Why do they hate us?

Because of preposterous, self-aggrandising blowhards like Bernard Shaw. According to The Politico's Roger Simon, Shaw justified his famous question to Michael Dukakis  -  "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis  were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for her killer?" - in this fashion:

"I was just doing my job, asking that question … I thought of Murrow taking on McCarthy. That was the essence of what I wanted to be: Fearless, not afraid of the scorching bite of public criticism. I'm not afraid of being disliked. I'm not afraid of being criticized. In that debate, I did the right thing. I know I did. I know it."

I'm against the death penalty myself, but make an exception for journalists who talk in this manner. Get a fucking grip man.

Found via TAPPED's Paul Waldman who makes some salient points about the press that seem a) correct and b) unlikely to change anytime soon.

Speaking of TAPPED, congratulations to Matt Yglesias who's off to join The Atlantic Monthly's burgeoning fleet of bloggers. Someone should remind Ezra Klein that, lovely though it always is to consider oneself the perpetual outsider and all that, The American Prospect could not reasonably be excluded from any list of "Mainstream Magazines" - even if they do fail to pay their staff what said employees might consider a proper living wage...