The emperor has no clothes,

only in this scenario, the Washington DC press corps is the emperor. Eric Boehlert:

The New York Times made headlines last week when it tapped a new D.C. bureau chief. But if the paper of record really wanted to jump-start its Beltway news operation, maybe it should have tried to lure Patrick Fitzgerald away from the Department of Justice.

Let's face it, as special counsel in charge of investigating the Valerie Plame CIA leak, and now the lead prosecutor in D.C. federal court methodically laying out the damning evidence of perjury, obstruction, and lying against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Fitzgerald has consistently shown more interest -- and determination -- in uncovering the facts of the Plame scandal than most Beltway journalists, including the often somnambulant D.C. newsroom of The New York Times.

Though a lot of the liberal blogosphere's passion for the Plame story died down when only Libby was indicted, Patrick Fitzgerald has more than lived up to his fearsome reputation during the trial. His case reveals that even though Cheney was protected enough by his self-scrificing minions that he could not be charged with a crime, he is what we have long suspected him to be: a vengeful, petty CYA bureaucrat, and a liar.

Eric Boehlert is one notable exception to the rule; Dan Froomkin is an invaluable other. His column yesterday took a close look at Tim Russert's testimony and its implications for those of us who are not part of the DC in-crowd and are forced to rely on compromised reporters for the information we aren't privy to.

Don't bother.

I think what Elias wrote about Chris Matthews today is exactly right. Paying attention to Matthews, or Imus, or Howie Fineman, or Joe Klein for that matter, is a loser's game. Not that I haven't been caught up in it myself - I surely have, too many times. One of them would make an antiwar statement or allow a rare honest compliment to Kerry to drop from their lips, and I'd get excited, thinking to my deluded self, "FINALLY."

And then I'd tune in the next day to see the follow up. Which would be - every single time - a complete boomerang back to DC insider smartassery. And I'd feel like stupid old Charlie Brown after Lucy - once again - pulled the football away at the last second. (thank you, karynnj, for that perfect image!)

So Elias's advice is good advice.

In 2003, Chris Matthews would've happily cancelled democracy and crowned George Bush King-Emperor Pillar-of-Fire-on-Earth.

Never forget this, Chris Matthews is craven and untrustworthy he is a flatterer, a trimmer and a courtier not a newsman or even a pundit worth reading or watching.

This country would be a better place if we all turned off our tv's and refused to watch Hardball, Tucker, and Imus altogether. They are not worthy of our serious attention.

The New York Times taketh away,

and Radosh giveth. Check out the comments.

By the way, the man a lot of people wish would go away, isn't. They underestimate his tenacity at their own peril.

[UPDATE]: The Radosh thread above has made a wide turn towards asshole-ism, but the original post still makes a good point about Kerry and the media.