David Brooks, Gail Collins, defend the MSM against WikiLeaks

Or, at least, that's what they claims to be doing, in one of their "Crossfire" type situations. The inanity that follows is, of course, nothing new from Brooks.

I expected better from Collins, though, based on some of her columns. Sadly, I'll have to revise my rating of her.

Anyway, both fail.

Samples:

Gail Collins: The worst president we ever had was maybe Warren Harding, who had sex with his mistress in the Oval Office coat closet. You’re right, it doesn’t really make the grade.

Wrong. Buchanon, Andrew Johnson and George W. Bush were all worse. And, if sex with mistresses is the standard, then Jack Kennedy is far, far worse than Harding.

David Brooks: I fervently believe that and find myself repulsed by the folks at WikiLeaks. They are bad for the world because they destroy trust, which isn’t in great supply to start with, and I wish the establishment still had enough self-confidence to marginalize this sort of behavior and protect the social ecology.

Well, that's why many of us are repulsed by you.

Meanwhile, has Collins actually read any of the cables?

Gail Collins: Yes, so far I’ve been amazed by how few surprises we’ve gotten.

John Kerry pushing Israel to give away Golan is one of several huge surprises. So is China being OK with a reunified Korea. And, many more.