Pat Cassidy moved from WBBM radio to WLS, both AM, after 31 years of straight news reporting, now may be returning to the latter, again at WBBM, where he will have to “relearn how to keep his opinions to himself,” per Lewis Lazare, Sun-Times media columnist.
Indeed. I see the man or woman in the middle at Fox News, when the evening panel expatiates — almost always with C. Krauthammer on the right (appropriately, though he has had no use for S. Palin) and most often with the also well-informed Steve Hayes of Weekly Standard on the left (inappropriately). This middle talker is often a news-teller and is often unwilling to call the spade by its proper name.
Mort Kondracke of Roll Call is painfully unwilling, forced lately into a defensive mode largely because of Krauthammer, so is A.B. Stoddard of The Hill, though she is a columnist. Juan Williams of NPR is painfully willing, but that’s another story. Mara Liasson, also of NPR, is blithely willing but almost always several degrees off the main point and rarely veers from realpolitik. Always the horse-picker, she seems surprised that any judgement of right and wrong is in order.
That said, it’s good to see Lazare, an old hand at columnizing about how things work in media, putting the distinction into so many words: the newscaster or reporter is supposed to keep opinions to himself. Indeed, Cassidy was a fish out of water in his recent talk-show stint, paired with the appropriately named Erich “Mancow” Muller, who gives new meaning to the word “excited.”
And happy birthday to Abe Lincoln. Thank God for log cabins!
Blithe Spirit 
Dear Blyth(e) Spirit:
First off, tell me if “Blyth(e)” is an affectation, or a legitimate distinction between the (two major) genders. Your characterization of the several evening News anchors at Fox is 100% on the b utton. For my own satisfaction,,I prefer Krauthammer — smart, incisive, unforgiving, happily partisan, and a genuine old-school member of Der Deutscher Verein. All is not yet lost — so long as we still have a few lingering, no-nonsense, call-a-spade-a-spade observers such as Krauthammer to help us keep our heads clear.
In Three Rivers H. S. (where I matriculated) calling a spade a spade was not seen as racist, but rather as being cleverly comedic. Ahhh — such were the follies of our rural excistence. Three Rivers (pop. circa 7200) was one of the two big towns in St. Joseph County — the other was Sturgis — a staunch and oft-defeated athletic rival. There was one other town of consequence — the County Seat — named Centreville — no surprise, because it was dead-on in the center of the County. Centreville (the spelling was a local affectation — harkening to our British ancestry.
There are many more details of this anti-urban surround being offered in my book (title: “Nottawa” ) the actual American Indian name of my real home town. Not really autobiographical, but a homespun account of survival during the Depression Years, including how some of us escaped.
All of thi is a warning that one day, within months, you will receive a manuscript of the above-described tome, hiwhc should bring you up to0 date re: how we survived, flood, fire, Poliomyelitis, The Great Depression. and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (P. S. We thoughtt hat Eleanor was downright UGLYT, and a Socialist, besides.
-30- for now. R.L.C.
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