More pro blogging and one pro who should remain in the MSM.

Mort Zuckerman writes on the changes being wrought by blogs.

In fact, two of his best columnists, Michael Barone and John Leo are blogging. Both seem to get it, that news no longer waits for the 6:00 p.m. time slot or the morning paper. It happens continuously, and people talk about it as it comes in. Zuckerman would do well to start a group blog at the USNews.com site similar to the Corner.

I have no interest in reading a blog by David Gergen, however. He a cliché, writing stuff like "as our current 'leaders' wander through the stormy present, putting themselves first, allowing the nation to drift dangerously." He's trying to apply the theme of Doris Kearns Goodwin's latest book about how Lincoln brought his political rivals into his administration. The problem with this is seeing how it applies to Bush's situation. Lincoln, didn't bring McClellan into his cabinet, or Jefferson Davis, who is a better analogy to Howard Dean, John Kerry and the minority leadership in the Senate. Bush did try to work with people from the other party, such as George Tenet, but the Democrats have lost all good will. They'd sacrifice the Iraqi nation to get rid of George Bush. The media are as hostile to Bush as they were toward Lincoln, but in those days the federal government wasn't loaded down with holdovers and career bureaucrats who despise the will of the people, as the CIA, State Department and even the Pentagon is these days. The presidency isn't the powerful office it used to be, because of civil service and the hold that entitlements have over politics.

I suspect that if any Democrat were to return civility for civility, Bush would be happy to bring him in, but then in today's climate, for a Democrat to do so would be tantamount to announces a party switch, because he'd be attacked so vociferously by the MoveOn crowd. Democrats can reach out to Republicans for their cabinets as Carter and Clinton both did, but it doesn't work the other way.