Why did I know that?

That he was a Lib, I mean.

Because the second half of the run-on sentence in the third paragraph told me?

...swapped lives with life coach and weight-loss hypnotherapist Renee Stephens who lives in a tony San Francisco neighborhood, spends $40,000 a year to send her two young children to a French bilingual private school, and, along with her husband, is die-hard about environmental issues and staying healthy.

This guy was the husband of one "Wife swap" show who showed his ass so badly that the few who watch the show were in revolt.

Guess what? Viewers didn't like it. They blasted Fowler on all kinds of web sites, message boards, and blogs. He's been labeled the worst husband in the world and someone even posted his home address on a reality TV site, prompting Fowler to threaten a lawsuit. Yet another angered viewer launched a blog called stephenfowlersucks.com, which itemizes everyone Fowler insulted during the episode. (Overweight people and military members topped the list.)


A lot of class, that guy...
So back to that question of why this guy struck such a nerve with so many of us when we've surely seen similar or worse behavior on TV multiple times over. Maybe it's because his cruelty was so uncalled for. We reality viewers may be used to seeing people resort to bad behavior when, say, they're competing for a million-dollar prize or for the love of a big-haired '80s rocker, but just for the sheer joy of being as mean as possible and making someone feel horrible? Well, that's just taking it too far. In the end, it sounds like Stephen Fowler did indeed learn a few lessons, albeit after the cameras stopped rolling. He posted an apology on his wife's web site, she's asked him to seek professional help, and he's resigned from the boards of two environmental non-profits so, he says, his behavior won't reflect badly on them.

I wonder if in addition to apologising on his wife's website (which probably gave her hit meter a needed boost) did he have the maturity to say anything to the woman he treated like cr@p?