Those media elites

Hugh Hewitt doing what he does best:

When the name "Ratzinger" resounded from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to indicate who would be the next supreme pontiff of the 1.1 billion-strong Roman Catholic Church, elation burst out in many nations. Across Western Europe and in the U.S., though, particularly among progressive and liberal Catholics, a nearly audible groan could be heard.

That's how the Los Angeles Times review of John L. Allen's new book on the election of Benedict XVI begins. Do you need to read anymore?

In case you have any doubt, the first paragraph of the review ends with this sentence: "His election, for many, initially looked like a move back to the Dark Ages."

Faced with plummeting circulation and management upheavals, the Times still fails in ways large --and in this case small-- to see how ever[y] day it sends message after message of contempt for the vast population of California that holds ordinary views of things like religious belief. The Dark Ages? Really? Outside of media elites, who, exactly, believed such nonsense. And who but the Times' editorial staff could fail to grasp the offense --unnecessary in every way-- that such sloppy throw away lines gives to devout and not-so-devout but loyal Catholics?

Sloppy indeed.