If you think the article is bad, check out the comments. See Mr. Treacher's concept of accountability. It's rather mild compared to what Hawkins' readers write. No more accurate, mind you.

Quite so, old chap. If only we could all be as sophisticated and above the fray as you.

You're actually telling me that if journalists run stories with which the other side (whichever side that is) don't agree, then those journalists should be ground up in the political mill of destruction?

Don't ask me, ask Media Matters.

First battle: Ann Coulter vs. Janeane Garofalo!

TOP QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT!

But of course it never works that way- instead, each side ups the ante and uses the vile tactics of their opponents as an excuse for their own.

OTOH — I can see this thread going over the edge pretty quickly. Great post, Jazz!

You're actually telling me that if journalists run stories with which the other side (whichever side that is) don't agree, then those journalists should be ground up in the political mill of destruction? Do you really not see the freeze that puts, immediately, on any type of reporting at all?

Problem is Conservatives are too damned polite. They don't like to use vulgarities like we Libertarians do. They don't like to use terms like “Fascist,” or “Communist,” or even “Nazi,” when it applies to their political opponents. But we Libertarians do. And for that, for the past few years, Conservatives have labeled us “extremist,” or “fringe.”

Fine, Mr./Mrs. Conservative: If we're so fringe then we don't need to be working with you. We'll pitch our own Tent.

Thankfully, a few Conservs get it, like John Hawkins. Which means there's great hope for the future coalition of Libertarians and Conservatives in fighting the Fascist Liberal Ruling Elite.

I can't imagine a faster way to shut down journalism altogether.

Accountability. What a concept.

OTOH — his very first set of suggestions on how to play the game were not funny at all.

Why don’t conservatives do opposition research on the journalists endlessly running stories about Bristol Palin and Joe the Plumber? Have they ever been arrested? Whom do they own property with? Have they ever been paid to do a speech for someone and then run a favorable news story about him? Certainly Keith Olbermann’s personal life is just as newsworthy as Joe the Plumber’s, and the details of Maureen Dowd’s life are just as noteworthy as those of Bristol Palin — are they not?

I can't imagine a faster way to shut down journalism altogether.