I’m back in Pennsylvania and badly need to get back into the swing of things. I see many of my fellow bloggers are struggling to keep it going in the current silly season. I’m sorry to see Chris Bowers and Al Giordano in somewhat of a pissing match. They’re two good people that should be embracing each other, not fighting. But, hey, we all have differences over strategy. On a similar note, I don’t think Kos really needed to weigh in on the whole Blogher vs. Netroots Nation controversy. In a somewhat recurring pattern, Kos says a lot that I agree with but says it in a way that will needlessly anger a lot of good-intentioned people.

I didn’t have a lot of time to write this past week and the headlines didn’t do me any favors. It seems like most reporters are either on vacation or just mailing in their analysis pieces, which seem to be worse than at any time I can remember. My response to almost everything I read last week was just disgust at sloppy, lazy, and intellectually bankrupt journalism. The most interesting story, the anthrax suicide, was too big for me to tackle. Even Tom Daschle is demanding some analysis and he isn’t getting much. One good sign is that the press seems skeptical. I just wish the story had more legs. It will not be able to compete with a presidential election and the coming announcement of running mates. Speaking of which, I’ll be pretty depressed if Evan Bayh is selected as Obama’s running mate. I’ll get over it. But I’ll be pretty disgusted.

Purely as a matter of strategery, Bayh is not a bad pick. He’d probably deliver his state to Obama which is something that no other pick can credibly promise to do. He’d also make the DLC wing of the party feel good. And while that is about the last thing I want to see, it does have its upsides for party unity and keeping the corporate press pacified. I just hope Bayh isn’t the pick. In the end, it won’t matter much until the time comes to select Obama’s successor. Then it will be a big problem.