Our first "Fitzmas" has come and gone, and as expected, it's Scooter who has to scoot on out of the White House under a cloud. However, unlike Christmas, "Fitzmas" doesn't necessarily come but once a year. Rove hasn't been cleared, and there are others under that umbrella of suspicion.

Perhaps not surprisingly in the midst of these events, the Right Wing Noise Machine is now turning their wrath on the Blogosphere. "Capitalist Tool" Forbes.Com just let loose with a hideously evil article (soul-sucking registration required) about how bloggers are bad, mmkay? Apparently the article will be their November cover story. And it is a hatchet job from start to finish. It's geared towards CEOs and meant to inject Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt about the motives of bloggers into boardrooms around the world.

Of course, the Wicked Witch of the West according to this article is Pamela Jones of Groklaw. (Again, soul-sucking registration required) Never mind that she has proven conclusively that she is not on IBM's payroll. Never mind that Jones' primary allegiance is to the Free/Open Source Software movement, not any corporate interest. Never mind she's been doing this site at her own expense. Never mind all that. [sarcasm] She's evil! She's like that chick from Fatal Attraction! She kills and boils bunnies! Why? Because Darl McBride says so! [/sarcasm] The Forbes folks even go back to the Maureen O'Gara hatchet job on PJ as proof of how evil she is, and by extension, bloggers are.

Why has this suddenly popped up on Forbes, the same day the Scooter Libby announcement was made? Is the target anti-corporate bloggers, or is the target anti-Bush bloggers? Is the objection about those who would speak truth to corporate power, or about those who would speak truth to political power? In any event, bloggers are now officially under attack by the establishment. This Forbes article reads like an anti-blog manifesto, and an attempt to establish a casus belli before embarking on an anti-blog war. There's even suggestions about how to "fight back" in another sidebar article. (again, soul-sucking registration required...)

Reaction articles from Boing Boing and Doc Searls.