The Cowardice Of The Establishment Media

Courtesy Crooks & Liars comes this exchange on the Chris Mathews show that puts in stark relief the problem of the mainstream media and the possible solution offered by the blogosphere:

Fineman: If nobody is indicted here this whole story will go away.

Page: Should the story go away? (cross-talk)

Fineman: It's going to go away (cross-talk)

Page: That's the point it should not go away and it won't go away even if it takes the bloggers to keep it alive. It is going to stay alive.

The establishment media has become so corrupt, so cowardly, that the only way they will stick their neck out on a story is if someone else, say a special prosecutor with indictments, has done so already. Far be it from the Fineman's of the world to report a story simply because it deserves to be reported. No. He won't talk about it unless there is someone else (Joe Wilson, Patrick Fitzgerald, a Democratic leader) to lead the charge.

Well, I guess the bloggers are leading the charge and are forcing poor little Fineman to actually do the job he is paid to do.

What. A. Putz.

(Not to mention the implication of Fineman's statement that ethics in Washington is now purely defined by what is legal and what is not legal.)