At the start ... everyone had high hopes for the blogosphere. We believed that without the pervading pressure of corporate sponsorship, without the inevitable ties to government officials at higher levels, this was a great opportunity to return American journalism to the days that the late Angus McKenzie recalled in his book Secrets. ... So far, it hasn't happened, laments Jim DiEugenio.

The sorry performance of the media in pre-loading the 2008 presidential debate in Philadelphia comes as no surprise to those who have followed how they have treated topics like the John F. Kennedy presidency in the past, writes Jim DiEugenio.

By not referencing the Smith piece, Hamsher can keep her readers misinformed and thereby attack Kennedy on false pretenses, replies Jim DiEugenio.

A family that was good enough for the likes of Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King isn't good enough for Jane Hamsher and Markos Moulitsas. And, in lockstep, their unthinking followers write fake letters to the New York Times, writes Jim DiEugenio.

Jim DiEugenio excoriates these figures from the progressive blogosphere for their treatment of Caroline Kennedy's interest in the open Democratic Senate seat of Hillary Clinton.

At the height of the cold war, Kennedy found a way to inch back from the nuclear precipice. Under relentless pressures to go to war, he kept the peace. He talked to his enemies; he recognized the limits of American power; he understood that our true power came from our democratic ideals, not our military prowess. He is still a man ahead of his time, writes David Talbot.

Jim DiEugenio remarks on the July 2, 2007 issue of Time featuring seven essays on JFK, that he "can't recall a previous time when Time actually printed a genuine pro-conspiracy essay on the Kennedy case in its pages."

Despite its up and downs, overall this is a worthwhile and unique book. Its most important aspect, of course, is the proof of Robert Kennedy's secret quest for the truth about Dallas. That is an important contribution with which to rebut the opposition's argument of: "Well, why didn't Bobby do anything?" We can finally dispose of that question in a truthful and forceful way, writes Jim DiEugenio.

Arthur Schlesinger obituary, with additional remarks.

David Wrone reviews Seymour Hersh's The Dark Side of Camelot.