Blogs briefing the press

Christian Crumlish

Billmon think's truly pathetic that journalists are getting their background on the Plame Affair from blogs, but one of his commenters points out that its the journalists who aren't reading blogs who are harder to understand.

It's a great thread, not least because it includes this rewrite of Shakespeare by "Monica":

To the liberal blogosphere:

Shall I compare thee to a Full-Blown Criminal Investigation?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the blow-hards of the right,
And public hearings have much too long a wait.
Sometimes too hot the eye of a Full-Blown Criminal Investigation shines,
And often is the punditry's sensibility dimmed.
And every Liar from lying sometimes declines,
By chance or a court-issued subpoena.
But thy eternal truth-seeking shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that integrity thou ow'st;
Nor shall Drudge brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in esteem of lazy reporters thou grow'st.
So long as men will lie and press is free,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

It's been interesting watching people like Kevin Drum systematically tracking down and refuting the right-wing lobs and trial balloons. The story is being written in a collaborative fashion, to some extent a right-left dialectic, but the usual order-chaos axis is in there too, along with the delicate dance of source-pimping.