Obligatory Everybody-else-is-talking-about-it-so-I'll-mention-it-too Post

And what exactly is "it," anyway? The Jeff Guckert/Gannon flap. For the history on this story you're better off reading Kos or a few other high-profile left-leaning bloggers. To read them you'd get the idea that civilization as we know it is at risk because the White House has "allowed" a reporter with debatable credentials access to press briefings and press conferences on a "day pass." I'll leave the 'hard' analysis to Kos, Atrios and Oliver Willis because, quite frankly, I don't see the 'there' there.

But then I saw this at the Corner today:

Today the White House Correspondents' Association released a statement indicating that it will not call for any changes in the White House press credentialing system in the wake of the Jeff Gannon matter. The statement reads, in full: "Since 1914, the White House Correspondents' Association has operated independently of the White House and the White House credentialing process. We intend for the White House Correspondents' Association to remain independent of that process. "Consistent with the First Amendment, the White House Correspondents' Association stands for inclusiveness in the credentialing process so that the White House remains accessible to all journalists. We hope that individual episodes do not obscure the broader principles of a fair and evenhanded credentialing process that serves the goal of free and full exchange of information." Some anti-Bush groups, among them David Brock's Media Matters for America, have called on the White House to limit access to press briefings. White House correspondents have generally opposed such a move, and today Correspondents' Association president Ron Hutcheson (of Knight-Ridder newspapers) told National Review that the organization also opposes any new limits. "If we ever felt like [Bush press secretary Scott McClellan] or anybody else at the White House was applying some sort of ideological screen, we'd raise a stink," Hutcheson said, adding that, "we're not proposing any changes."

Precisely...