ABC'S HOOKERGATE COVERAGE ON FRIDAY'S 20/20: UNDERWHELMING

ABC--Are they playing poker or what? The report asserted that in all of the phone records that Deborah Jeane Palfrey turned over to ABC (gratis, with no conditions) they haven't found any names that are especially interesting. Yet, listening and reading Palfrey's comments from the show, she's saying the opposite of ABC's assertions.

She didn't turn everything over, obviously, and ABC probably does have names (they asserted as much on "the blotter" at their site) that are explosive. I think they're trying to figure out what to do with them, and what the repercussions will be. Curious.

See the articles on this topic in the links below for ABC's prior statements on Palfrey's phone records and the whole scandal. She has copies of them (for her protection), and has posted just one day in 1996. The reality is, they've (primarily Palfrey and various elements of the press and the prosecutors) already outed at least four people in this since the Fall of 2006. As the 20/20 piece noted, one has committed suicide, while Randall Tobias has lost his Bush appointed job at the State Department.

Is ABC engaging in damage control? We'll see.

One thing's certain: Deborah Jeane Palfrey is no victim, and she's got a pretty sharp mind. I admire her will to survive all of this, and these idiotic laws that cover prostitution.

She might just be the woman who ends them here in the United States. What cultural managers and elites are going to try to do is limit any fundamental damage to their power. She's a direct threat to it, which makes her important and she could end up a cause.