What has it got in its pocketses?

It's the biggest journalistic scoop since 'See Karl Rove's Garage.'

In the "Politics" section of its website, CNN posts an expose about, and this is absolutely not a joke of any kind, what George Bush has in his pockets.

It turns out the leader of the free world doesn't have to worry about carrying all the essentials of the common man.

Bush revealed the contents of his pockets Tuesday to an Argentine newspaper reporter who was interviewing him in advance of a presidential trip to Latin America later this week.

When the reporter from La Nacion asked Bush to show him what he carries, the president stood up, fished in his pockets, then dramatically pulled his hands out holding nothing but a white handkerchief that he waved playfully in the air.

"Es todo," Bush told the Spanish-speaking reporter, meaning the handkerchief was all. "No dinero, no mas. No wallet."

OK, I know that a) it's not like CNN asked the question themselves and b) it costs next to nothing to print the story on its website...I just want to know, why would a hard-news organization bother? Do they think we need to know, or that we're even interested? And isn't it nice they manage to put in the little slap about "the essentials of the common man"?

People bemoan the fact that the office of President is gradually being stripped of its dignity. Recent Presidents, no doubt, bear a large personal responsibility for this; but I sometimes wonder that the mainstream media, the "Fourth Estate" as they proclaim themselves, thou Pillar of Democracy, should be so gigglingly complicit.