On the AP newswire today:
A newspaper published two photographs on its front page Monday showing Anna Nicole Smith lying in bed fully clothed in a romantic embrace with the Bahamian immigration minister, who approved her application for permanent residency.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070212/ap_on_en_tv/anna_nicole_smith_bahamas

Perhaps because Ms. Smith won a huge Supreme Court victory in May, and is dead by February? And her son died in her hosptial room? And there's a rejected jury award of $474 million hanging in the balance over the life of the 5-month-old. Even if Anna Nicole Smith had been a modest nobody, the case of the "$474 million dollar baby" has a fascinating ring to it.

Methinks that the "experts" are being much too kind in their evaluation of human nature and our morbid fascination with the likes of Anna Nicole in her demise. We are are fascinated for the same reasons that we are fascinated with a car wreck on the beltway or a house burning down. First and foremost, we're just glad it's not us. But, secondly, we want to see this bad person, who breaks all the rules, not get rewarded. When people like this come to a bad end, it reinforces our faith in our middle-class values. Nice girls don't marry old men for their fortunes and pose for Playboy and get rich and live happily ever after. At least, we want to believe that they don't.

Liz,

OFF TOPIC ALERT! I've been trying for weeks to view the transcripts of your chat, but I can't get to them. HELP!!!

Did any of you notice in byoolin's link that Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband is now owning up to a long term affair with ANS and claims he might be the father? The more we dig into this woman's life, the crazier it gets.

I don't think my motives for being interested in the drama of ANS's death is prurient or like looking at a highway wreck, or that it makes me happy and satisfied that she is dead instead of me.
I think she was an interesting and dramatic person simply because of her eventful life and image (and boobs). She was always on the make, too, and wasn't ashamed to say so.
She was a character. Too bad it had to end the way it did.

While I don't believe that demise of ANS deserve the media wag it's getting -- and aren't I adding to it with this post? -- I will confess feeling a certain kinship with her. In 1984 at the age of 19, I nearly took up with a Houston oilman old enough to be my father, only a millionaire, though. So, the notion that a man would rock his family for attention from a sweet young thing isn't foreign to me...and rock it would have, as we're talking a Gay relationship well before Ellen and Rosie. While the money may have been appealing, the confines of the deal surely would have driven me to prescription or street drugs, too, in a hurry.

why ask why?

It is what it is.

Judging her and her life is useless.

Opinions are expressed about someone based on what is read or heard about them. This is not fact, it's the way it's spun to sell the story. None of us know the truth about Ms. Smith's situation.

Watching Anna Nicole Smith's travails has been like falling off a cliff that was high enough to keep you from landing for 18 years. And now the landing has happened. We were embarrassed for her tawdriness and envious of her audacity. If it doesn't turn out she was murdered, we can put a blanket over this one and pretend it was just a dream.

Sex. Money. Infidelity. Fame. Social climber. Outcast. Drugs. Glamour. (Early)death. Family quarrels. Rise from rags to riches to rags. Female using males using female. Dead child. New child.

Shakespeare meets National Enquirer.

I don't think the writers of Law & Order could write an episode as believable as this whole real-life Anna Nicole debacle.

I find it interesting that the media attributes the over reporting regarding Anna Nicole to the public's interest. I was watching MSNBC on the premise that they were going to cover the Vets who are opposed to the Iraq war at 4 p.m. Instead they went on for hours covering ANS. I regret Ms. Smith met such an untimely death but quite frankly I did not need to know much more than the fact that she had passed. The media decided I wanted this saturation coverage---WRONG!

It is front-page news because the people who bring us tabloid media are insane. And that includes CNN. The other day I was in a waiting room that had CNN on the TV and for over 90 minutes they talked about the diaper astronaut. Nothing else. Just wall-to-wall diaper astronaut. It was as if the rest of the world did not exist. Then Anna Nicole died so the feeding frenzy moved to that. Yesterday on one of the tv "news" stations the graphic at the bottom of the screen said "Anna Nicole Smith Dies!" With an exclamation point. As if it had just happened moments ago. Disgusting.

Even though she frequently had over-the-top behavior, she was usually upfront & real about her feelings. I think that emotional authenticity connected with many people after her son died, particularly those who watched her reality show & with other women (many guys don't seem to get that women can be connected to someone they don't know personally).

So you have someone that some people had watched for 2 years on TV and others had seen in the news regularly - plus someone who was unpredictable - plus someone who was obviously emotionally fragile which brings out our sympathy - plus someone who seemed to get herself stuck in these unusual very public situations - then you throw in the tragic unbelievable death of her son - and it makes the news that she died herself just unbelievable. Kind of like lightening striking the same person twice while everyone is watching & not believing it is happening. I think that produced so much of the initial interest (The "o-my-God-I-can't-believed-this-all-happened-to-one-person--this-is-a-double-tragedy" factor).

Then you add all these questions about what killed her, what is going to happen to her poor little motherless daughter, who in the world is the baby daddy, who is going to come out of the woodwork next, and the whole 3-ring circus - and I think that produced the subsequent interest.

Global Warming.

When I think about all the mega watts of energy spent by the numerous TV towers, up and down the USA. All the cable TV energy, all the trees killed for news paper print. All the energy wasted on this bimbo. Enough energy is wasted on this non event to supply Washington DC for at least one year.

I agree with the other commentaries, however,
the issue of her daughter is what keeps me
tuning in to Fox news, etc.

It seems the baby's future is at stake, and
as a mother, I am praying the real father
will take her and dissapear into raising her.

The other men here that are claiming to be
the father is such a sad story..obviously
they only want her so they can legally continue the fight against the Marshall
family for an enourmous amount of money.

hopefully, Larry Birkhead will turn out
to e the real father, the others seem to
be pretending to care, etc...

Could I just simply extend my sympathy to those who loved her? By the way, where are they?

Could I just simply extend my sympathy to those who loved her? By the way, where are they?