Jamison Foser writes on the defining issue of our time:

The defining issue of our time is not the Iraq war. It is not the "global war on terror." It is not our inability (or un­will­ing­ness) to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. Nor is it im­mi­gra­tion, out­sourc­ing, or growing income inequity. It is not education, it is not global warming, and it is not Social Security.

The defining issue of our time is the media.

The dominant political force of our time is not Karl Rove or the Christian Right or Bill Clinton. It is not the ruth­less­ness or the tactical and strategic su­pe­ri­or­i­ty …continue.

Amy Sullivan has a piece in the Washington Monthly about the little-sung successes of the Democrats.

Apparently, there is some strategy and co­or­di­na­tion going on in the Democratic leadership, despite what the press might lead you to believe. The Dubai ports deal blew up because Schumer kept calling press con­fer­ences about it, though Schumer has hardly been credited with lobbing the grenade. Murtha was not left out in the cold by Pelosi and other Dems; it was a deliberate strategy to prevent him being labeled as a token hawk. And the Dems managed to kill Bush's pri­va­ti­za­tion of Social Security, by dis­ci­plined attacks on Bush's "risky" proposal. Their not …continue.

In The Media's Chance at Redemption, Russ Baker ably takes the MSM to task:

When, oh when, will the U.S. “main­stream media” finally stop hemming and hawing, parsing and un­der­stat­ing? When will they simply go for the jugular to confirm what any thoughtful American has already learned from “less reputable” but in­creas­ing­ly relevant al­ter­na­tive in­for­ma­tion sources: that from the beginning of the Bush ad­min­is­tra­tion, invading Iraq has always been as much an article of faith for the president as, well, promoting faith over reason?

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The Times report was full of throat-clearing and arcane notations that, while the memo had previously been reported, it had never been as fully reported, or that …continue.