contrapositive

IN PRAISE OF MARK SHIELDS Watching the NewsHour last night, it struck me that Mark Shields has made more sense than just about any pundit in America over the last six bruising, confusing years.

I'm sure there have been misjudgments here and there. But it's striking that a staid seventy-year-old has spun a narrative about the state of our politics more compelling and consistent than the analysis of younger, more vigorous-seeming commentators. (Take Joe Klein--please.)

Listening to Shields you get the sense that he's plugged in--that he has good sources in congress--but that he isn't a slave of the beltway consensus. I'd be surprised if he doesn't regularly read blogs, for example.

Of course, judgment also has something to do with it. The real question may be why even "serious" media outlets continue to push forward pundits who have so often been wrong about so much.