YOU COULD KNOCK ME DOWN WITH A FEATHER: Maureen Dowd praising bloggers during her stay in Barcelona... this is what she told in an interview in La Vanguardia (my translation; link in Spanish, subscription required):

Q. How did you get the White House gig?

MD. I worked for Time for ten years; then I joined the local section of the New York Times and then was sent to Washington, where I ended being the White House correspondent during the Clinton administration. And I got my own column in 1995.

Q. At last!

MD. It was too late, buddy, now we the pundits don't have the monopoly on public opinion; the big scoops are by bloggers now. There are hundreds of bloggers writing opinion daily not only on the internet; many of them have jumps from the net to the mainstream media. With so many blogs, it's difficult to be unique.

Q. I don't think they can compete with you.

MD. Well, they do. Remember that the Lewinsky scandal started in a blog [ed. Drudge doesn't like to be portrayed as a blogger, Maureen!], just as the scandal that shattered Dan Rather's reputation. Politicians are courting the best bloggers because they bring donations, colunteers and goodwill to their campaigns.

Q. Don't complain, Maureen.

MD. I'm not complaining! It's a very healthy situation: blogs lead me to try to be better every day.

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