Roger Simon writes that we have entered the “age of rabid response”:

The purpose of rabid response is to scorch the earth, to raise the stakes, to go nuclear in the hope that your opponent will be so shellshocked he can make no response at all. The purpose of rabid response is to grab the public by the throat and not let go.

And on Sarah Palin’s “death panel” shenanigans:

In olden times, Palin might have made this claim at a speech or during a news conference where reporters might have asked questions like: “What proof do you have?” or “Aren’t you just trying to scare people?”

But Palin does not risk that. She takes no questions. She has done her duty as a rabid responder. She has rung the tocsin, sounded the alarm, lit the signal fire.

Truth? Accuracy? Responsibility?

Not her territory.

Simon’s riffs on Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are just as truthy and fulfilling and make his piece a must-read. Now, if only this type of reporting was encouraged everywhere…