archy

I’m back. Don’t pay the ransom
This couldn’t have come at a worse time. With so much happening in the news, my employers have actually demanded that I do some work for my paycheck (the bastards!). Though looking at from today’s perspective, I’m not sure I would have provided anything more than cheerleader noises.

It has been exciting, hasn’t it? Kerry hit back at the Swifties and hit back hard. The mainstream press is doing the job that we so often complain they’re unwilling to do. The fight is still going on and it will no doubt be a week or more before we can tell who got he worst from it. It might be November before we know.

I want to make two points here. First, we Blogistanis give the mainstream press a lot of grief for engaging in “he said/she said” reporting. That is, just reporting what the sides say, never digging any further, never pointing out inconsistencies or falsehoods, the latter in a misguided attempt at objectivity. We need to send some positive reinforcement to those outlets that have done their job. Top on the list are the Washington Post, the New York Times, Chris Matthews, Knight Ridder Press, and the Chicago Tribune.

My second point is, however fun this has been, it has no bearing at all on the problems we face now and will face over the next four years. Rather than tracking down every loose end on the Swiftie story, we need to turn our attention back to issues that matter a quickly as possible. Although this brou-ha-ha has been a genuine threat to the Kerry campaign, once it has been dealt with the longer term effects of it has been to force Kerry to spend money he would better have saved for October and to distract the rest of the country from the miserable job Bush is doing.

A little righteous indignation is good for the blood circulation from time to time, but now we need to get back to work driving Bush from office in shame.