The idea that journalists think they know everything is not a new one. Michael Ledeen over at NRO's The Corner posts two quotes from an, um, earlier conflict:
"It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers! In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late. Accordingly, I'm readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I'll, in turn, do my best for the cause by writing editorials - after the fact."
- Gen. Robert E. Lee, 1863
And it wasn't just the loosing side that complained:
"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."
- Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
I think a lot of Americans are of the same opinion.
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