"If you doubt that statement, go back and trace where the hubbub over the handshake between Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and President Obama began. Or where the controversy around Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's comments about radical right wing groups started."

Yeah, all of the things the american people could give a sh*t about.

perhaps you should consider reading some different websites for a while.

Or perhaps they should begin to practice real journalism. Nah, that's too hard and honest.

I think very good advice, but I wish that the progressive bloggers I follow would also follow it. As your later entry quotes Ambinder, the Republicans are not a serious party now, but they are serious and frightfully successful in distraction. Look at the other entries here today -- responding to Karl Rove, Pence, etc. Let's not waste our time.
Let's have some real coverage of the provisions under discussion for a healthcare plan, the debate over Afghanistan and Pakistan, progress on clean energy initiatives, status of financial and auto bailouts and the impact of all of these on real people.
There is a lot of work to be done and lots to discuss and get informed about.

This post helps explain why the traditional media is rapidly becoming irrelevant.

I can sum this up in ten words: It's a circle jerk, and Drudge is the pivot man.

I disagree with Bruce @4:14. One of the reasons I visit this site regularly is not to read about the nonsense the right is spewing (I could find that on Drudge or by listening to hate-radio), but to be comforted that there is continual, strong, well-reasoned pushback against their nonsense. Without such pushback, their twisted arguments can (and have) take hold. Undoubtedly, Benen has a sphere of influence of his own, and this blog makes a difference.

Wasn't it Drudge who first perpetuated that false story about the white woman who was 'attacked by a black man' who cut a "B" on her cheek, backwards implicating her use of a mirror in gouging the letter into her own cheek? This was just prior to the election last year.

Drudge didn't ask any of the relevant questions that journalists (which he is not) who have credibility and integrity ask before reporting. Drudge splashed it across it's screen without any thought of whether it was true or not and it wasn't until the 'real journalists' started doing journalistic follow up to a potential story that the truth came out. What hit home how little Drudge did to check, was how quickly the truth came out after a very cursory check on the facts but the real journalists.

Drudge, to my knowledge (I don't read Drudge for this very reason), didn't own up to the mistake and there were people who still went to them for 'news' soon afterward.

At least on the HuffPo (ther are others), their journalists have more journalistic cred when they ask thoughtful questions of the president, as one example, and report on news with some set of standards. They don't embarass themselves and hold themselves above Drudge and other less credible websites.

If the answer is "because Drudge says so," perhaps you should consider reading some different websites for a while.

Or better yet, you should consider finding another line of work. Edward R Murrow spins.

Drudge is not a credible source of anything except misinformation.

And frankly I don't take anyeone who uses him as a source seriously.

Bruce hit it right on the head, and it bears listing his words again -

"Let's have some real coverage of the provisions under discussion for a healthcare plan, the debate over Afghanistan and Pakistan, progress on clean energy initiatives, status of financial and auto bailouts and the impact of all of these on real people.

There is a lot of work to be done and lots to discuss and get informed about."

I would also add global warming, the troubles in the Middle East,nuclear proliferation, Social Security, restoring the institutions that provides checks on various industries and their products, etc.

Obama is in the White House, and the Democratic Party is running Congress. They are now the government.

Focusing on the Right-Wing is important (just as holding those from the Bush years accountable for the crimes they committed), but the next few years are going to be very crucial in our history. Anyone who believes we need to fix some really large problems, need to focus their primary attention on those who are in a position to address them, not those who are not.

Everyone here knows it, but for some reason Steven didn't mention the one key element: Drudge pushes Republican talking points regardless of their factual accuracy, and supresses anything that makes the Republicans look weak.

Furthermore, anyone who frequents Drudge, whether they admit it or not, LIKES those talking points.

Chris Cillizza : political journalism :: s'mores : nutrition

Also, what's up with that crumpled smile of embarrassment Cillizza's always sporting? He looks like a girl in sixth grade who's just been asked to dance for the first time.

Y'know, it would really only take one good reporter on the "Here's what my competitors will be pushing today, and here's why it's crap" beat to make drudge pretty toxic.

Anyone who believes we need to fix some really large problems, need to focus their primary attention on those who are in a position to address them, not those who are not.

Except that, as Steve has been pointing out, the Republicans are still in a position to block any solutions to those large problems through their contacts in the media. Some people in this country are still convinced that our current Secretary of State murdered Vince Foster because there wasn't any pushback when the media (especially the Wall Street Journal) started publishing those claims.

It's all well and good to tell people to just ignore the bullies and they'll go away, but it didn't work in middle school and it's not going to work now.

shortstop: "Also, what's up with that crumpled smile of embarrassment Cillizza's always sporting? He looks like a girl in sixth grade who's just been asked to dance for the first time."

Touché.

I always thought Crith Thilizza was a hack, now I know why.

"A powerhouse of political news influence"? You don't say! I say more like the water-cooler every drone "newsworker" can't stay away from simply because sophomoric gossip is all the rage in the news room these days! -Kevo

It's strange how Republicans like Steele will criticise Rush (even if they then recant), but you'd never hear a peep criticising Drudge, who is really the Republican's go-to playmaker.

Shorter Cillizza: I read Drudge, therefore he is influential.

Trollkiller -- he shoots, he SCORES!

Pardon me, but how can you "tend" to do something "regularly"?

It is bad form for a journalist to grovel. In any other country at least. Reading those ass-kissing comments made me want to wash my eyes. Does Cillizza really think the right wing will forget the few times he wrote ethically and honestly when he is culled from the list of questioners at the next Right Wing "press" conference? Sad. If you have a megaphone, you need to be calling these GOP-enabling nasty intellectual frauds on being nutless bastard freak-show sadistic sons of bitches. Or shut the hell up.

"If you have a megaphone, you need to be calling these GOP-enabling nasty intellectual frauds on being nutless bastard freak-show sadistic sons of bitches. Or shut the hell up."
Sparko 11:37 PM

Some things need repeatin.' You listening, Mr. Benen?

Was there anything at all unusual about domestic security officials raising concerns about domestic terrorism at the hands of potentially violent extremists?

Not from libs, no. Same tactic the mainstream media used to sabotage Barry Goldwater by referring to him as an "extremist" instead of a conservative, thus painting the election as a contest between an "extremist" and a "moderate."

Hey, hey, LBJ. How many boys did you kill today." Some moderate. Thank God the Bushes showed that the no-win strategies of Truman and LBJ maximize casualties in war or we'd still be fighting Saddam Hussein and the Republican Guard with "progressive escalation."

Except that, as Steve has been pointing out, the Republicans are still in a position to block any solutions to those large problems through their contacts in the media.

No, the 2008 elections is clear proof that the American public can make intelligent decisions, despite of what the collective media says. Propoganda only works when one stops trying to search for facts.

Peoples' lives have been so messed up the last fews years by the GOP, to the point where I suspect it will not allow them to forget.

Some people in this country are still convinced that our current Secretary of State murdered Vince Foster because there wasn't any pushback when the media (especially the Wall Street Journal) started publishing those claims.

And people also probably still believe Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. And when those *some* people are continually given a voice to spew lies, fear and distortion - instead of honest debate - and achieve power, and wield it, the last six years are the result.

It's all well and good to tell people to just ignore the bullies and they'll go away, but it didn't work in middle school and it's not going to work now.

It's not ignoring them, it's a matter of giving them the appropriate focus and response. In this case it's confronting them with a larger more powerful voice.

And that works quite well if the majority of people speak up. Bullying is really nothing more than a variant of terrorism. And one of the key components of it is instilling fear in its victims, to the point of making them believe they cannot either fight back or respond.

I read Drudge because it carries news that the mainstream media is too biased to cover. I don't accept it all as gospel; I use it as a starting point. The MSM provides very few starting points these days.

Look, I get the argument. Major traditional news outlets keep hitting refresh at Drudge's site, effectively using him as an assignment editor

They don't have to hit refresh. He refreshes automatically 3 times more often than most sites. I guess to keep his numbers up.