Dana Priest is a very valued reporter at the Washington Post. Jim Risen and Eric Lichtblau won Pulitzer Prizes, and sure enhanced their standing at the NYT, as a result of uncovering and exposing illegal eavesdropping. There are anti-administration leaks and anti-administration stories all the time in major newspapers.

But they're just the reporters whose name appear (sometimes) on top of news reports. The Beltway Boys are the ones paid to impart their "wisdom" in Op/Eds and on the TV news reports ... in part because the things that folks like Priest, Risen, and Lichtblau (and such as Van Natta) write don't fit into a neat "sound bite" which is all you need to know in the 30 seconds TV will allocate to such, but also because the Beltway Boys are the ones who enjoy the perqs and emoluments of high status in the "media", and because their egos insist that they maintain that status through fawning obsequiousness, because otherwise, they have nothing to show for their supposed talents.....

Cheers,

Glenn, this post -- especially what you lay out in the update -- cuts to the chase about what we need to do to drain the swamp.

A year ago, the weight of the left hemi-blogosphere was thrown primarily behind attacking the corruption, illegality and other excesses of Republicans, toward the end of retaking Congress. Now that the Dems are back in charge, I think one can argue that Henry Waxman, Pat Leahy and others are doing a pretty good job of running that program. As Josh Marshall has now shown with Attorneygate, there are still important things blogs can do to move important stories. But I think we should, in general, move on to the problem of the press.

This should become job #1 for two very important reasons: First, because removing Bush and every incompetent suck-up he has installed will not, alone, cure the cancer that afflicts our political system. The malignancy will flourish so long as the people and attitudes you highlight are allowed to remain in place. Second, because we cannot really expect the Democrats to take on this fight in any meaningful way: so long as the David Broders and Chris Matthews of our world hold such lofty perches, it will be foolhardy for politicians to take them on. If we want things to change, we will need to do it for them.

I am happy to see that you have not gone all Wonkette on us in response to your move to a bigger soapbox. You can play a major role in this essential battle, and I'm happy to see you doing so.

http://politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0307/White_House_Criticizes_Pelosi_For_Visit_To_Syria.html

Current Top Story at "The Crypt's Blog" at Politico

The White House criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Friday for stopping in Syria during her trip to the Middle East. . . . “We discourage members of Congress to make such visits to Syria,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. “This is a country that is a state sponsor of terror.” . . .
- - The Politico

To which a blog commenter replied

Maybe Madam Pelosi and Waxman and crew will get lost in Syria. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
- - a commenter at The Politico

AND NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY (not mentioned at The Politico)

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1YH6znT2Z10

Perino's remarks come as a group of Republican lawmakers has embarked on their own trip to Syria.

Michael Lowry, a spokesman for Representative Robert Aderholt, said that the Alabama lawmaker will visit Syria as part of a Republican delegation led by Representative Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican.

Wolf is the top Republican on the House appropriations subcommittee that funds the State Department.

Perino "wasn't available" to comment about that trip.

-- Bloomberg News Service

The Bloomberg story was posted half an hour BEFORE the Politico blog posting.

Mr. Greenwald,

Big fan of the blog. I noticed in the below post the discussion of the traffic impact Drudge links bestow upon a site.

I live in Austin, and today I attended the University of Texas' Online Journalism symposium (http://journalism.utexas.edu/onlinejournalism/index.php). The morning's first panel featured Jim Brady, vice president and executive editor of WashingtonPost.com. He told the audience that the most emailed stories on washingtonpost.com come from Drudge links – and account for as much as 80% of the hits in such stories, a massive amount. You'll find a brief blog entry I wrote about it here, on the Austin Chronicle's news blog: http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/News?oid=oid%3A461465

Thanks, and keep up the good work.

It is well known that since the ascend of GOP in Congres back in the mid-1990s, reporters like Harris, Halperin, et al realized that a great & quick way to make money was to sing praises of supporters of Corporate America. i.e. the Republican. Once they started on this path the doors of corporate perks opened & they started relishing this, resulting in becoming part of corporate America. Let Harris, Halperin, Len Downey, Tim Russert, David Broder, Jim Vandehei, etc swear (also pass a polygraph test) & tell that they have never accepted gifts & perks from GOP supporters! If they pass these tests successfully then we can consider them to be truth mongers and not dishonest. They speak untruths, are dishonest, corrupt to their genes and Churchill's description of politicans (Politics is the last resort of scoundrels) can be modified to say; "In USA, 4th Estate Support for the Right Wing & the GOP is the Last Resort of Scoundrels & Scums." Most of us in America are sure Mark Halperin of ABC, John Harris of The Politico, David Broder of Wash PO, etc. are morally corrupt and have been corrupted by money & gifts in kind by the Right Wing & the GOP. All of these people will meet justice, delivered by the Divine Court; just like Lee Atwater was taken to next world at a very young age of 40, Tony Snow battling for his life, Chris Matthews suffering serious bouts of Diabetes Mellitus, etc. The Divine Court is the equalizer.