Here's what the incoming anchor at NBC News thinks of bloggers (sorry, no permalink):

Mr. Williams — who called himself a "big NASCAR freak, a 'gear-head,' " in an NBC interview yesterday — is even less receptive.

Bloggers are "on an equal footing with someone in a bathroom with a modem," he told attendees at a recent Time magazine "Person of the Year" luncheon.

He didn't mention whether or not we were wearing pajamas. I suspect that he'll be feeling the regular wrath of the bathroom brigade.

"...someone in a bathroom with a modem"? What is somebody doing with a modem in a bathroom? Brian Williams can't even construct a coherent metaphor! Stunning -- NBC may be promoting someone to Nightly News anchor who is actually dumber than Dan Rather. That's quite a feat.

My response to Mr. Williams and other "journalists" of his ilk:

"I see dumb people. They don't even know they're dumb."

Yea I was trying to imagine who he is describing exactly. I guess he is maybe talking about someone trying to dial out through a toilet???? I mean how many bathrooms have a phone jack. Unless he is making the common mistake that any device that connects one to the internet is a "modem" then perhaps he is referring to a person with their pants around their ankles posting through a wireless connection. If thats the case then I don't really see a problem with surfing the internet naked.

I'm wondering if his comments might have been taken out of context, perhaps he actually meant "we journalists are on an equal footing with someone in a bathroom with a modem." Which is less of a slam on bloggers and more self-effacing humor.

I have yet to see this quote presented in anything like its context.

Someone already renamed the bathroom brigade. They (we?) are now the latrine-hadeen.

The real problem here is they see their monopoly on "news" slipping away. Brokaw had a smaller audience at the end of his career than he had at the beginning.

Williams now has to compete, from day one, with Fox, CNN, CNBC, MSNBCS, etc. That's 2 competitors from his OWN company alone.

Smaller audiences available for each outlet, and we as a people are evidently more anylitical about the news than they gave us credit for. Plus they ALL got caught with their pants down this last year during the election cycle, pulling for a candidate. Even people who I know voted Dem this time were chagrined at them getting caught. (Not that they did it, just the getting caught part)

P.T Barnum was mostly right, but now they can't fool any of the people. We've seen the man behind the curtain, and he ain't our cup of tea.

Um ... If I recall correctly, this was first reported by cbs.marketwatch.com and then picked up by others. You've suddenly started believing CBS?

I betcha the word he really used was "bathrobe," not "bathroom."

Brian Williams - the man who puts the "W" in "Anchor".