I do have one more comment on Joe Klein's column. He wrote:

[T]he left-liberals in the blogosphere are merely aping the odious, disdainful—and politically successful—tone that right-wing radio talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh pioneered. They are also justifiably furious at a Bush White House that has specialized in big lies and smear tactics.

Will Joe Klein try and stem the "extremism" of the Left blogs by writing the truth about Rudy Giuliani's debate performance last night, perhaps the most mendacious in history? Well Joe Klein write that Rudy Giuliani brazenly lied about Iraq, Iran, terrorism and Democrats? I bet he will not and he will then whine about Left blgos like this one calling him on his silence on the issue.

Joe Klein can not handle the truth, the Media, he included, do not report the truth. The silence on the outrageous lies of Rudy Guliani is merely the latest case in point.

It takes a lot of chutzpah to publish a book about Hillary Clinton by Jeff Gerth. But the publisher Little, Brown chose to do so anyway. Simply put, given his atrocious record as a reporter, particularly on Whitewater, leaves Gerth with no credibiity whatsoever as a reporter, much less, as a reporter on the Clintons.

Here's the thing - Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr., Gerth's co-author, may have the goods on Senator Clinton but whatever they write simply will not be believed. That is what associating with Jeff Gerth will do to most any journalistic project.

David Brooks tomorrow:

The continuing U.S. mistake is an unwillingness to see Iraqi reality sociologically, from the ground up.

David Brooks in April 2003:

I think you've begun to see a couple things. One, you've begun to see Iraqis who are jubilant and happy in the cities where they do know they're liberated. If you've read the last few days of the New York Times, you've really seen some exultant crowds, including one who had to me, the slogan of the war, a happy Iraqi fellow who went up to the troops and screamed out, democracy, whiskey and sexy . . .

Democracy, whiskey and sexy . . . David Brooks' reality based view of Iraq. What a dishonest man.

I've seen the trailers for the new movie "Knocked Up" and what I remembered about it was that it was from the director of "The Forty Year Old Virgin." The last thing I would have guessed is that the movie would be seriously debated as pro-choice or anti-choice. But so it goes. Here's Ezra:

The early efforts of folks on both the Right and the Left to brand the movie pro-life were discomfiting. Some in my group seemed genuinely distressed that the main character didn't choose an abortion, and were ready to write off the film for that initial bit of betrayal. I found that baffling. The flick is pro-choice in the most literal sense of the term. Katherine Heigl's character receives advice in both directions, and then makes a decision -- a decision the audience may very well conclude is the wrong one. But she has a choice; nothing is forced on her . . . [T]hat's a perfectly allowable, and indeed respectable, decision within the choice framework.

Of course everyone knows this. The word choice means, um, choice. But this is not the first time abortion has gone to the movies. The last time was a bit more high brow however. It involved the film adaptation of John Irving's book "The Cider House Rules." Here is an excellent 2000 discussion of the issue of abortion and the movies from Amy Goodman's Democracy Now program. THIS discussion delves into the issue of the taboo in film and TV regarding abortion. We have not come a long way baby since Maude had to make her choice in the 1970s.

The Bancroft family (chief stockholder in Dow Jones) is meeting with News Corp today to decide about editorial independence of the Wall St. Journal in the event of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. take-over bid.

T-Rex comments here.

I don't get the big deal over the editorial content. The Wall St. Journal already has a right-wing editorial board. What's the difference between that and Murdoch?

I subscribe to the Journal at a cost of $100 plus a year because of their political and social reporting (not financial reporting as I have no interest in that arena.) I never read their editorials.

The Wall St. Journal's reporting is top-notch. They did great stuff on Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and even on criminal justice and sentencing issues. That's what I'm afraid will be lost if Murdoch has his way.

Update: Commenters point out I misunderstand the nature of the takeover and how newspapers work. Editorial control includes control of the news. I stand corrected.

Calling any criminal defense lawyers in New Hampshire: Eric Alterman may need your help:

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN ) – Columnist and author Eric Alterman was arrested Sunday night inside the debate spin room and charged with criminal trespass after police say he refused repeated orders to leave.

Goffstown, N.H. police say Alterman was in the spin room as a guest of the Creative Coalition and went to an area reserved for a private reception for WMUR-TV. Police say he was asked by an executive at the party if he was invited to the private area and was asked to leave. A police officer was called after a verbal altercation ensued. He was asked by police seven times to leave, and police say he became increasingly loud as he refused. After ignoring a final request, police say he was handcuffed and taken from the building. He is charged with criminal trespass, and a bail commissioner will determine if he will be released.

Update: I just got an e-mail from Eric explaining what happened. Here it is:

The second to last episode of the Sopranos, Number 85 is tonight: "The Blue Comet." Could they be any more cryptic?

This week, the allegiance of those closest to Tony is put to the test. Meanwhile, a case of mistaken identity has serious ramifications

J sends me this link to the complete, unfirewalled text of the Frank Rich column where Rich writes:

What the angriest proselytizers on the left and right have in common is a conviction that their political parties will commit hara-kiri if they don’t adhere to their bases’ strict ideological orders. “If Democrats do not stick to their guns on Iraq,” a blogger at TalkLeft.com warns, there will be “serious political consequences in 2008.” In an echo of his ideological opposite, Mr. Limbaugh labels the immigration bill the “Comprehensive Destroy the Republican Party Act.”

In all seriousness, it was very gracious of Mr. Rich to include the link, though I take serious issue with his characterization of what some of us favor regarding the Iraq Debacle.

In light of today's JFK bust, and the soon to come call for further restrictions on our constitutional rights and civil liberties in the name of the war on terror, I thought it would be a good evening to begin reading ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero's new book, In Defense of America: The Fight for Civil Liberties in the Age of Terror, which he co wrote with award winning journalist Dina Temple-Raston.

I am really liking this book. First because it tells stories, as opposed to reciting statistics. Second, because of the way it is written, in succinct, non-rambling, straight forward sentences. There's new details I hadn't known about the NSA warrantless spy program, the John Walker Lindh case, and it's great to see the authors leave a lot of the legalese behind. This is not a book just for lawyers.

Do yourselves a favor and buy a copy. You won't be sorry.

Via atrios and Instaputz.

My defenses (kidding) of Joe Klein finally struck gold. He didn't genuflect (a la Mark "Freak Show" Halperin) at the altar of Hugh Hewitt. But Joe can't help but falsely smear Left Blogs saying:

JK: You know, the most recent thing that I did that got them [the Left Blogs] ticked off was in my column not this week, but last week. I reported that there was good news in Al Anbar Province . . . I did this based on a lot of reporting, and including a high-ranking military official in Iraq, and I was accused of taking dictation from the Bush administration by some of the left wing bloggers. . . . [I]t’s because there are, you know, this doesn’t represent everybody on the left. It only represents a small segment. But there are people who just don’t want good news from Iraq. . . . JK: They want us to lose

Come on Joe. Criticizing you is not wanting us to lose. I disagreed with the criticism actually but for crissakes, what is it about your ego that would equate criticism of you with wanting us to lose? Sound like Bush on that one.

But now for the somewhat better Klein:

Jamison Foser details how the Media, especially its political reporters, are simply incompetent. I especially like the Frederick of Dollywood red pickup story:

So when longtime lobbyist and Hollywood actor Fred Thompson -- a man who once rented a red pickup truck in order to campaign in Tennessee as a man of the people -- indicated this week that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination, we knew how the media would describe him: Authentic. Folksy.
Let's back up a moment: Thompson didn't even drive the rented pickup, as The Washington Monthly reported in 1996[.] . . . . The pickup was, literally, a rented prop designed to help a wealthy actor/Washington lobbyist/trial lawyer play the role of salt-of-the-earth populist. . . .

The point of the story is how the political Media will just swallow it all:

The Fab Four performing at Abbey Road on the River Festival in Louisville, KY. A medley from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The album was released 40 years ago today, June 1, 1967 -- just as I was getting ready to graduate from high school and the summer of love was kicking off. The times, they were a changing.

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