By now, hardcore bloggers and Minnesota newspaper readers know that columnist Nick Coleman took some shots at his archrivals at Power Line yesterday.

Nick Coleman is a columnist at the same newspaper as James Lileks, and, obviously lots of people want to know Lileks' take on the whole thing. (Will he say mean things about fellow bloggers? Will he say mean things about a fellow columnist?)

Lileks, true to form, gives us this:

Is it possible for a Christmas tree to rot before the year�s out? Every time I pass the thing I get a whiff of something wrong. It�s piney, yes, but piney in the disinfectant-in-a-Grand-Central-mensroom way. I wonder if �

What? Why are you looking at me that way?

Oh. Right. Every time there�s a Nick Coleman Controversy I feel as though I�m expected to say something. More on that in a minute.

He winds up walking a fine line, but his opening grafs sort of put it all into perspective. There are a lot more important things going on this week besides a whiney newspaper columnist taking some public shots at a lawyer and banker who blog.

But as long as the subject was raised, here's a thought:

Before blogs came along, journalists would go out of their way to talk to people like the Power Line guys for dirt, for perspective for balance or for yuks. But the minute those same sources cut out the middlemen and bring their perspective to the public directly, writers like Coleman start deriding them.

It just doesn't look good.