Nashville's print media is pretty worthless; I have always rather be identified with the people

I got an e-mail from a journalist who wanted to deride me in the comments section of my blog about the thug-like state trooper at the main entrance into Legislative Plaza.

The great thing about a blog is that it is not a newspaper. As Ronald Reagan said in scolding a debate official during the 1980 presidential primary, "I paid for this microphone, Mr. ..." He actually had not. But it made for great political theater and showed the toughness of this guy.

So, in Ronald Reagan's name, I say to the journalist, "I paid for this blog, Mr. ..." I don't have to run your stupid comments. I only run comments that forward the discussion. Hearing another journalist whine about another journalist whining is too much for my readers. And that allows the journalist to feel how readers do when he and his sorry print compatriots ignore what readers want.

I do not include TV journalists in this judgment. They actually do listen to the people They have to get off their asses and offices to cover the news. And print journalists for some strange reason consider these pros as lesser mortals. They're not. The best journalists in Middle Tennessee work at the TV stations. Many of them work at NewsChannel 5. And its Phil Williams is the best journalist in the state.

But the journalist's comments allow me to reiterate an important point of my earlier blog post: the state trooper's unacceptable treatment was delivered to me as a citizen, not a journalist. If I had a press pass, I would have been waved through.

Why should the press be waived through? The Nashville print press sure does not represent the people, just the eccentricities and incompetencies of its editors. So why do they get a wave through and a citizen get the third degree?

If you want to find the most unstable people in this nation, just goes to its newsrooms. I've worked with some incredibly marginalized people who should not be in a profession that is supposed to represent the people but on the newest sitcom of crazies.

Legislative Plaza belongs to the people -- not the press, not lawmakers, not staff, not lobbyists. Yet the people are seen as a threat. That's wrong, and it should be vigorously challenged.

I have been to the White House twice this decade. And both times, I was treated by the Secret Service with respect. I was made to feel the White House actually belonged to me. And the President acted like that, too. He is the most gracious man I've ever met.

I know that I'm not writing what all the Bush-haters in the press like. But I don't write for those bastards. And I have never worn a press pass in the Statehouse because it would be a mark of shame, not anything of honor.

So that's why I always enter Legislative Plaza as a citizen. I believe that is the best title to wear in a republic, even if it is not respected by lawmakers in charge of the statehouse and the people in the press.