In my USA Today column I try to take a look at the bigger picture in the wake of the Weigel fiasco (it’s worth following the link for the art alone, though). Here’s the opening:

There has been a lot of news in the last week or so: the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the death of Sen. Robert Byrd, the oil spill off the Gulf Coast, the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings, the cratering economy and stock market, even the World Cup. But for a few days at the end of June, Beltway pundits were consumed with the ballad of David Weigel, a blogger for The Washington Post, briefly assigned to cover the “conservative beat.”
And just what is the conservative beat?
Well, according to many of the nation’s leading editors, it’s that shadowy, often-sinister world where carbon based-life forms of a generally humanoid appearance say and do things relating to, and supportive of, conservative causes and the Republican Party. These strange creatures have been observed using complex tools, caring and nurturing their young and even participating in complex social rituals. Most worship an unseen sky god that traces its roots back to the ancient Middle East. Even more astounding, these creatures are having a noticeable impact on American politics.
And that is why many of our leading journalistic enterprises have found it worthwhile to assign full-time reporters to the task of spelunking through the dark caves of conservatism to better understand these fascinating, if vaguely worrisome, beings.

Also: I owe an apology to David Weigel. The other day I said I didn’t really know the guy and I had only met him on a handful of occasions. That’s true. But I had completely forgotten — until my editor at USA Today reminded me — that David was my fact checker at USA Today for a while when I first signed on. We never met back then, but we did trade e-mail quite a bit. My apologies!