A brief follow-up . . .

Many columnists and commentators now have either comment sections or their email addresses with their columns. The sad and infuriating thing is, they totally ignore them. Joe Klein is the worst; he has stated outright that he ignores them. (God forbid you take feedback from your audience, Joe!) But as near as I can see, the "mainstream media" folks all ignore them.

David Broder gets tons of email filled with scorn. Does he adjust his policies? Heck no; he pens a column about how out-of-touch the emailers are! (They're your audience, you doofus!) Shailagh Murray writes a sneering article about Chris Dodd actually--heaven save us--standing up for Civil Rights by blocking the horrific telecom amnesty bill. Every single comment is negative. Does she do anything about it, or even acknowledge it? Heck no! She just goes right on peddling her tripe.

Honestly, it makes me want to fly to Washington with "Mr. Spoon" (as we call him here) and bend these clowns over my knee, paddle them, and then send them to their rooms with their internet privileges revoked. Bad columnists! Go to your rooms!