One of the more off-putting aspects of television news is the hired pop historians who arrive on the set reeking of self-importance and who constantly confuse historical points with liberal political points. Exhibit A is the shameless Douglas Brinkley on CBS, who took the poignant occasion (for some) of President Bush flying away on Marine One and passed along the good-riddance hatred of others (the Daily Kos crowd):

KATIE COURIC: And Dan, we’re watching his chopper actually fly — just flew across the dome of the U.S. Capitol right before our very eyes, and you know, despite his approval ratings, people waving and cheering, it is a very poignant moment.
DAN BARTLETT: I remember, Katie, my first time on Marine One with the president, and we were banking around the monument, and he caught me looking out the window, kind of eyes wide open, he says ‘pretty cool, huh’ and I said, ‘yeah, it’s really cool.’ So he’s probably doing something the same, soaking it all in on that last trip around the — around the nation’s capital.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY: Keep in mind, a lot of Americans are thinking it’s pretty cool that he’s leaving, too. A lot of Americans didn’t take him as the real president after the Gore election in 2000. He’s been very controversial. And a lot of people voted to get rid of Bush policies. So, and for some people are cheering the helicopter leaving, because they felt stuck for eight years.
VERNON JORDAN: And that’s always the case. The president leaves, and some people are happy and some people are not so happy.

It’s slightly amusing that the allegedly objective historian has a less evenhanded approach than the old Clinton hand. A few days ago, Kyle Drennen wrote about Brinkley’s claim: “I think it’s safe to say that President Bush is going to be seen as the very bottom-rung of American Presidents…As a judicial historian looking at what’s occurred on his watch, it is almost void of genuine accomplishment.”