Been there, done that

Not a day goes by without more connections between the Bush campaign and Smear Boat Veterans for Bush coming to light.

Filthy campaigning of this sort is a Karl Rove trademark. Maybe -- just maybe -- the media won't let him get away with it this time.

In a democratic society, the Fourth Estate is our designated watchdog -- but for the last several years, too many so-called "reporters" have functioned more like lap dogs for the RNC. They've accepted talking points from the RNC at face value and dutifully regurgitated them. The 2000 campaign provided a case study of the phenomenon -- documented exhaustively by such media critics as Bob Somerby (of The Daily Howler) as well as in more conventional venues like the Columbia Journalism Review).

It will be interesting to see if this actually represents a turning point for the press. For the sake of our democracy, I certainly hope so.