A breath of fresh air on MSNBC this morning (fresh not just for MSNBC, but for political reporting in general).

Mika Brzezinski caught herself offering he-said/she-said reporting, unnecessarily attributing a factually true statement to someone (in this case “critics” of President Bush’s lifting of the offshore oil drilling ban) instead of stating it as fact— and she corrected herself. Let’s make a habit of this (no matter the issue):

On Monday the president ended a longstanding moratorium on the practice [of offshore oil drilling] saying the new drilling would ease pressure on fuel prices. Critics argue production of gas from the offshore oil drilling would be years away. As it would be.

In other words, it’s not just “critics” who “argue” that offshore oil drilling would not offer a quick fix for high fuel prices. You can also attribute that to reality!