What A Blow Job Sounds Like In Interview Form

That's what we have here, an off-the-record, not-meant-for-human-consumption exchange between Chris Matthews and Tom DeLay before their interview on Hardball on Tuesday. It makes you sick to your stomach hearing the "I owe you one," the "nothing worse than a know-it-all woman" from DeLay regarding Hillary Clinton, and the general clubby atmosphere between this disgraced politician and the alleged journalist whose job it is to cover him. The entire tenor of the exchange could be used in court for why the traditional media is so very very broken. The groveling for access is not only abhorrent to behold, it's pointless. In the current 24-hour cycle, having the story two minutes before the next guy doesn't mean anything. Especially a story like that one, where DeLay's going to announce his resignation to somebody sooner or later.

But the traditional media still operates on that old model of "scoops" and "gets." In the process they've compromised themselves ethically to such a degree that there's no discernible difference between the politicians and the journalists. That's why they keep marrying each other.

In that climate, why would a member of the media ever want to upset this delicately-balanced system and challenge the government on anything? After all, they have to see these guys at the next cocktail party. There's an overwhelming pull not to upset the status quo.

Maybe that's why not one of them asked about the President's authorizing the leak of classified information. They want to keep their place at the table.