We think many people felt that way – Russert represented a co-opting of the opinion class intersection with upper and middle America by the forces of darkness.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/26/AR2009072602486.html

Howie’s probably wondering why no one has offered to make a movie of ‘Reliable Sources’. (No ‘gonzo’ adult entertainment jokes, please).

We still have seen — as we wrote — no evidence of day-in-day out dry gum shoe reporting from him on the non-glamorous often invisible work of ‘journalism’. Opinions and stunts. (We don’t tip the hat to everyone who has ever been in theater for a short ‘tour’ [cough] as automatically having gravitas, btw. — whether for this mess or any other. Viz, say Michelle Malkin et al.’s visits).

The embed story overall might make for a script. Our character could be one of the throng, a jingo-istic co-op and willing, enthusiastic shill for OSD before during and after the invasion. Only to be disillusioned to find everything FUBAR, contractors making way more money than he is, tired of not getting Grey Goose in the Green Zone, and finally emerging to ask skeptical questions of Paul Bremer. There is character growth, motivation and . . . well, still shit imo LOL. Perhaps we could add that he alone after befriending an orphaned Iraqi boy whose family was shattered with the disappointment that ‘shock and awe’ turned out be a big wet fart found out the UN building was to be blown up but he was helpless because his producer insisted he take the whole camera crew when he tried to warn them. Would add depth, pain and people love disillusioned cynics finding new moral courage from children.

AMC would we think charitably be better served as a recurring SNL character reserved for after the second band slot when everyone has already tuned out. Can’t see that character sustaining a 90 minute film — unless they got the actress to actually enact the daily gratuitous feeble attempts to shock with graphic sexual descriptions. But then Vivid and a host of other companies have already been there, done that (pun or no pun) hundreds of times. There may even already BE an AMC porn film – we’ve not done the research there.

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The reason for our acidic tone is that both Ackerman and Yglesias have platforms to be be heard and know it. Other than vanity why question why movies aren’t made about them? As far as we know (and happy to eat crow if demonstrated wrong), none of those moaning actually even go out and, you know, *do* long haul, day-in-day-out unglamorous gum shoe reporting the hard way say like Sy Hersh did, Dana Priest, etc. Let alone have the results like Dana Priest. Hence the graphic.

As for journalists overall, they have really no one but to blame but themselves for their abysmal public standing (a low Q rating is death for getting a script green lit without that special twist like black humor). ‘Journalists’ are loathed now as either bloviators on cable hawking their own latest new book or smarmy sucks ups to get into rotation for Mika’s Cub Scout Den, etc. Again, other than black comedy, where’s the movie here? Willie Geist’s struggle from Tucker Carlson stooge to Starbucks huckster for Joe? Not much of a character arc that we can see.

True, Eric Boehlert has his new book out claiming bloggers changed the world when they were allowed on the political campaign bus – “Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press” and naturally bloggers think it is “a necessary and essential book.” In fact, we submit it’s not particularly interesting and the subject tedious. Why? Digital technologies have always been about disintermediation. In hundreds of industries. This is just one more. What happened was utterly predictable.

Somehow, because the vast ongoing societal transformation finally happens to them, these people think ‘EUREKA! Check this out.’ Reminds me of a recent high school junior shyly mentioning that there’s hot but not well known band we should check out, and the killer song? ‘Hey Jude.’

What *would* have been a more interesting and useful exercise would be a comparative analysis, to discuss technology, disintermediations, and systemic political changes over corresponding historical eras/sociologies. We’re huge fans of DailyKos, Duncan Black and the rest (who unlike the bloggers linked to are *not* to our knowledge worried that they won’t be played by Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp). If there’s at least a treatment for a script there, more power to them — although we suspect (but don’t know him, unfortunately) that Kos would be the first to stay focused on the prize and not worry whether a movie was in the works.

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Glad you enjoyed CWW. it was a surprise here, too. Nichols, cast and script did great work.