What's so hard to understand, Tom?

Tom Brokaw is reported to have a hard time understanding why the White House is being less than kind to reporters from the New York Times. (For instance, Vice President Dick Cheney has banned a New York Times reporter from traveling with him.)

"I think they have been too tough. The idea that this White House has not given Tom Friedman a long, in-depth interview is astonishing to me. I have had a very good relationship with them, I have gotten to interview the President a lot. I have had access on the phone and other areas and I have been very vigorous in my discussions with them. But no reporter that I know covering national politics and the international policies that are of such great concern today know as much about them as Tom Friedman does and they have completely shut out the New York Times.

Perhaps, Tom, the answer to your question lies in your answer. If Tom Friedman knows everything about "the international policies that are of such great concern today" then he ought to run for president, or at least U.S. senator. Don't you think the folks at the White House are just a little bit weary of the NYT claiming to be some vast repository of wisdom on every conceivable subject? The same NYT that tries relentlessly to oppose the administration's foreign and domestic policies? The same NYT that bent over backward to give John Kerry a pass in the last campaign and at the very least appeared to be in collusion with several groups to spring a last-minute surprise on the American people in hopes to sway the election to Kerry?

Maybe Brokaw is awed by the NYT and its people but a lot of others in this country, including President Bush and his staff, are not. Most of us are beyond fed up with the Times. We'd be happy to see the paper hijacked by space aliens.

The nation's "paper of record" tries to inflict harm on conservative governance on a daily basis and no longer permits facts to get in its way. Conservatives know this, and liberals depend upon it.

If Tom Brokaw finds this situation "astonishing," it only shows that even he is out of touch with the facts on the ground.