...nobody would read Cohen at all. Nobody. He's a crank. He's long been a crank. Nobody inside the Beltway has taken him seriously for years, decades. Nobody outside the Beltway gives a good gott-damb what he has to say about anything, and hardly anybody even knows who he is. Neither a liberal nor a conservative, he is a nonentity.

That said, Glenn has provided a sterling disassembly of the man's "thought", and he's tied it intimately to the conventional "thought" -- misnamed "wisdom" -- of the courtier media crowd, and by so doing has demonstrated that in fact, nearly all these inner-circle media types are as kooky, loopy, and goofy as Mr. Cohen. They may have a readership and following that Cohen does not, but they are no less silly, ridiculous and bone stupid than Mr. Cohen.

He's their archetype.

Gad, what did we do to deserve this courtier class?

As for me, I'd have Libby trussed up, thrown in a tumbril, hauled to the steps of the Capitol for a date with Mme Guillotine.

But that's just me.

I think, though I don't know this, that a lot of what Glenn talks about in this piece may be attributable to the grip celebrity has taken on our journalists. Someone may have mentioned this in the 100 or so letter preceding it; if so, my apologies, but I don't have time to read back through while at work. At some point in the last twenty years or so, journalists stopped chasing the story to become the story. Now they run in the same circles as the people who populate the stories they are trying to chase. This cannot work. What happened of the old stereotype of the rumpled guy in the bad suit no one wanted to talk to? Now our journalists are indistinguishable from politicians, lobbyists and celebrities.

We have a free and open press in this country because someone needs to throw rocks at windows and ask "Why?" and yet in my lifetime I've watched that ethos fall to pieces. I should know who a great reporter is because he does his homework, follows his leads, bangs away on interviews and never stops researching. Being on TV, traveling in the right circles, being notable and recognizable, singing monster book deals to write about nothing--these are not attributes I want in the people we as a free nation have asked to keep the world transparent. The problems is akin to the awful state of sports journalism, but the stakes here are so much higher. A free and open society depends on it's press. Ours fails us on a daily basis.

The cry in response is often "Access." If we don't toe the line our access is cut off, and my response is to look at the volume of work Charlie Savage, Glenn Greenwald, etc...It's not the administration our failed fourth estaters fear will cut off access. It's the world to which they've become accustomed to belonging, and this Cohen piece stinks of that.

Thanks. Reply is there for those at's interested.

Cheers,

I am not sure what they are teaching in the journalism schools, but in practice, the fresh new reporters I have encountered are following the same tradecraft:

• State issue (as framed by authority)
• State rebuttal (be dismissive if possible, or vague on valid points, and frame them in context of authority's statement)
• Post authority's response in detail to close argument.

I ran into this on a local zoning dispute, and three of four local papers followed this line perfectly, two with reporters so recently minted I don't think they were paying on their student loans yet. Only when I wrote the editors explaining how this presentation was biased, copying all of the other local papers, did the tone change from pro authority to grudgingly neutral (even though they still couldn't fathom why people would oppose the project).

[Holly, to the troll...]: Not really. We're having a little trouble understanding what it is you're trying to say. Your "voice" is unclear -- it's almost as though there were some obstruction in your mouth, impeding the movement of your tongue......

Perhaps you should turn the lights on, dear.

This "Ace of Spades" is like "Shooter243"; a parody (but not as clever as "shooter243") of the real McCoy.

The real Ace of Spades has a RW blog (Google it if you need; but for the best synopsis, search "site:sadlyno.com ace spades") with marginally more S/N ratio than our poster here. Best to ignore it.

Cheers,

... but comments like tiberius' use probably my least favorite trope "nobody cares."

Who cares... what cohen or glenn think? Two ranters arguing.

Now, in a real-life conversation, saying "who cares?" can be useful. But on a comment board attached to an article? Obviously, the poster cares enough to take the time to click through several pages, login, compose and post. So HE cares, but he thinks it would be better if YOU didn't.

These comments amount to "shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!", not to save the commentors' time (he can skip any comment he wants, not read any article he wants, it's a non-linear medium!) but to prevent topics which make the commentor uncomfortable from being brought to his attention.

If he actually admitted to himself that he at least cares enough to bother trying to stop other commentors from posting, he'd have to ask himself WHY he cares.

And there's no coming back to the gang once you leave! They can *smell* the critical thinking on you!

This "Ace of Spades" is like "Shooter243"; a parody (but not as clever as "shooter243") of the real McCoy.

My theory was that the fake Ace was planting evidence so the real Ace could come back later and cry sockpuppetry and blame Glenn for sullying his sterling reputation!

If you read this thread of 'letters' you'll see what the problem with the new media really is. It's chatter and nonsense and people carrying on side conversations about who has the right to thump their chests and shout down everyone else. Basically it's 4th grade recess. Kudos.

"I encourage all Americans to continue our march toward the day when the worth and humanity of every person is respected and the full promise of America reaches every citizen."

President George W. Bush, June 19, 2007

Ummm, George? We're marching the wrong way...

Would that include you? You seem to be thumping your chest rather derisively.

Kudos!

That's funny, I thought the fourth graders were the ones talking about their daddy's aqua velva and talking about who they were going to beat up after school.

This post has been highlighted by Frankly, my dear...

http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/06/18/tragic_legacy/permalink/e2e544ba252a5999615cc82c749c32ba.html

bringing you fame and glory, as well as a small token of our appreciation.

The details are here:

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