Midnight Cowboys

Bloggers are getting credit for finally exposing a conservative fraud. A guy named Jeff Gannon is a non-credentialed journalist who gained easy access to the White House and curried favor by asking softball questions at press conferences. But even better - he's a former male prostitute, with dirty pictures to boot. (Don't worry, the link goes to the Washington Post.)

Needless to say, this gets the folks at the NYT very excitable. Maureen is beside herself in today's column. Frank Rich joins the fun, but takes care to spin it towards how major media dropped the ball - instead of how bloggers picked it up. And, of course, big Leftie blogs are chattering with glee.

If you're keeping score, that's Eason and Rather in one column, Lott and the gay conservative fake-journalist hooker in the other column.

But if you're keeping score you're missing the point, and consumed with the public art of gotcha, and "taking people down". There's a line between holding people accountable and hunting for scalps. I'm a huge fan of this new media, but I hope the future lies in the type of activism like we saw in the Dean campaign, or in promoting liberty in closed societies, or even in offering distinct personal narratives. This potential remains hidden behind the big, glitzy stories.