The news cycle isn't the only thing that moves at warp-speed, nowadays.
Redemption now operates on an accelerated schedule, too.
In the Jesse Jackson scandalette, we achieved a cycle of exposure, confession, repentance, and renewal breathtaking in its brevity. She bore him a child, now some 20 months old. Mr. Jackson had known for some time that the hit was coming, and cannily hired publicist John Scanlon to sanitize it for him. This may have been the easiest commission Mr. Scanlon ever earned. In their excitement, they managed to sidestep some of the more troubling aspects of the story.