All the spews fit to print

It's long been apparent that our traditional media is broken, having become little more than a steno pool for the Republican party, but the Undiebomber has really underlined that dysfunction in double bold. Steve Benen says it all, so I'll just quote him.

By all appearances, it doesn't matter if the Republican attacks are baseless and ridiculous. It doesn't matter if Republican national security policies failed. It doesn't matter that Republicans are more anxious to denounce the president than they are to denounce terrorism.

What matters now is what mattered before -- whether GOP voices can create and exploit just enough misguided panic and fear to benefit politically. If they can shout "soft on terror" often enough, and the media overlooks all available evidence, maybe the public won't notice how ridiculous the Republican lies really are.

Republican pollster Neil Newhouse said the attempted attack on Christmas is "a black eye" for the administration. It takes about three seconds of actual thought to realize how absurd this is. Was 9/11 "a black eye" for Bush/Cheney? How about the anthrax attacks? Or Richard Reid? Or the attacks against U.S. allies around the world? And the terrorist attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan?

All good news for the GOP. Always. Not a peep out of the tradmed asking why Republicans hate America and are attacking our President in a time of war. And adding a little context to the GOPers lame retreading of the tired old "soft on terror" meme? Hah. They leave that to the DFH bloggers.

Also, the difference between you and me and Mike Allen at the Politico? We don't cut and paste Cheney press releases and call it news. (Not to worry, link goes to Media Matters)

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]