Free Republic

WHEN Billie the madam met Eliot the politician, neither had any idea that within a couple of years the careers of both would be ruined and the tawdry bedroom habits of one of America’s most powerful state governors would be discussed in ignominious detail by comedians and chat-show hosts across the country. In a book detailing her improbable rise from a California trailer park to a million-dollar New York apartment, Kristin Davis, a busty blonde brothel-keeper also known as Billie, the Manhattan Madam, lays bare her relationship with Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor, who was forced to resign...

When Eliot Spitzer was New York attorney general, the man seemed to own the press, seizing headlines with every investigation on Wall Street -- or prosecution of high-end prostitutes on Staten Island. Now that The New York Times has reported on Gov. Spitzer's much more amicable relationship with a separate ring of expensive prostitutes, the press will for a time own him. Nor will public life be much better for Silda Wall Spitzer, Mr. Spitzer's wife. So let's take a moment to appreciate the last softball interview Ms. Spitzer is going to have for a while: a video tour, for...

That Southern charm may soften the appearance of the actor-senator’s hardened conservative views. Last month brough the moment in the presidential campaign I’d been dreading. The popular conservative from my home state, fellow Tennessean Fred Thompson, entered the Republican primary. The pundits and “insiders” have dismissed the actor and former senator even before he declared his candidacy on late-night TV. Some claim he’s a Hollywood lightweight, but I’ve heard that before (Ronald Reagan). Some dismiss him as a Southern simpleton, but I’ve heard that before (George W. Bush). And I’ve even heard some claim he has a wealth of sexual...