That’s the key scene, but what struck me was Wurzelbacher’s whiny recollection of what happened after he made a highly publicized visit to Republican Senate staffers, in which he gave them political advice.

I went further into the Capitol building. I wanted to ask some senators some questions as well. And I was told I needed some credentials. So I went to the office to get the credentials and unfortunately I was explained to that (sic) right now PJTV.com is considered more opinionated than hard news. And that kind of put me off. I was surprised about that.

This news disturbs host Roger L. Simon, the Bernie Madoff of internet video. “We heard the same thing, funnily enough!” He reads a letter from the Senate Press Gallery explaining why PJTV wasn’t given media credentials because it’s an opinion site, not a news site. “Well, Joe, there you have it! You’re too opinionated! Ironically, it was the NBC news crew who shot you in the press office being denied access. The network of Keith Olbermann has press credentials, and you don’t!”

If Simon wants to prove that “citizen journalists” deserve the same access as NBC News, he could start by explaining how the credentials process works. I’ve been through this. For two and a half years I worked for Reason magazine, a libertarian publication (which turns 41-years-old this year) owned by the Reason Foundation. Because of that, we were not allowed to get regular press credentials. This is a trap that small political magazines (and Websites) fall into. For-profit news organizations are allowed to apply for the credentials, and individual reporters can apply for long-term passes that are only available on a case-by-case basis.

I didn’t love this situation. I dealt with it, because if I called up any congressional office with an interview request, I could get credentialed for the day and roam around. That’s all any reporter needs, especially if that reporter, like Wurzelbacher, is on the Hill for one or two days to do some quick interviews. That’s what Keith Olbermann would do if he was on the Hill to talk to senators, as he’s the opinionated host of his own show, and not a daily Hill reporter. Either Simon and Wurzelbacher are scamming their viewers (can we use the plural?) by telling them the credentialing process is biased, or they really don’t understand the process.

This is why.

The crucial bit, if you don’t want to watch it all:

I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you’re gonna sit there and say, ‘Well look at this atrocity,’ well you don’t know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.

The PJM bloggers think this is great stuff, and they compare him to Stephen Crane. PJM’s Bill Hobbs writes, in a post defending the enterprise:

I don’t know if he can craft a coherent sentence or conduct an revealing interview. And perhaps he’ll be an absolute disaster as a journalist, even as he’s created a PR explosion for PJTV.

I’m still hung up on why this guy matters at all. Has he given up on buying that plumbing company and cruising into the $250k+ tax bracket? That, I thought, was why we were supposed to care about his unschooled, incoherent views.

The Associated Press reports that the conservative PajamasTV Website is sending Wurzelbacher to Israel to cover the Gaza invasion. He plans to spend ten days there to let “‘Average Joes’ share their story.”

Says TWI managing editor Laura McGann: “Maybe Levi Johnston can fill in for him while he’s gone.”

I have nothing to add.

UPDATE: No wait, I do. Back in October, when asked if “a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel,” Joe responded, “I’ll go ahead and agree with you on that.”

Now I truly have nothing to add.