The scales fall off...

I commented here on the unfortunate propensity of reporters to rely upon inside sources for their news. The commentator John Dickerson again shows why relying upon inside souces is an awful idea. Dickerson relays how he received briefing after briefing after briefing telling him about how Bush asked sharp, penetrating, incisive questions of the people who were telling him what was going on. The video of Bush viewing the Katrina briefing starring "Brownie" came as a shock to Dickerson as it completely contradicted all of the briefings he received over the many years he has covered the Bush Administration.

Not saying of course, that inside sources are totally useless. They can be good to have. But they should be used with care and their testimony mixed in with and bounced off against other sources. The problem is not that reporters use inside sources, but that they use inside sources to the exclusion of anything else.

Digby brings it back to Bob Woodward, the guy who convinced the press corps that relying heavily upon inside sources was a good idea and goes on to remind us how heavily the press relied on the post-9/11 view of Bush as the manly man, masculine, he-man hero of our times. It's a bit sad to see the scales fall from people's eyes and to see them give up cherished notions, but for those of us who always saw Bush as the flawed, inexperienced person he was, our only real reaction can only be "What the Hell took you guys so long?!?!"