The Military-Media Complex

And the best part? One author jabs the other:

"Harris only here: As one who has assigned journalists to cover Obama at both Politico and the Washington Post, I have witnessed the phenomenon several times. Some reporters come back and need to go through detox, to cure their swooning over Obama's political skill. Even VandeHei seemed to have been bitten by the bug after the Iowa caucus.

"VandeHei only here: There is no doubt reporters are smitten with Obama's speeches and promises to change politics. I find his speeches, when he's on, pretty electric myself. It certainly helps his cause that reporters also seem very tired of the Clintons and their paint-by-polls approach to governing."

Kurtz only here: Can we name some of the swooners? And is there a drug that works, like Obamethadone?

Chuck Todd and the gang at NBC's First Read make a similar point:

"Curious of what the bitterness and anger could look like if Obama is somehow denied the Democratic nomination? Check out the reaction from the ObamaNation over Wednesday's debate. To put it simply, ABC was under siege. This may only be a taste of how the ObamaNation would react to a Clinton nomination. If MoveOn is motivated to do a petition campaign against the media over a debate, imagine what Clinton delegates and undecided superdelegates would face this summer if there is doubt."

Will the Bill Ayers connection (all but ignored by the news media, other than Fox, until Stephanopoulos raised it) hurt Obama? National Review's Jim Geraghty puts it this way:

"Do you, personally, know anyone who has ever tried to blow up the Pentagon? Do you know of anyone who actually brags that they did, successfully, plant and detonate a bomb at the Pentagon?

"Do you, personally, know anyone has ever planned to blow up an officer's dance at a military base, say, Fort Dix?

"Do you, personally, know anyone who has gotten someone killed in an explosion because of their actions?

"Even if these bombings and attempted bombings occurred forty years ago, is that the sort of thing you could forgive, and/or dismiss? Do you believe that assembling a bomb, and intending to kill police, members of the military, and ordinary innocent civilians is the sort of thing that should be considered 'water under the bridge' once enough time has passed?

"Could you shake hands with this person? Go to a party at their house? Accept a donation from them? If you knew this about a person, could you look at them and forget that they gathered the explosives, assembled the wires and the parts, scoped out their target, planted it, and watched it detonate with excitement? Do you relate to having people like that in your social circle?