WASHINGTON POST shifts leftward online. Er, Politico left out a word: ‘more’, between ‘shifts’ and ‘leftward’. What follows is a long - and sometimes convoluted - discussion of marketing strategy, and hidden deeply is this little nugget:

[The Post’s Ezra] Klein ... who argues that while the market for news and opinion is saturated, demand for ... “analysis and explanation” remains high.

I think he’s wrong. The market for opinion, analysis, and explanation is saturated; the market for news is not. In fact, at present the ‘news’ is so saturated with opinion, analysis, and explanation that there’s hardly any news left.

I’m reminded of the old (Texas) joke about the man who was so full of sh*t that when he died, they gave him an enema and buried him in a matchbox. The same could be said of the media: if all the ‘opinion, analysis, and explanation’ were wrung out, the Washington Post could be printed on a single sheet.

Read it all.

NEW YORK TIMES, seizing on fear, pushes civil rights restrictions.

But not their civil rights.

“POLITICS IS A RELIGION, never more so than in the case of Obama. And true believers always prefer the saintly explanation rather than the most logical.”

Or, as I would put it in the converse, never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.

There’s more; read it all.

LUCKY IN NEW YORK. And according to our current counter-terrorism policy, when New York is finally nuked, the police will catch the terrorists – if there are any police left. They will be prosecuted - if there are any courts left. They will be convicted - if there are any jurors left to convict them. And they will be jailed – if any jails remain to hold them.

And we will be happy that our democratic ideals remained intact.

WASHINGTON POST: Tea Party battles perception of racism.

In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, most Americans see the movement as motivated by distrust of government, opposition to the policies of Obama and the Democratic Party, and broad concern about the economy. But nearly three in 10 see racial prejudice as underlying the tea party.

Oh, wow! Three in 10. That’s a significant ..., uh, significant ... uh, minority?

Follow the embedded links. And there’s more at Instapundit.

FLACCID BRAINS: my only complaint is that the term ‘flaccid brain’ presumes there’s a brain to begin with.

SARAH PALIN MAKES SENSE. The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart agrees with Sarah Palin that offshore drilling for oil must continue.

Occasionally the Post’s editorialists can afford to buy a clue.

THEY’RE NOT RACISTS; THEY’RE NOT VIOLENT: Tea Partiers are “aloof elitists, out of touch with America’s common man.”

My, my ....

JASON “CRASH THE TEA PARTY” LEVIN still blaming “Teabaggers” for the Times Square bomb.



“Seriously, this guy is the poster boy for the argument that liberalism is a mental disorder.”

NOT TOO SMART. Dumb, really. Last Navy SEAL acquitted of abusing Iraqi terrorist. “They were betting on Navy SEALs wimping out.”

THE ‘MS’ IN MSNBC stands for Morally Superior. James Lileks explains.

Link from Instapundit.

SOMEONE LEFT THE IRONY ON (AGAIN). MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer is ... really unhappy that she couldn’t use the Times Square bombing attempt to prove Tea Party “bigotry.”

Big Journalism’s Michael Walsh responds:

It used to be that reporters asked skeptical questions, kept an open mind, tried to fit the facts into a historical context and then did their best to present the information in an intelligible, even-handed way. That was called ‘reporting.’

But when you leap to conclusions, emote, identify,worry, fret, and empathize all based on a complete fantasy about a world that only exists inside your head … that’s called ‘journalism’.

More reporting, please.

ABOUT TIME: Sara Palin on the Gulf oil spill:

All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight, but even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen. No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it’s sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan “drill here, drill now” not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America’s domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.

Via Don Surber, where you can find her complete Facebook statement.

SMART GRID NONSENSE. No sooner than I post on the 'smart grid', Pajamas Media comes out with this beauty (Myths Associated with the ‘Smart’ Electrical Grid). Read and enjoy.

MARK STEYN takes on the Arizona Gestapo.

A STORY OF TWO PROTESTS. Both took place on the Boston Common on beautiful days, [and] both were part of larger nationwide events.

I had exactly the same experience in Washington, D.C. on March 20. Here’s the first protest; and here’s the second.

KUDOS TO A WASHINGTON POST EDITOR for (belatedly) recognizing that the original title (“A Fiery Plea for Civility”) of their coverage of President Obama’s commencement address at the University of Michigan was an obvious oxymoron.

The online version has been retitled “Obama defends priorities, makes plea for civility.”

KENT STATE REVISITED. ”Previously undisclosed FBI documents suggest that the Kent State antiwar protests were more meticulously planned than originally thought and that one or more gunshots may have been fired at embattled Ohio National Guardsmen ...”

ARIZONA’S IMMIGRATION LAW: what’s the problem?

The problem, we are told, is that the people of Arizona, acting through their state legislators, have had the cheek to ask their state’s police officers to enforce federal laws that the federal government has chosen not to, a choice borne heavily by the state’s taxpayers. And rather than being thanked for their willingness to pick up the slack, Arizonans instead see scorn heaped upon them by their sophisticated betters along both coasts, including the president, the speaker of the House, and even the archbishop of Los Angeles.

You just know the B-rolls are already being shot, the stories are already being written with the details to be filled in later. Someone will be found, some doe-eyed victim will peer out from behind the bars of a jail cell and become the face of the resistance when he is detained on his way either to school, church, or the hospital bedside of his ailing mother who, having been denied a last visit with her cherished son, passes away a broken woman.

I see a 3,000-word tear-jerker starting above the fold on page A-1.

In the Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, ....

THE DEMOCRATS’ WORST FEAR is about to come true:

Among the many reverberations of President Obama’s election, here is one he probably never anticipated: at least 32 African-Americans are running for Congress this year as Republicans, the biggest surge since Reconstruction, according to party officials.

One candidate, Corrogan R. Vaughn attended the Tax Day tea party in Washington, D.C, and was greeted enthusiastically.

Democrats should also worry about Warriors for Congress, a non-partisan group seeking and supporting former military personnel interested in running for Congress. The military services have been fully integrated for years, and in my experience, their Warrior Ethos isn’t particularly consistent with the Democrats’ 'Class Warrior' philosophy.