Bill is upset....

....and angry on many levels about something that Wonkette said in a Newsweek interview.

First of all, bloggers had better get used to the left side of the blogosphere getting the lion's share of the old media interviews. That's sort of a "duh" moment, isn't it?

Secondly, what Wonkette said

What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair?
I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the documents and not about the president of the United States. There was another half to that story that had to do with verifiable events of what Bush may have been up to.

has an element of truth to it.

What Wonkette doesn't say is that the other side was thoroughly covered already, and the media simply ignored the truth and went after Bush. But she can't say that, can she? It would blow her credentials as a lefty.

Here's something else she said that cracks me up.

Do bloggers end up as mainstream journalists?
Yes. One way to define a blog is resume building. I advise anyone who wants a job in mainstream journalism to start a blog and write about mainstream journalism.

How can someone who blogs be so clueless about blogging? Do you really think that guys like the Professor Bainbridge or Patterico are going to dump their day jobs to become a member of the most despised profession in America?

I've been paid for my writing before (technical articles), and I would certainly accept filthy lucre if someone asked to pay me to write again. But become a journalist? Not on your life! Besides, I blog anonymously precisely because I want nothing to do with the silly games the media plays and because my ideas should be what people read me for, not my resume. I suspect there are many bloggers who feel the same way.

One of the biggest problems with journalism today is the "star" system. People pay far too much attention to some writers simply because of their name, without regard to whether their writing is worth reading or even worth using in the bottom of a bird cage. (Think Dan Rather, whose "glory days" ended about three decades ago but whose anchor job won't end until next year.) Would anyone describe Maureen Dowd's recent work as worthy of publishing? I wouldn't.