Which is an interesting thought and one that provides the reader with the warm glow of superiority. "Yes, we were once so backward as to define some people as 'nonpersons' and then we proceeded to treat them as shabbily as one person can do to another, but those days belong to our past - almost our prehistory - and we are so much better for it!"

Of course, none of that is true.

As has always been the case in America, we have loftily worded documents that posit egalitarian ideals (Declarations of Independence), but when the rubber meets the road, our execution of those philosophies is so much more base in nature (those nonpersons of the US Constitution; after all - how will we build enormous fortunes if we cannot exploit a native-born populace of free labor?)

I can hear the hue and cry that howsoever evil our forebearers might have been (and none dare call our founding fathers evil - no matter how many innocent individuals they killed or raped for sport) we are not they, we have those shining lights of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to that self-same constitution upon which to rest our halos.

Still, it seems to me that when major segments of our economy - like one example of that agricultural belt in 'Old Mexico' (you might know it as California) depends upon 'illegal' and 'alien' workers as the support structure for the agribusinesses and their profits - how can we even feel free to comment when our client state of South Korea decides to cash in on the template we gave them?

Yes, you are correct when you state that Reed accurately captured the events - Edsall did say those remarkable things about David Broder. And although it is true that those comments from Edsall fell directly into alignment with the blogosphere's common critique of the people classified as "beltway media", being a reporter requires a higher burden than merely proper stenography.

Is that not the prime critique that Colbert made two years ago at the White House Correspondents Dinner? For far too long during the Bush presidency, the press corp has behaved as though they were stenographers - and we the people were given a huge disservice by that. Remember the credulous NY Times, front page stories by Judith Miller? Breathless accounts of just what exactly the VP or the Iraqi exiles told her - with none of the context setting - can we believe this anecdotes that we need from our reporters.

And that is what Reed left out - any information on why we should believe that Edsall meant exactly what he said. That's what we need from reporters, otherwise we will endlessly repeat this same loop.

If Mr. Wilentz did not like the rules, did he also complain before the campaign started? Is there a point to making these noises during the middle of the race?

You know, if NBA players were awarded one point for assists, point guards would have a better chance of having the highest scoring average on each team.