By Gene Lyons

The political tragedy of 2008 would be if, in making history, the Democratic party tore itself apart. The potential exists for a schism between two of the party’s most loyal and enduring constituencies: African-Americans, and blue-collar white voters in what was once the nation’s industrial heartland along the Ohio River. Far more than the White House could be lost in November.

Equally clear is that many in our esteemed national news media would enjoy facilitating that breakup. With incomes rivaling those of reserve infielders and egos inflated by TV celebrity, the courtiers, courtesans and character assassins of the imperial Washington press deem themselves America’s rightful ruling class. Many no longer deny taking sides; at times, they’re even boastful.

Consider John Judis’s recent essay in The New Republic, explaining how Hillary Clinton supposedly blew the presidential nomination. Her biggest problem, Judis thinks, was not recognizing that the press would treat Barack Obama as untouchable, beyond criticism. It happened during the run-up to the South Carolina primary, when Clinton ran a TV ad slamming Obama for describing the GOP as the “party of ideas.”

Clinton’s ad argued that most Republican ideas, like privatizing Social Security, were bad ones. As Bob Somerby points out at dailyhowler.com, Judis somewhat mischaracterized the commercial’s content to make it seem tougher than it was. Even so, he described it as nothing unusual, merely the kind of cheap shot politicians take during campaigns.