Why the silence on Jessica Cutler/Washingtonienne?

In My Humble Opinion
1

The current “DC Madam” story about Deborah Jean Palfrey’s escort service / prostitution ring and her alleged list of high-level government clients has generated a lot of interest here in the DC area, on the news, and a even few threads on the SDMB. At least one official has resigned so far.

What I want to know is why we never saw any interest in Jessica Cutler’s story? Sure there were a few stories at first, but it fell off the national, local, and internet radar very quickly, and without the big story breaking about her list of clients.

I know she was just one girl, not a “ring,” but let’s be specific:

There was clearly prostitution going on – and being paid for by at least mid-level Republican party faithful…Robert Steinbuch, the only name I’ve seen surface, was an attorney for Republican senator Mike DeWine.

This was the party that promised to get having sex with one’s aides out of Washington, after the Lewinsky affair. You’d think it would be news that within a few years they have at least senior staffers paying Hill aides for sex.

But nothing. I assumed it was being kept quiet due to the lawsuit. But still nothing – even with the DC Madam scandal on everyone’s mind!

Maybe I’m misunderstanding the scandal in some way. It sure got quiet fast, and people seemed to regard Cutler as some kind of freethinker instead of a for-pay hooker. Can anyone explain why this one was different?

I’d like to see someone talking about this more in the national news. Ideally, I’d like to see the classic Republican fervor for a special prosecutor. Hey…is Kenneth Star doing anything?

Sailboat

2

Okay, re-reading that, I came off as a bit baiting. So please, if you can, ignore my political rant and just share opinions on why the scandal seems to get so little interest.

Is it because it’s sub-presidential? Is it because Cutler was good at self-promotion?

Sailboat

3

For me it’s because nothing has been proven so far, and until it HAS been proven, it’s nothing more than a sex worker dropping names of people who may or may not have been her clients.

Plus I have a touch of scandal fatigue.

4

It is my impression that the Washington press is a bit wary of sex stories unless there is clear evidence of some other kind of malfeasance involved, then they are all over it. Right now the story appears to be “People in power pay to have sex!”. Duh. This is not yet a story that the “legitimate” press wants to get behind. Of course, if it gets more play in the tabloids, then the legitmate press will have stories like “Look what the tabloids are doing!”, thus allowing their readers to slake their thirst for salacious details while deluding themselves that they are reading news.