Supporting the Shrubbery isn’t a plan, it’s a cop out. Supporting the troops isn’t a plan, it’s a bumper sticker.

I want to know why the average political pundit is more suited to covering Oscar night than a political debate. The thought of these idiots covering the Lincoln-Douglas debates makes me cringe. It would have been about how tall Lincoln was and how badly dressed while Douglas was short but has a better choice of clothes. No one would have had any idea what they said.

Bryan, you have a genuine interest in foreign policy and foreign affairs. It matters to you how al Qaeda formed. It matters to you how the U.S. interacts with various factions in the Middle East. You pay attention because you realize these things have real-world consequences. By contrast, the incurious Bush thinks only of what extends or limits his power and his cronies’ profits, and the MSM pursues only what is “sexy” … which immediately omits most serious questions of international relations.

Say what they will about Al Gore, the MSM cannot truthfully accuse him of not understanding the context in the Middle East. But they’d rather accuse him of dressing unfashionably, or being fat, or stiff, or whatever. Our media has become unbearably shallow, and we have allowed them to do so.

You get to read AFP which actually has reporters in the area who can speak the local language.

I remember listening to a BBC report on problems in Chad. The news reader was speaking to a local leader and the leader was having problems with his English, so the BBC guy switched to French without skipping a beat. That is something you will never see on a major US channel.

What is the advantage of having editors and all of the other structures that are supposed to provide the gravitas of the MSM when compared to bloggers, if none of those people is paying attention.

I get more information scanning Le Figaro in the morning over breakfast than I do from reading half the major U.S. dailies and watching all the major news broadcasts.