THE KOOL KIDZ

That's Atrios' nickname for the 500 or so journalists, editors & pundits who create the conventional wisdom inside the Beltway. As Sally Quinn put it, "they are not unlike any other small community in the country. " When I was in high school, we had to subscribe to Newsweek for our junior and senior years and I recall thinking about one of the back page pundits, "How do YOU know what all America feels?". Well, they get their notions about America not from polls but from the other members of their exclusive community and are often completely out of touch with the majority of the rest of the country, as Quinn points out:

With some exceptions, the Washington Establishment is outraged by the president's behavior in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The polls show that a majority of Americans do not share that outrage. Around the nation, people are disgusted but want to move on; in Washington, despite Clinton's gains with the budget and the Mideast peace talks, people want some formal acknowledgment that the president's behavior has been unacceptable. They want this, they say, not just for the sake of the community, but for the sake of the country and the presidency as well.

I recall that I was astonished by a Kool Kidz panel discussion of the Lewinsky scandal. Sam Donaldson was amazed that the rest of the country didn't agree with them about the seriousness of Clinton's lying and the other members dutifully clucked-clucked their agreement. The Kool Kidz agree among themselves what the script should be and then push it relentlessly. Just ask Al Gore.

A new Kool Kidz script is emerging, courtesy of the NY Times: The state of the Clinton's marriage will be crucial to the 2008 campaign. And they call the media "liberal"!!!!