(Bob)Greene awaits renewal--Disgraced columnist is subject of differing character studies

USA Today ^ | 3/5/2003 | Peter Johnson

[ArcLight]

Does Bob Greene deserve redemption?

Or should the renowned former columnist for the Chicago Tribune sit on the bench for the rest of his days, yoked by a scarlet letter? Greene was fired last fall after a fling with a teen girl in the 1980s surfaced when she e-mailed his bosses.

Chicago magazine, itself owned by the Tribune Co., hints strongly in its March issue that Greene got what he deserved.

''The incident that brought down Bob Greene was not an anomaly but part of a pattern,'' Chicago writer Steve Rhodes says. ''What people here have known for years we actually document.''

Rhodes views Greene as a chameleon who passed himself off as ''a wholesome Midwestern, all-American guy but who actually was constantly on the prowl.''

But writer Bill Zehme, who profiles Greene in the April edition of Esquire, which was released Monday, has a different view: ''I don't think of myself as his apologist, but he deserves redemption.''

[MoJo2001]

I enjoyed reading Bob Greene's articles.

Want to talk about redemption in this country:

Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, Joey Buttafucco, Roman Polaski, R Kelly, and many others..PLEASE!

Amazing how Liberals find morals when it's to use it against conservatives, but never actually have the common sense to use it in their own life.

[JennysCool]

Well said. I couldn't agree more. I never understood the huge hue and cry over this midwestern columnist's dalliance when all around was Hollywood Babylon conducting business as usual.

[MoJo2001]

Absolutely!

[Happygal]

Good analysis! :-)