Mike referenced this op-ed in his Blog Round-Up, but I thought it was worthy of a read unto itself. I realize that there will be some among you that will dismiss this as "too little, too late" (and that is absolutely a valid stance to take), I'm more troubled by this little aside in Meyer's mea culpa:

And for 12 years, the media didn't call a duck a duck, because that's not something we're supposed to do.

Really?!?!? I think this is either the most poignant or the most clueless statement of the whole essay. Perhaps we find ourselves in the state we're in because the media doesn't understand their job. To carry on Meyer's analogy, how can Joe SixPack figure out if it's a "duck" if the media purposely leaves out the waddle, the beak and the quacks, because they don't think it's their job?

Granted, there are plenty of us (and I think most C&L readers fall into this category) who are discerning enough on our own to see the duck before us, but based on polls and election results, we cannot kid ourselves into thinking that most Americans don't need a little guidance in duck recognition. (Okay, I've beat the analogy into the ground, enough with the ducks ;))

Read the whole essay here and tell us what you think.