Call it Journalism

Exiled New York Times editor Howell Raines has issued a final pre-election message to his 12 followers. Some excerpts:

* If George Bush wins the presidential election, Americans can mark it down as a triumph of thug politics.

* [T]he United States is in the throes of one of its periodic religious "awakenings."

* Also, the GOP has shown that it knows how to trump economic self-interest and socioeconomic class as prime determinants of party affiliation.

* Facts may not be entirely dead as shaping forces in American public life, but the vital signs are not good.

* The most dangerous trait of the Internet is not merely its speed, but its creation of demand and credulity for unverified information. Perhaps for the first time since invention of the printing press, a new information technology has become more efficient at spreading disinformation than knowledge.

* THE BUSHES: My generation of political reporters bear some responsibility for this ethically bankrupt dynasty.

Link via Romenesko.