Perhaps we are going from different visions of journalist. (My father was a reporter with libertarian leanings; it never colored his reporting, and nobody paid him to express his opinions.) I feel that a commentator, somebody who is so clearly dedicated to an ideological agenda, any ideological agenda, and is paid for expressing that agenda rather than for reportage, ceases to be a reliable source, especially when the story is of the "the other day somebody called me and said" variety, as this appears to be.