This Week’s
Attitude

By Neil S. Friedman

The Unending Chutzpah Of The Rich & Famous

The American public with its ambiguous appetite for news of scandalous behavior is once again spellbound by a media frenzy focused on a couple of sordid stories about the rich and famous.

You know the rich and famous. That small group of citizens — envied by some — who recklessly spend hard — and not-so-hard — earned or inherited millions on an assortment of extravagances and whatnot. They constantly get their names and pictures in society and gossip columns.

A small percentage appear to go through life assuming they’re better than the rest of us average Americans toiling away from paycheck to paycheck in respectable blue and white collar jobs.

Who wouldn’t want to have enough to spend impulsively on expensive toys and other material things? But, those who finally achieve their own personal American Dream will hopefully display the positive aspects of human nature — such as compassion and concern — that sometimes seems wanting in the monied elite.

Take Lizzie Grubman. The New York City public relations woman allegedly mowed down 16 people outside a ritzy Southampton restaurant on July 7th in a fit of anger after two bouncers refused to let her park her rich daddy’s $65,000 Mercedes SUV in a spot that would have resulted in inconvenience for other patrons.

In an angry, knee-jerk response — the keyword being JERK — Grubman apparently stepped on the accelerator and backed up her vehicle, targeting the bouncers. She reportedly hit one of them and injured more than a dozen bystanders.

The 30-year-old high-profile spokeswoman for several young movie stars then abruptly fled the scene. Hours after the incident she turned herself in to police, accompanied, of course, by a high-priced lawyer who refused to let his client be tested for illegal substances in her blood.

Though she has publicly appeared contrite and displayed a degree of remorse, she has defended herself by stating she was "unfamiliar" with the vehicle.

What chutzpah! (That’s nerve or audacity for those unfamiliar with the Yiddish term.)

Her action is comparable to randomly shooting into a crowd and wounding bystanders in the aftermath of a heated argument. In lieu of a weapon, Grubman used a fully-equipped 5-ton sports utility vehicle.

Since that night of rage, several of Grubman’s victims have sued her for tens of millions of dollars. I hope they collect every penny!

And, I hope some judge eventually has the opportunity to sentence her to the maximum penalty the law allows. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, to see her legal team plea bargain any charges down to several hundred hours of community service.

Justice notwithstanding, I’d like to see how a few years of hard time affects this seemingly spoiled brat!

Then there’s Democratic California Congressman Gary Condit, who’s not just another philandering politician who admitted to an affair with a female intern.

Whenever British and French politicians are embroiled in sexually-tinged scandals, it results in national banner headlines. Guess a few U.S. public servants think they deserve equal time for scandalous behavior.

I’ve got my own opinion of Condit, but I’m confident there are many who agree with my biased assessment.

The married father of two children should resign immediately, despite any concrete evidence — though lots of suspicion — connecting him to the disappearance of Washington DC intern Chandra Levy.

When the incident began, it seemed Condit did everything to elude investigators and deny he had an extramarital affair with the missing intern. When he finally admitted to the tryst, he said he lied to protect his family.

What chutzpah!

If he had any concern for his family in the first place, he wouldn’t have had a sexual encounter with a woman young enough to be his daughter!

Up until several days ago I merely thought Condit was just an insensitive jerk. Now, to put it bluntly, I think he’s a gutless pig!

I came to that conclusion last week when one of his spokespersons was quoted in an Internet magazine trying to smear the reputation of the 24-year-old former intern, who hasn’t been heard from since April 30th.

Regardless of whether or not Condit has anything to do with the Levy’s disappearance, he should be ashamed for last week’s report that said his damage-control spokeswoman told a journalist she engaged in "a series of one-night stands."

The woman subsequently denied the statement, but the reporter stood by his story.

A week earlier, Condit made headlines when he took a private lie detector test and passed with flying colors. Way to go, Gary. Except, the details of the questions posed were never revealed!

Hell, they could have asked him if he ever ate at McDonald’s or watched "The Three Stooges." We’ll never know.

Maybe the congressman should have hired PR woman Lizzie Grubman! What a pair of rich and famous they’d make. Both thinking their positions in life place them above and beyond the laws that apply to the rest of us.

That’s chutzpah!