Che and Bystander,

What the MSM are getting, which is more valuable than market share or quarterly profits, is what might, and is, disingenuously called "regulatory relief."

Previously, they basked in the protection of the 1st Amendment, but bristled under its attendant responsibilities. Look at what they've gotten in the last thirty years or so:

1) The end of the Fairness Doctrine.

2) The end of any obligation to serve the public interest in return for access to the public airwaves.

3) The end of Sherman Antitrust Act prohibitions against anticompetitive behavior, allowing entertainment conglomerates and "defense" contractors to own the news media.

4) Misguided legislation like the Newspaper Preservation Act, which was designed to preserve newspaper competition within markets, but really paved the way for de facto monopolies more attractive to national and regional newspaper conglomerates, who eventually merged them anyway.

5) Successive "reforms" like the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which paved the way for outfits like Clear Channel and Sinclair Broadcasting to further cement their stranglehold on the market.

Probably the only example of successful long term planning to the detriment of short term gain on the part of an American industry during this period was the media giants' decision to turn right.

And look how it turned out for them; they are now the only American product that still dominates the world market. For that, they deserve a little credit.

When I saw Kristol's column, before resigning myself to the dreary, revolting task of reading it, I thought to myself, "Gee, do you think he's going to find some way to denigrate Clinton's statements as calculating, and Obama's statements as manipulative, and then find glory, valor, and steadfastness in McCain's?" Just as I thought I could save the swinish snake oil salesman some keystrokes by simply plugging in new holidays, adjectives, and absurdly tendentious links to military glory to the same robotic claptrap he peddles each Monday, he did me one better.

First of all, what are the chances that the anyone whose name starts with "Mc" attended a Seder? More absurdly, is Kristol's head so far up McCain's ass that he can hear his imaginary thoughts at this imaginary Seder? That's gas, Bill, hence the smell.

And the final cherry on top of the BS sundae was, surprise! the gratuitous linking of Lexington and Concord with Passover. Bonus points for sneaking in the "lack of patriotism" meme with the evergreen "freedom fighters" meme.

Maybe this really is a liberal plot by the NYT to make neocons look ridiculous, but it might be working a little too well, for a paper without a funnies page.

Ooh, Bystander, looks like that bonkers troll is after you now. Better watch out. Since all those pesky restraining orders keep them from having any fun in real life, their stalking is reduced to the cyber-variety, and you may be the chosen quarry.

You'll be the Road Runner for his Wile E. Coyote.....

Hey, Electrolux, GC is no teenager, but you are a perfect example of the fact that pimply, naive narcissism has no age limit.

Oughtn't you take your show, along with the rotten tomatoes it's picked up along the way, on the road? Along with your imaginary friends who similarly skip over writing that's a little too deep for them?

Come back when your reading comprehension has improved. I can wait.

PDA.

You meant, do you need a magnifying glass to find balls that small.

DCLaw, Thanks for the link to your blog; dandy, like I expected. Keep me apprised of fresh posts, if you think of it.

I look forward to more from a great source.

"Bet he prefers hard, too." -Mr.Snoid

Don't we all?

Headlined "Foxes amok in media chicken coop," Oregonian columnist Steve Duin tackles this story pretty admirably, except for the fact that his chief source was local sock puppet Lt. Col. Rick Francona. Duin is kind of clever in that he lets Francona hang himself with his own words.

Francona vehemently denies drinking the "Kool-Aid," emphasizing he was paid to be an "analyst, not a cheerleader," and is not now, or ever has been, a "puppet."

Of course, he finishes with a mind-bending quote from Gen. Petraeus, that he says, "bears repeating,"

"Sen. Obama says we souldn't be there. Fine. Check that box, and let's move on. Let's not end the war, let's win the war. U.S. forces are capable of doing that with the right leadership."

Maybe Francona was drinking something stronger than Kool-Aid, or Petraeus was, but what the hell does that mean, and why would it bear repeating?

No wonder these crooks need the Pentagon to write their scripts. They're retarded.

Quickstrategy.... "Higher law" wasn't from Ollie, but the lovely and vivacious Fawn Hall, who actually said, presumably after removing the documents from her boots and replacing the burnt-out shredder, with eyelashes batting fetchingly, "Sometimes you have to go above the written law."

Pedinska.... I think MoDo's about ready to go turban shopping, no?

My God. If you are a nauseatingly racist troll, and therefore must shut out all observable reality pertaining to members of your own tribe, what else do you fill your empty hours with than to dredge the internet for whatever bizarre and irrelevant "evidence" of the perfidy of those you're told to hate?

In Shooter-world, "christian" child molesters are persecuted, and Muslim polygamists are rewarded. Says so, right here.

The problem is, that has jack shit to do with the point being discussed. Nobody is defending either, and any controversy over the matter exists only in the fevered imagination of desperate, serial straw man constructors.

Better trolls, please.