Atrios uncovers a decade-old column by that scold of Washington conventionality dating to the adolescence of the Internet as a tool of mass communication. Cokie's thrust is summed up by a respondent's sarcastic letter to the editor, "The Internet is nothing but a cyber-sewer, full of smut, cults, and now an even greater danger: easy access to government officials." The horror!

They also get in touch with each other on public policy issues. According to Love, it's like an electronic town meeting. That analogy makes our blood run cold.

It's a demented, illuminating snapshot of an attitude that continues to inform the way some officials think about their vassals and the scary things they do with the Internets. Here's the full glory, forwarded to an old e-mail list with the remark by one of its prime sources, Jamie Love, "This is a real syndicated column by Cokie Roberts. It is not a spoof."