Upcoming
November 14
A Christmas Tale
B.O.H.I.C.A.
House of the Sleeping Beauties
How About You
November 21
The Betrayal
November 30
Perspective
Minor but necessary recap: On 6.28 I wrote about former CBS news Baghdad correspondent and current Washington, D.C.-based chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan, and particularly the hotpants situation she'd reportedly become involved in (an affair with a married-but-separated US State Department contractor named Joe Burkett following a thing with CNN international correspondent Michael Ware), and how the tabs and the N.Y. Post were covering it.
My two main thoughts were (a) this was nobody's business so why don't they leave her alone?, and (b) passion is as passion does and is no big deal, especially if you're reporting from a war zone.
Yesterday the Washington Post's Howard Kutz ran a piece about Logan and her brief tabloid flare-up. The thrust or intent of the piece was essentially to say to everyone in the government and the media, "This lady is cool and professional and emotionally centered....there but for the grace of God go you or I."
The piece also revealed that Logan is pregnant by Burkett and that the two "intend to get married eventually."
One passage read that "while some may accuse her of tawdry conduct, what happened to Logan is an all-too-familiar tale of someone consumed by a career and needing a partner who understands the peculiar pressures involved."
Those pressures being reporting from an intense war zone where violence, bodies and bomb blasts are part of the daily drill. As I put it last month, "There's always something strangely erotic in the air when there's a lot of random death and danger floating about...the more ghastly or threatening the surroundings, the more likely it is that like-minded professionals of a certain age are going to get down in the heat of the moment." I compared this to the "terror fucking
On 6.29, HE reader Ogami Itto wrote that this observation was "spoken like somebody who's never been anywhere near a combat zone." True, but I knew -- know -- a little something abut this, having been around and heard some good stories from this and that journalist. Unlike Ogami Itto, it would seem.
Cheers also to HE reader CinemaPhreek, who wondered the same day if"it's possible to get mental whip-lash from bloggers who talk about high-brow art vs. trash one post and then jump right down into the muck the next?" The muck that Kurtz is now chest-deep in, he means?
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 9, 2008 at 8:56 AM
comment #1
Zimmergirl
says ...
It is an advantage to a species if they can start making more people when death is in the air. Perhaps this is an evolved trait. On the other hand, Lara Logan in a place where women are covered in veils and the men are hornier than a chain gang well, it isn't a stretch to think she'd be knocked up rather quickly. Who takes condoms with them to Baghdad?
Posted by Zimmergirl
at July 9, 2008 9:55 AM
comment #2
Edward
says ...
If I was ducking bullets and dodging bombs and had a chance to make the beast with two backs, well...be hard to turn down.
Posted by Edward
at July 9, 2008 10:06 AM
comment #3
corey3rd
says ...
while Lara Logan was hot while reporting from Iraq, when CBS brought her stateside and cleaned her up, it doesn't work for me. She can't complete with michelle kosinski.
Why does knocking up your girlfriend during your divorce trial sound like a Jerry Springer plot point?
Posted by corey3rd
at July 9, 2008 10:12 AM
comment #4
Arizona Joe
says ...
Lara Logan is the South African girl hired by CBS News chief Sean McManus to bring sex appeal to Katie Couric's ill-fated nightly news presentation, right?
If we had been at war in the 1980s, Holly Hunter would have pulled something like this in "Broadcast News."
McManus added a number of gingerbread appurtenances to the CBS News, like engaging Tom, Dick and Harry to provide celebrity op-ed pieces. If Les Moonves is going to fire Couric after the election, McManus should go too.
Posted by Arizona Joe
at July 9, 2008 10:14 AM
comment #5
dangovich
says ...
A military contractor?!
Why Lara, why?
Posted by dangovich
at July 9, 2008 10:14 AM
comment #6
corey3rd
says ...
the lust in Iraq speaks less about being in the heat of battle and more about the terminal boredom of being stuck in the Greenzone.
Posted by corey3rd
at July 9, 2008 10:47 AM
comment #7
sutter kane
says ...
The reason this is a story and the media can't just leave her alone is that she's reasonably hot. If she was a hunchbacked print reporter we wouldn't be having this conversation (no offense to any hunchbacks reading the post, but hey, the truth is the truth). Talking about hot people having sex is good for ratings, period.
Posted by sutter kane
at July 9, 2008 10:55 AM
comment #8
deadre
says ...
I think she's great. She's smart,fearless and absolutely gorgous. I mean she's envy type gorgeous and she's great at what she does. Who cares about the other stuff, it's all filtered through the media so who knows where the truth lies and who cares.....
Posted by deadre
at July 9, 2008 11:44 AM
comment #9
BurmaShave
says ...
If Richard Engel had had an affair and impregnated his lover, this would not be the attitude of anyone. Sorry, but it's true. Pretty lady, obviously not on the ball over there.
Posted by BurmaShave
at July 9, 2008 1:00 PM
comment #10
otakuhouse
says ...
Logan appears to be the total package; even human, at worst. This is nobody's fucking business.
Posted by otakuhouse
at July 9, 2008 2:12 PM
comment #11
roman
says ...
I knew there was something I liked about Michael Ware. You know, besides being a beacon of truth in a perfect storm of lies for all these years.
Posted by roman
at July 9, 2008 2:21 PM
comment #12
corey3rd
says ...
Lara Logan's lust in the Green Zone has the makings of a great Graham Greene novel. Or at least a Jackie Collins beach seller.
Posted by corey3rd
at July 9, 2008 4:06 PM
comment #13
Count Thread
says ...
Several comments.
-- Having known many people in this exact situation-- soldiers, contractors, civilian govies and reporters-- war is NOT an aphrodisiac. Period. Full stop. "Love in a foxhole" is a complete Hollywood fiction, and everytime it's brought up in a movie, it rings false, because it *is* false.
What *is* true-- BOREDOM is an aphrodisiac. PROXIMITY makes the heart grow fonder, and makes ugly people look prettier, and bad ideas eventually seem like good ones.
The Green Zone ain't a combat zone, it's a fortified office park with occasional explosions. And Logan ain't a combat reporter (Michael Yon she ain't).
What she is, now, is completely unprofessional, and a homewrecker to boot.
The only "story" here is pathetic.
Posted by Count Thread
at July 10, 2008 6:40 AM
Post a comment