The beauty of this thread is that you know the little whining brat's going to be reading it. So this little synopsis of your rant is for you, Mary - free of charge. You can use this condensed version of your whining for your booktour publicity newsletters:
"There I was, innocently smearing a sitting President right before an election with false information (standard and accepted procedure at CBS) - when I was suddenly attacked by vicious Free Republic members - who had the audacity to post fact after fact - which totally destroyed my prosecution. I gasped, I sagged, I slumped on the floor...sighing, crying, heaving, upchucking, soiling myself. 'How could this happen to me?' I thought, 'I'm Mary Mapes, Mistress of the MSM universe, beyond question or reproach. It says so in the CBS charter. And I didn't do anything I haven't done my whole career, or anything anybody else is doing right now!'"
Then...the awful truth hit me. I fainted, I burped, I swooned, then drooled face down on the prickly CBS boardroom carpet. I had been set up. Rove and Free Republic had masterminded the whole thing!!!" ...
{s on} Thank You! Mary Mapes {/s off}
LOL. I nominate you for second runner-up in this year's Bulwer-Lytton literary contest. (FReeper 'Enterprise' took first.)
(And while I'm on a Bulwer-Lytton tear, that phrase in pollyannaish's reply --"the pen is mightier than the sword"-- I believe that's a Bulwer-Lytton quote.)