I guess that’s a rhetorical question, but I have an answer for you. Take Fred Barnes. Please. He spoke to an IPJ group last Sunday, I think it was, on whatever he wanted to talk about, I guess. There was no topic.

So he rambled on for a bit about what you should read to stay up on the news, that you had to get a fresh angle on stories, and that print was the most influential medium in D.C. Don’t do TV, he said. “Sure, the money’s nice, but it just takes up time you could be using to write.” OK. Then why do I see him on TV three times a day? Why has he made his whole career off peddling second-rate opinion columns but jumping in front of a camera every chance he gets.

Learn to practice what you preach, Fred. Jeez. Yeah, the money’s nice. Just say so, then. Don’t pretend like someone’s twisting your arm, making you do TV when you’d gladly be earning less money and remain completely anonymous like most scribes in the nation’s capital. Ah, well.