Villaraigosagate's Ford gets the CNN treatment

Luke Ford, the Woodward-Bernstein-Drudge of LA's Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa infidelity-ethics sex scandal (Luke defied the mainstream press corps in LA and reported that the emperor had no clothes-- or in this case- that the married mayor had no wedding ring, leading to the revalation that Hizzoner was banging a hot TV reporter who was covering him at the time), was interviewed on CNN this week, and has a hilarious, and deadpan account of what went down, the way things work-- and some insight into why some stories don't get reported:

The show is American Morning. The topic? Is there a public interest in reporting on the sex lives of politicians?

I taped my interview at 6 a.m. Thursday with host Betty Nguyen. I don’t know when it will air.

I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. I fell asleep after 1 a.m. I woke up at 3:17 a.m. I showered, checked the Web for the latest on the mayor, and walked outside at 4:20 a.m. for my limo.

I got to CNN at 6430 Sunset Blvd at 4:40 a.m. I waited in the green room until 6 a.m.

While I’ve been interviewed many times on TV, I’ve never done it live.

I walk into a little room at 6 a.m. This is going to be taped (it was originally scheduled to be done live at 5:30). There’s no make-up. The director in New York encourages me several times to straighten my tie and button up my top shirt button.

Then host Betty Nguyen taped a post-show four-minute interview with me.

She asked me if people in Los Angeles were outraged about the mayor’s adultery. I burst out laughing and said I hadn’t met any.

(After the taping, someone at CNN told me that she was outraged by the mayor’s behavior.)

Betty: "Well, you’re obviously outraged by how much you’ve written about it on your blog."

Luke: "I’m not outraged at the mayor. I’m outraged that we have such a shoddy second-rate newspaper, The Los Angeles Times, that was too paternalistic to report the truth on the mayor. Their journalists knew the mayor’s marriage was over but their editors didn’t believe the public had the right to know."

Betty got outraged that I was taking all these "unfounded" shots at The Times, which she said was an award-winning newspaper.

The interview came to a quick halt.

When I came out of the building, my limo was gone and I had to catch a taxi home.