We'd be hearing more good news from Iraq if it weren't so damn dangerous.

It's been a long day-- long week, actually-- in terms of inexplicable reporting. But Crooks and Liars has posted a video clip that might just take the cake. Howard Kurtz has been annoying pretty much everyone with his self-appointed media watchdog stance (and to a lesser degree, his snap-on hair) for years. Today he showed us just why on Wolf Blitzer's 'Situation Room.' (And I really struggled to avoid writing "simpering puffball Wolf Blitzer's 'Situation Room'" just then.)

Kurtz: Wolf, as I know you know, is that it's very dangerous for journalists in Baghdad. We've seen that with some of the deaths and injuries of journalists there. Most recently ABC's Bob Woodruff. And so journalists are frustrated that they can't tell more of the story of ordinary Iraqis and what they think about the U.S. presence there because they have to curtail their travels or travel with security details.

So when you add that to the natural tendency to play up violence, the dramatic pictures that television, of course, loves, I do think we are seeing more negative coverage now. And, obviously, it's in the political self-interest of George Bush and Dick Cheney to highlight that because they are trying to make the case that things are not as bad as they seem in Iraq and the media are a handy target.

Stunning, no? The reason we aren't hearing more heartwarming human interest stories from Iraq is because you stand a good chance of being murdered just for walking down the street. Man, if only it weren't for that niggling detail....

Crusty Journalist Number One, Jack Cafferty, appears on the scene to point out the sheer stupidity of Kurtz's assertion. Which is what makes the video clip worthwhile. As Cafferty points out, it isn't the fault of "The Media" that dead bodies are turning up in the streets of Baghdad every day.

Highly recommended viewing.