Take That, Howie!

You know, Howard Kurtz used to seem like a reasonable guy, but this Domenech debacle over at Washingtonpost.com has got his moral compass all discombobulated. So imagine my joy to see, via Crooks and Liars, his recent forays into Dittoheadedness utterly refuted - by a plucky young journalist whose passion and righteous indignation had me leaping to my feet like a midnight showing of Norma Rae on TNT. I do believe I've got me a wee crush on Lara Logan. (I assume my wife will forgive me; she's currently swooning over the fellow that plays the "Night Detective" on BBC America. Fair's fair.)

The cause of my infatuation is not merely Ms. Logan's pulchritude, although that is considerable. It's that she clearly takes great pride in her job and has had it up to her cargo vest with right-wing macaws repeating, ad nauseam, the craven falsehood that the problem with Iraq lies not with our war, dear reader, but with the coverage of it. As if sixty people a day weren't dying in that country in the civil conflict they placidly deny exists. Now that my family's got a member serving in our American armed forces in Baghdad (and a shout out to you, Funky, if you're reading), my patience for such outright butchery of the truth is running somewhat short. So is Ms. Logan's, thank goodness - and in the linked clip, from Kurtz's Reliable Sources show on CNN, she demonstrates herself to be a most reliable source indeed.

Of South African birth and sporting an impressive resumé, Ms. Logan lets loose a controlled yet appropriately passionate defense of herself and her colleagues that leaves Mr. Kurtz practically speechless (to be fair, the effect is abetted by a five second time delay, as Ms. Logan is speaking via satellite from a Baghdad rooftop). Wish we made 'em like her in America. (And yes, I'm looking at you, Laurie Dhue, my erstwhile classmate and Jessica Savitch-manqué, who hath leaped from the dubious frying pan of Fox News updates into the pathetic fire of Geraldo at Large; hope it's all been worth losing your soul over, Laurie).

Politics