(2) John Harris, Managing Editor of Politico. What do we make of the high and mighty decrier of The Freak Show that is the Media now? Greenwald says it best:

The Politico's own Editor-in-Chief, John Harris, wrote in his book that political journalism is a "Freak Show" ruled by Matt Drudge, which makes it, by definition, a Freak Show devoted to advancing the Limbaugh-led right-wing agenda. More than any other journalistic outlet around, The Politico has conducted itself so as to feed off of the core of that right-wing Freak Show.

This is what Harris wrote when explaining to me in the most generously patient way the difference between the elevated work of political journalists and the rambunctious, lowly partisanship of bloggers:

Although we are a new publication, Politico has several reporters and editors who have been in this profession for two decades or more. They know that what counts is reputation over the long haul, not any individual story or any uproar du jour on the blogs. . . . In your case, much of your criticism comes from a distinct ideological perspective. That's fine, but surely you must appreciate that not everyone acts with your degree of ideological motivation. In the case of people at Politico, our motivations are simple -- to write interesting and worthwhile stories and to put those stories before largest possible audience.

That pious lecture was delivered by an individual who oversees a "newspaper" that has published no fewer than eight items in the last two weeks about John Edwards' haircut, including a front-page-promoted article yesterday devoted exclusively to that matter by his "Senior Political Columnist."

John Harris looks a gasbag here and I wonder if he has the gumption to respond to Greenwald's evisceration of Politico. Because Roger Simon really stepped in it on this one.

All the defenses, all the whining, all the nonsense has been exposed in this little episode. And if John Harris wants to be better than he was before, better than what he described in the Freak Show, what Roger Simon did must be reprimanded and must be stopped.

I doubt that will happen.