Remember when Lester Bangs, (PHillip Seymour Hoffman) the Rolling Stone writer in "Almost Famous," gives the young William Miller advice about how to "be a friend" to the Rock Stars he covers? He says:

“Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong... My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.”

Now, thirty odd years later, it seems the real journalists reside at places like Rolling Stone as the circles that once brought us Woodward and Bernstein (before got drunk with power) have resorted to covering politicians the way young William was tempted to cover rock stars while he was still a teen.

What we need most, to solve our myriad political problems, is mainstream journalists who are honest and unmerciful with politicians, from both sides, but most are, like this guy, drunk with false friendship, limited admission and a little bit of short-term power.

If only the real journalists would take the fake journalist's advice, whether it be that of Lester Bangs or Jon Stewart, the water would start to clear up, as we'd be taking the first step, getting the hogs away from the spring, to paraphrase an old Texas expression.

If the reporters simply reminded readers on a breaking story, what is presented here is the government's side of the story, and we'll be looking at this in depth over the next N days, that would be a great improvement.

Then just apply a little critical thinking and if nothing else, simply point out the various interests and their spin.

Glenn, I applauded and contributed to your money bomb efforts against Hoyer et al. But this theme -- the dysfunctional media -- is where I think we should be focusing our fire. I know you have spent a lot of effort here before, and you have embarrassed the hell out of some truly awful reporters. But the coverage of the presidential race so far is awfully light on evidence that anything has changed.

Obama has bitterly disappointed me on issues like FISA, as he has you. But I also agree with you that the prospect of a McCain win is too frightening to contemplate. And the press has been playing perfectly into the hands of the McCain spin machine. And so I am thinking that the most meaningful thing we can all do between now and November is to try to shame Abramowitz and the rest of the hacktocracy into doing their damned jobs.

When I started teaching in the late sixties, I used to tell my young students: our democracy has a safeguard, an independent press that safeguards us from become like authoritarian states where the government owns the press. Who knew that sometime around the Reagan years, our press would become the cheerleading end of the government. I was discouraged then; despondent and depressed now. In 2000, I watched with horror as a well paid press core became cheerleaders for W; gleefully trashed Al Gore.

I was stunned with the press core did not work to uncover the W who abandoned his post, while sitting back and watched a Vietnam vet be smeared. I knew the press disliked the Clintons; the disdain for Bill's poor roots in Arkansas was not even hidden.

And now, in 2008, it is 1984.

A press core campaigning for their own personal preferences; covering for criminality in government; and living their lives as a part of an oligarchy. Clearly they no longer safeguard democracy. Now they safeguard their and their friends lifestyles.

There are many revealing episodes during the Bush presidency illustrating how the media functions, but there is none more revealing than the disclosures from the Lewis Libby criminal trial.

Actually I think THE most revealing was the original leak itself, when the White House gave select 'journalists' (notably Novak the rotund) who Valerie Wilson was employed by and didn't object when it was printed as a deliberate counter to her husband's statements. They knowingly burned a NOC, and possibly compromised needed intelligence assets, using the press as willing proxies to do it.

The word "treasonous" comes to mind, except Senator McCain has managed to drain it of meaning of late.

Please Glenn look into the ultimate media cover-up.

I used to work under a CEO who extolled the virtues of the management staff as the "best and the brightest" ... with such talent, success was assured ... and such team work ...

Except it wasn't true. In fact, the talented staff were stressed out and paranoid, in stiff competition in all things, in part due to the CEO's inexplicable, seemingly "personal" decision-making process and the helplessness and frustration that engendered down the line.

The White House press corp knows that it's job is to "know it's place" ... "We're all friends and -- really -- like each other GENUINELY" is part of the legend.

And what happens to the challenging, the churlish, the openly (rudely) skeptical ... well, they don't "advance."

Incuriosity is rewarded and, perhaps, it has "always been so" that the White House Press Corps are a bunch of veterans with sufficient seniority and accomplishment that this is a plush reward, a semi-retirement, high-visibilty, low-sweat just-dessert.

But the news room, "investigative reporters" have mostly all been laid off years ago.

Oh, yesterday's new was that Woodward has a new book coming out ... on the last 3 years of "the war" ...

I suspect Woodward has the career most can only dream of -- court stenography for the best-sellers lists (rather than just the lowly evening TV news or morning paper).

...let's have yet another symposium where all the "journalists" get together and wring their hands over declining newspaper subscriptions, falling viewership, and the general lack of trust toward their profession among the populace. Another symposium where they cast about looking to blame external factors, like that darn Internet, anything and everything but their own total and complete failure to be anything other than conduits of propaganda over and over and over again.

Why do more people read Glenn Greenwald on a daily basis than give a crap about this Abramowitz? THIS IS PRECISELY WHY, YOU PATHETIC EXCUSES FOR JOURNALISTS.

Thanks as always, Glenn, for reminding me of why I haven't read an establishment newspaper for the last 10 years.