Why do we even give a damn about our news people and the stuff they report?

When you interview people like Jim DeMinted, who is liable to say any damn thing he pleases in front of a camera, you shouldn't even have to work at it - a quick tour through the archives of your own publications should reveal a veritable laundry list of contradictory statements, a list long enough for you to rattle off at least ten of their previous ridiculous claims in a row, machine gun style, on practically any facet of government that comes up.

I know, I know - I'm going to get the same old canard, "we can't get the next story if we antagonize these guys". Well guess what? Given a choice between perusing what amounts to a regurgitation of the twisted, unpatriotic, anti-American level of vitriol DeMinted and his ilk spew daily or a recitation of some old, boring, actual black and white facts, I'll take the story based on facts any day.

Like this minor brouhaha over the TSA that DeMinted and friends are trying to fan into a full fledged flame. Hmmmmm...I haven't seen anyone on TV with a soundbite or ad that promos a provocative segment exploring WHY the new TSA nominee, Erroll Southers, hasn't been confirmed.



But out here on the interwebs, I see this fact on political blogs everywhere. I see the hold on Southers nomination that DeMinted requested broken down into the act itself and the procedural steps that now have to be followed because he asked for a full debate. And I see these same blogs putting Deminted's action into context by showing how infrequently this actually happens.

So why don't I see Big Journalism putting the hammer to these guys? Why don't I see them hitting these fake ass political charlatans with a ferocious flurry of left hooks, right jabs, and one-two combinations EVERY TIME THEY OPEN THEIR MOUTHS, the way we do out here in the blogosphere? Why isn't the group that calls itself the Fourth Estate as relentless in challenging every false breath these snake oil salesmen take as these carny barkers are in making this stuff up?

I know, I know, facts are like oatmeal, and the general public wants Chik-Fil-A biscuits and Egg McMuffin's and - oh, damn, I forgot about the latest thing, those breakfast burritos you can find at every gas station - the general public wants cholesterol bombs for breakfast.

What they don't want are terrorist bombs blowing up commercial airplanes on their TV.

What they need to see in the crosshairs of an army of investigative journalists, all day everyday, are the people like DeMinted who are experts at holding up progress.

The people with the power of the press behind them need to put the hammer down on people like Senator DeMinted the way John Henry put his hammer down on those railroad spikes when he beat that damn steam engine - to the death.