No Laughter Allowed?

"Color me disgusted at both his arrogance and strategically poor sense. What is wrong with these politicians that they don't feel the need to live their values? Two Americas is a great message for most Americans, but apparently not John Edwards."

But now Stoller says he was unduly influenced by the political right.

"In this case, I was angry, and did not act analytically. And the right was there, taking advantage to embed a meme about John Edwards into my head.

"It's going to be an ugly campaign. I don't share the illusion about the right, and about myself, that I am somehow above the propaganda. It affects me. TV is powerful, and so are rumors and a really well developed right-wing narrative built into our cultural system, and into my head. I have to work against this every day, and I expect that this is true for many of us."

National Review headline: "There Are Two Americas; John Edwards' New House Takes Up Almost All of One Of Them."

Ed Morrissey isn't ready to give his heart away yet--and advises others to hold off as well:

"Center-right and conservative bloggers have not had any experience with a wide-open primary season. In 2000, the blogosphere hardly existed, and by 2004 we knew that George Bush would have no serious competition for his renomination. The 2008 campaign is tabula rasa for Republican bloggers, more so since we have no incumbent vice president vying for the nomination . . .

"My advice, for those who want it, would be for bloggers to refrain from identifying with any one candidate until we get much closer to the primaries. For one thing, we have not necessarily seen all of the candidates yet. More importantly, we have not really seen their campaigning style and effort. 2007 should be considered a test for this wide-open field to make the best case and to hone their craft. Thanks to an early advent of the campaign, we have almost twelve months to consider each candidate, and we should take full advantage of that.

"Perhaps the greatest reason for restraint is to make sure that our voices are heard on the issues rather than the candidates. Affiliated blogs will find themselves with less influence among other candidates, and for me, I'm more interested in the policies than I am in the personalities. If I endorse one candidate over all the rest, my opinions will have considerably less impact on other campaigns (for as much impact as I have anyway)."

The brother of Mark Green, the former New York City official and mayoral candidate, is bailing out bankrupt Air America.

This Seattle Times lead about what's been dubbed " sexpresso" drew plenty of interest:

"In a short, sheer, baby-doll negligee and coordinated pink panties, Candice Law is dressed to work at a drive-through espresso stand in Tukwila, and she is working it."

There were lots of complaints about the scantily dressed baristas (though I thought the photos were pretty tame).

Finally, Bill Keller keeps trying to restrain himself from reading the blogs. Marketwatch's Jon Friedman chats with the New York Times editor:

" 'I've dialed back on my consumption of blogs,' Keller said (somewhat proudly). It has been challenging because, he noted, like most journalists, he is 'competitive and thin-skinned.'

"His policy is to 'distinguish between the serious stuff and the not-serious stuff,' he said of the criticism. 'I don't let it get to me.'

"A turning point came when Jill Abramson, the Times managing editor, 'advised me to stop reading Romenesko,' he said with a grin, referring to a widely read media-industry blog. Abramson had told him: 'If there's anything on there, you'll hear about it before lunch.'

"Keller noted that, yes, he continues to glance at the Romenesko and Media Bistro Web sites, among others. But he adds, with some measure of satisfaction: 'I'm not obsessive about it any more.' "

Sounds like a 12-step program and he's on step 3.