Bad pundits

I kinda like this idea. This gets at an important part of politics - the framing, the message, and the people who massage and manage them. But it's also crucial for reconstructing politics that liberal blogs learn to "create." Blogs are a medium that could potentially be used for piecing together good policy through proposals, criticism, and revision. I often worry that the engagement with the right - whether bloggers or pundits - is a waste of time because it's carried out on their terms: ranting disdain of opposing views.

The commentariat is under fire like never before and post-Colbert at the Correspondents' dinner, their studiously "not getting it" is rubbing people the wrong way, especially bloggers.

Bad timing. Except for the odd primary here and there this is a perfect time of year for bloggers to rip the stuffing out of the plush-bottomed talking heads. After two decades of talk show shouting people are more than ready to shout back.

Before the Democrats can really get going, there's a lot of dismantling that needs to be done. Now and the next few weeks are the time when we need to take down as many pundits and talk show hosts as possible.

Not generically but specifically going after the pompous gas bags who have been first to rely on RNC talking points and most resistant to any kind of "serious" back and forth on critical issues.

How many can we damage or take down? Well, that's getting into Powerline territory. It's not about the scalps, it's about this being a necessary step. People need to get their news from other sources. Me, I'd love to see a Sunday morning talk show boycott. That crap rots your brains, infuriates you and leaves you unfit to be around. Listen to some music instead and rest your brain for the coming week so when opportunities to do good arise you can take advantage of them.

Bringing down the commentariat is doing good. The right has played a disingenuous game, trashing the media while coopting them at the same time. If liberals start pushing the idea of getting news online instead from the TV, people would start getting better quality news. And blogs are a big part of that. The role of the blog is not so much to create but to point. Point at accurate news, meaningful analysis, serious dialogues. All the things most Americans haven't been getting.

And it's also time to reward those journalists who have done good, who have reported the truth and aggrieved the powerful. Your best rule of thumb is pretty simple. Any reporter the right complains about is someone who's probably worth reading.