when we cover these kinds of stories I say, we'll have the latest on New Jersey's version of "War of the Roses," tonight at 11.
Also at 11, we're still trying to sort out the convoluted and complicated police shooting in Chinatown last night. We've learned this afternoon that cops now believe an ex-boyfriend may have conspired with, and possibly hired, two men to assault a woman who worked at the front desk of a condo project. An off-duty New York detective was there, and he shot the two men, killing one of them. Cops are now looking for the ex-boyfriend.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast (could we bottle today and keep it for the entire summer?) and Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11.
