Using Gibson as Political Football

I condemn what Mel Gibson revealed the other night. The guy has serious drinking problems and will need to work out his demons. He needs to be more forthright about what he said and what he really believes—or does not believe. He has way more serious apologizing to do. And even that may not be enough. There are many people in Hollywood who feel strongly that he should be censured, ostracized or punished for his behavior. But now is not the time for political commentators like Arianna Huffington to take advantage of Gibson's media spotlight to use his sloppy, ugly ranting to agitate and fan today's political flames.

ADD: The NYT's follow-up story for Tuesday's paper focuses on how fast the story broke, and how unusual it was for the LAT to send squadrons of reporters after the story over the weekend. The NYT is basically playing catch-up, in other words. And as David Poland points out, the public lashing led by Barbara Walters on TV's The View was not good for Mel.