I can top this. The Chicago Tribune last week has on its editorial page "high-school yearbook" snapshots of each of the remaining candidates. I did not read any of them, but I do recall that Fred Thompson was referred to along the lines of the cool, genial gym coach. Makes my head want to explode.

Aside from the inanity of generalizing about the candidates with reference to high school (especially considering that the candidates have been out of high school for at least 30 years, thus negating any parallels to The Breakfast Club or Sweet Sixteen*), why would you use as an analogy a place and time that most people spend trying to forget (or, for those who were successful in high school, trying to recapture now that their lives do not measure up to what they dreamed)?

To answer Glenn's question, the reason that political reporters spend so much time grovelling at the feet of those who pay them attention were that these were the same geeks who worked on the high school newspaper without a prayer of getting to speak to or interact with the cool kids. Their experience of high school journalism was working under an authoritarian faculty adviser and printing only what was acceptable to the high school administration. This combination of unpopularity and submission to authority has prepared most members of the MSM for their current assignments (and the dearth of actual "reporting" that they do).

This of course does not even begin to deal with the punditocracy and their high school analogy (hint: debate club and Model United Nations), or those members of the vast right wing radio noise machine - e.g., Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck - who dropped out of/did not complete college, and thus have high school as their only backrop (who, BTW, are like Christian Slater in Pump It Up, except they are fighting for The Man).

In sum (and what I am sure was Glenn's overall point), the use of high school analogies to describe the candidate says more about the writer than about the candidate.

*As long as the press is going to use high school analogies, I would like to see someone compare certain of the Republican candidates to the group of boys from American Pie who are trying to lose their virginity prior to graduating to high school. Clearly, John McCain, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani would fall into the horny teenage boy category. If anyone knows of someone who has done this comparison, please let me know. If not, then I call Copyright!!!

Also, if anyone knows any Hollywood producers, I am working on a screenplay treatment where a group of presidential candidates are sucked into a magical yearbook and forced to attend high school in the 1980s as their high school selves and run for student body president. For the role of the kindly, worldwide and chain-smoking student government factulty adviser, I am envisaging Bill Murray. Otherwise, I am flexible on casting.

I am getting to this topic late, but I had to comment on your post. David Gregory is an idiot. Not only is the question nonsensical, but it is also wrong. Jesus was not born in Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem (at least according to the Bible). Perhaps a better question would have been "How does it feel to be in the place where the Romans horribly tortured and then crucified Jesus because of what they perceived as his heretical teachings?"

An associate of mine at the law firm where I used to work told me that he used the bonus he received last year to invest in gold and oil. He did this on the advice of a friend who is in venture capital/investment banking (cannot remember which). At the time, his boss told him he was crazy. However, as of two months ago, he was experiencing a 50% increase in each investment. Of course, this tidbit came up while we were discussing the candidacy of ... wait for it ... wait for it ... RON PAUL!!!! Glad to do my part to get Glenn's comments over 300.

However, back on the topic of FISA retroactive immunity, I liked the proposal to switch to a company that is currently not one of the telecoms seeking immunity. I would again propose an idea a mentioned a while back on another FISA thread that everyone who has service with one of these providers stop paying their bills as a form of civil disobediance. Hit the telecoms where they hurt. Also, while writing to Senators and Representatives is always a good idea, what about descending upon Washington once Ried unveils the day that the FISA bill will be reintroduced and filling all the seats in the Senate. Much like the fans at a football game are referred to as the "12th man," so could we act as the "101st Senator" and provide tangible, real time support for Senator Dodd and others, not to mention heckle any Republican who would attempt to filibuster an amendment stripping retroactive immunity from the FISA bill.