Glenn - You need to get invited onto shows like Hardball to keep 'em honest (though don't get too chummy...)

Have you ever attempted to do so, or been asked? It would be nice to see a talking head on TV that isn't part of the beltway class.

Klein: Of course we're your betters. We come to your coffee shops and visit you almost every six months.

America: [Prolonged Bronx cheer followed by silence, shuffling feet as people walk away from the corporatist press.]

To most Americans -- the vast majority of whom believe that our country is headed in the wrong direction -- the "Beltway" is the source of the problem. That is the epicenter of the political and media culture which is so profoundly failing the country. Every Beltway institution -- from the President to the Congress to the media -- is held in such low esteem by Americans across the board.

And their very jobs depend on not recognizing and acknowledging that.

I respond to things on-line. As such, I am occasionally prone to vitriol. Here's the problem: In America today, the Repukeliscum have gotten away, for years, ever since Newt and the rise of the Scumbag Repukeliscum, with the use of unbelievably biased language. I will not tolerate that at this time. I hear nothing but BS from them, so feel at this time that tit-for-tat is the only possible approach. I call a spade a spade, and I call the Repukeliscum morons morons.

Most of the Repukeliscum Party are idiots. They believe in creationism. They believe that corporations are our friends. They believe many things that only a total moron could possibly believe, and so I consider them to be idiots. There are occasional Republicans who are not total idiots, but these usually lose in the primaries.

...it's just vitriol for vitriol's sake.

I'll have to remember that next time I'm reading Ann Coulter's syndicated column.

Glenn, you are appropriating Bernard Goldbergs points from his books.

We all know how well read you are so this won't come as surprise to you.

They don't "tend to refrain from using such personal epithets" over at ThinkProgress.org, for instance.

Thank you for telling the truth about the arrogant bunch of sycophants that pass for a press in our country.

We only have anecdotal evidence that Broder talks to ordinary people on field trips to the hinterlands. The hard data in his columns--i.e. the number of times he attributes his views to the people, in contradiction to the polls--says otherwise.

So what to make of it? Well, it's quite possibly true. You see, anecdotal information is of relatively limited use, compared to properly ascertained statistical information. It can be invaluable in conveing a richer texture of attitudes and belief, simply because we're still not up to polling in sufficiently detailed manner to match that (though some pollsters have shown we can do much better than we usually do).

But for this to work properly, one must first understand the big picture that polling provides, and then use anecdotal information to flesh out the big picture--not to invalidate or oblitarate it. And the latter is precisely what Broder and the other pundits do--whatever anecdotal evidence they rely on, it is virtually never checked against actual polling data. It is simply used to either validate their own pre-existing views, or it is disregarded as coming from mad bloggers, bad partisans, "Bush derangement syndrome" or whatever their bogeyman du jure happens to be.

In short, they use anecdotal evidence the way that Bush uses photo-ops: as a means to create simulacra of the real world as they wish it to be.

Dear Mr Klein,

I would like to ask of you a simple favor. Would you please put aside all your preconceptions for a moment and:

1) Take a long, careful look at the decline in newspaper subscriptions around the country.

2) Take a long, careful look at the decline in broadcast network evening news ratings.

3) Take a long, careful look at the decline in cable news network viewership

4) And finally, take a long, careful look at the explosive rise of blogs, online magazines, alternative media, The Daily Show, Colbert Report and dozens of other non-MSM media outlets.

Now please explain to me again how you and your insider-elite colleagues represent the values, viewpoints, and interests of average Americans.

The simple fact, Mr. Klein, which should be obvious even to you, is that American media consumers are voting with their feet, with their remotes, and with their dollars. If you were serving their needs, they wouldn’t be running away from you as fast as they can.

. . . the core journalistic function, which is to report on our government adversarially and to view it as a target of scepticism. -- GG

is the key phrase.

Where politics is concerned, a person who sides with the dominant class is always more likely to succeed as an individual in matters related to wealth, power and prestige. When this much power, money and prestige is on the table, it would be extremely difficult, even for the most idealistic of people, to take the role of sceptic.

But that is a journalists job, first, foremost and forever. To speak truth to power on behalf of those who have no voice.

And they have failed. Broder has failed. Klein has failed. The main stream media, for all practical purposes, has completely failed in its duty and responsibility to inform the American public of the truth that lies behind our government's most important decisions.

They have no excuse, because there is no excuse.

It can well be said that if you're not filled with vitriol, you're just not paying attention.

But, then, that's precisely the point, now, isn't it?

Nice sheep! Nice sheep!

Goats chomp on the Magna Charta. Goats chomp on the Constitution.

Sheep don't never look up.

Mr. Broder's bio at the Washington Post notes he travels over 100,000 miles per year covering politics and talking to voters -- what's your frequent flyer mileage on that account?

The 10,000 pound gorilla in the room is this. Print journalism is all but obsolete, and T.V. journalism is now an entertainment industry. Only radio and the blogosphere have any relevance in the 21st Century. This is because the modern man and woman wants to respond to these pundits, it's so much more satisfying than yelling at your television set.