look, Ma, I'm a published author!

I've become a big fan of CNN's Jack Cafferty. Among other things, he poses questions about national affairs and invites viewers to email answers, and he reads a select few at the end of the program.

Tonight the question was, "Why do Americans trust the government less today than during the Watergate era?"

If you were paying close attention you heard him read a reply from Al, from Florida, who said, "Except for times when greatness was demanded as a matter of survival (the Civil War, World War II), the federal government has always been venal, corrupt and untrustworthy. The difference now is that the news media have developed the roasting of politicians into an art form. They aren't worse, merely over-exposed. Keep up the good work."

I think I could have said over-cooked instead of over-exposed, but it was good enough to get selected. I'm sure that the "keep up the good work" line was the part that grabbed their attention and made it a winner.