Question, question, question

Happy Marmot Day to all you Alaskans.
Weather prognostication by way of small furry mammals is still a chancy way of life. What if the observer's shadow overlays the burrow, and the marmot cannot immediately see it's own shadow? What then? If the shadow is seen later, but not at first, is it still a valid shadow for the day, or does only that first glimpse in the morning count?
It must be hard to be a forecaster, no matter what the subject.
Political pundits have it the worst. Oh, I know everyone curses the weather man, but think of the poor political pundit. They have to be right all the time to keep their validity. Miss once and there is usually a pack of rabid marmots waiting to rip them to shreds.
Only now I am seeing that the pack of rabid marmots is laying in wait for every utterance, however right or wrong. Both sides of a discussion have trained rabid marmots barely held in check, waiting for the other side to make a statement, preferably a solid statement of "fact".
Let a pundit, a politician, a talking head with thousands of followers on Tweeter or whatever, say an honest opinion and the growling, snapping, slavering pack is on them in nanoseconds. Right or wrong, doesn't matter. Shred 'em first, make 'em recoil, maybe they won't be as forthright in the future. Character assassination by noise.
Question, question, question the voices on the left, right, and center. Accept nothing as true unless proven by time and quality. Quantity of statements is not proof, especially if 90% of the statements are all same sourced. One misrepresentation leaps a thousand times in seconds, unfortunately, the retraction is never seen.
Keep the marmots in their burrows.
Question, question, question.

Thank You, Mr. Cannon

Whoo yeah!
I have finally found a professed liberal journalist who seems to get it. Politics Daily Senior Correspondent Carl M. Cannon, in an article posted on July 8th, carefully dissects the press coverage of Governor Palin.
Well written. Take the time to read the whole thing.