One of the things that always fascinated me about Bill Clinton is that he's always been willing to voice respect for certain critics and pundits who, at times, rake him over the briquets. If you don't think this is rare, show me where any other public political figure of the last decade — Democrat or Republican — has had a kind word for anyone who wasn't 100% supportive of them. But Clinton has and one of the columnists he has praised is Ronald Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times. A look back at Brownstein's archived columns showed me that (a) he has been deeply critical of many, including Clinton, but always with good reason, and (b) he may have the best track record of anyone in his field insofar as predictions are concerned. These things set him apart from so many columnists who exist to tell some group what they want to hear, and how to spin the latest news accordingly. He just published a news analysis about George W. Bush and partisanship which probably describes the "Big Picture" of American politics for the next few years. Read it here if you want a preview of Coming Attractions.
And while you're at it, you might also want to read Doris Kearns Goodwin's piece about how a bogus "news item" instantly spread via the Internet — and Matt Drudge, especially — saying that she and Steven Spielberg were planning a movie that would depict Abraham Lincoln as a racist. It wasn't true, and the original source has since retracted…but somehow, the retraction has not circled the globe quite as extensively. (You have to hurry if you want to read this for free. The L.A. Times charges to read articles more than two weeks old and this was one was published on April Fool's Day. Here's the link.)
Also, The Standard, which covers the biz end of the Internet, has an article about my buddy Harlan Ellison and his legal battle against America On-Line and certain other nefarious parties. Here's the link to that.