Shafer is correct: here two mediocrities bind themselves together for their better good and collude to advance themselves in any way possible. Neither one was/is much of a journalist. Really, they are just hacks with very little substance, who make their careers passing on rumors and dirt without asking honest, hard questions about policy because they were not equipped to do so. That few come out and say this is an unfortunate sign of how low the reading public has fallen in terms of standards for their information.