Matt Yglesias spots one of the funniest pieces of journalistic hackery I've seen in a while:

The Attorney General was not told that he was a subject or target of the…investigation, nor did he believe himself to be,” the letter said, leaving Washington to choose between Waas’ credibility and that of the Bush Justice Department.

Let's see now, Murray Waas vs. Alberto Gonzales on the credibility meter . . . hmmmmm.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Boy, they got Waas good with that one. Hahahahahahahaha!

Time to pull out the old Spanish saying, "le salio el tiro por la culata." (The gun backfired.)

Just now on MSNBC, Condessa Brewer permitted GOP talking head Ron Christie to repeat the falsehood that Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet.

Supposedly Christie and James Boyce, the Democratic talking head, were to discuss the prospect of Gore runnning in 2008. But, as is usual on cable news, falsehoods were presented as opinion. By now, EVERYONE knows that Al Gore did NOT say he invented the Internet. In fact, I was a little shocked to hear Christie not only repeat the falsehood, but to get indignant when Boyce called him on it.

MSNBC has done some good things of late and I know that Jeralyn has great respect for Dan Abrams, who manages the cable network now. But please stop folks from appearing on your shows and spewing obvious falsehoods, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. The Al Gore Internet falsehood has been so thoroughly debunked that Condessa Brewer should have stopped Christie. Either she did not know it is false or she was too timid to do it. She needs to learn from Chris Matthews.

This discussion between Glenn Greenwald and Ben Smith of the Politico regarding the Politico and the Media in general is interesting and I think provides lessons both for the Media and media critics.

Glenn Greenwald is, I think by general consensus, among the very best bloggers. His detail, research, piercing arguments and eye for an interesting story is virtually unmatched. And yet, Glenn's work on the Politico story did suffer from a weakness and Ben Smith picked up on it - the conflation of the politics of certain persons in the Politico management as a strong influence on the coverage. I don't think that is true and the charge took away from Glenn's powerful case. And it allowed Ben Smith to push away some of Glenn's powerful points.

Ok, I've only watched American Idol for the past four weeks since Bon Jovi was on and they did their Africa benefit. Tonight was the selection for the finals and one of the final three contestants, Melinda, Blake or Jordin was going home.

Melinda was the most accomplished singer by miles, in my opinion. Jordin had the best personality and is a really good singer. Blake left me cold.

So how could Melinda get sacked? Because America voted. 60 million votes in 24 hours. And they selected Blake and Jordin.

What does this mean?

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In the blogosphere discussion on pseudonymity on the blogs, in a comment in Hilzoy's post at ObiWi, Katherine makes a modest proposal for anonymous sources used by the Media:

. . . I have a proposal: newspaper reporters' anonymous sources should at least have to use pseudonyms. That way we could determine whether to trust "SeniorAdministrationOffical12" based partly on his past track record of being either reliable or completely full of crap, and learn how many of them they were using...

I second the motion. This proposal provides for maintaining secret the identity of the source while at the same time giving the reader the chance to judge the credibility of said source. A win-win.

Episode 83 is tonight: "Kennedy and Heidi."

This week, an asbestos-disposal impasse raises tensions between Jersey and New York. Meanwhile, Tony has a revelation while Paulie gets upstaged.

The She-Pundit With Long Blond Hair (I don't use her name on TalkLeft if I can help it) has been cleared of voting fraud charges in Palm Beach. They found no evidence she "willfully or deliberately'' violated any laws."

The Palm Beach Post reports on questions surrounding support she received from an FBI agent in the probe.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Ms. C. didn't change her address because of a stalker, whom she had reported to the FBI, and the FBI agent called the voting fraud investigator to confirm the stalking incident, not to try and influence the investigation.

If that's the case, and she was trying to vote where her registration was, even though she knew it was no longer the correct address, but she didn't lie on her voting registration form for the purpose of defrauding the elections commission, I don't have a problem with this.

No doubt she feels she was unjustly accused, and I'm sure it's too much to hope for that she'll have more empathy for other putative criminal defendants, which is a shame. The only solace for those who would have liked to see her stand in the dock is that it probably cost her a bundle in legal fees.

Glenn Greenwald documents some of the big names that have caught it - and it all seems to be about David Broder, as far as I can tell.

It's funny, because I think most of the blogs absolutely revere good journalism and smart punditry. One of the guys I have liked and praised is Jon Alter, even though I have disagreed with him from time to time. I think Joe Klein has been living up to his talent this year, and yes, I think Klein is very talented and very smart. So when they say things like this and this, I can only chalk it up to BDS, Blogger Derangement Syndrome, on which Atrios has more today. Jon Alter's statements are really shocking:

There's one dimension of the blogosphere that never ceases to amaze me: Some people disbelieve nearly everything they read in the "mainstream media" -- and believe nearly everything they read online. Never mind that the ground-breaking reporting on which they base their opinions often comes from the MSM publications like Newsweek, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

Who are these "some people?" Let me be blunt - if this is an example of the political reporting we get from the MSM, and it is, it never ceases to amaze me that someone as GOOD as Jon Alter would choose to defend it. There are "some people" of course. But that is not Alter's insinuation. It is most bloggers he is thinking of. And that is just false. Bloggers have practically built churches for reporters and pundits like Dana Priest, Paul Krugman, Ed Wong and yes, for good strong reporter/pundits like Jon Alter.

New York Times Public Editor Byron Calame hung up his pen last weekend, making way for a new Public Editor, Clark Hoyt.

Calame provided a model, imo, for how to do the job. Unlike his awful predecessor, Daniel Okrent, Calame was a newspaperman, and knew his way around a newsroom and the processes that permit the nightly miracle of the production of a newspaper, particularly a newspaper like the New York Times.

Unlike Okrent, Calame welcomed the attention of Times readers:

It has been an honor to be entrusted to pursue concerns about The Times on behalf of you, the readers, and to monitor the integrity of the journalism practiced by the talented staff of this outstanding newspaper. It has been especially gratifying to hear from those of you whose questions and criticisms showed that you take seriously your obligation to be informed so you can be a more effective citizen in our democracy. I only wish there had been more such critics, those I came to think of as ”citizen readers.” And while you often deserved more breadth and vision than I had to offer, please know that I have given the job my all — for you and for the craft that I love.

Calame embodied what I believe the attitude and function of a Public Editor should be. He leaves big shoes to fill.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann will receive the Molly Ivins Award today from the Alternative Association of Newsweeklies today.

The award was recently named in honor of Ms. Ivins, who served as co-editor of AAN member Texas Observer early in her muckraking career, and who died of breast cancer on January 31, at the age of 62. It is intended to recognize a journalist or media figure who's reporting or commentary has had a profound impact on the public's understanding of vital national issues, and who's work embodies the spirit of Ivins' courageous legacy.

Olbermann says he's honored to receive the award and still wants to be Molly Ivins when he grows up.

Congratulations, Keith.

Episode 82 is tonight: "Walk Like a Man."

This week, A.J. struggles with depression. Meanwhile, Kelli's dad is the unwitting catalyst of a new feud between Christopher and Paulie.

Paulie sure is getting his share of attention this season. I wonder if it means he'll be gone by the season's end.

So many loose ends, so few episodes left. Anyone have any predictions or reactions?

I am on record as saying the Media is basically irrelevant on how the American People perceive the Iraq Debacle. That Beltway Dems do not fully appreciate this is true but I think they listen to them a lot less than they used to. But is this true for the 2008 election? Let's hope so, because otherwise, we are hostage to this type of mindset, as digby documents:

If anyone thought that it would be possible to re-run the flip-flop campaign against the Massachusetts politician in the race this time, think again:

STODDARD: You know, I really think this is not a big deal. I think that he is entitled to his quirky tastes. I think that he is a habitual flip-flopper, and has religious conversions on everything that comes out of his mouth, and he changes his mind so much now that people don’t even notice.

. . . The reporter who made those comments, A.B.Stoddard, is often on MSNBC these days. . . . Call me crazy but this sounds like a person we can depend on to keep us apprised of all the latest beltway CW. Mitt's flip-flopping is not going to be an issue.

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