Briefly noted: The Washington Post wins a Pulitzer Prize for Gellman and Becker's series on Cheney

Last June when I read Barton Gellman (photo) and Jo Becker’s four part series on Vice-President Cheney, I said to myself and others, “This is prize-winning journalism.” The first article was published on June 25th, which I posted about here.

This morning, I wasn’t surprised when I read that The Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for the 30,000 word “Angler – The Cheney Vice Presidency” by Gellman and Becker.

From today’s article: The series “…[E]xamined how Cheney ‘has shaped his times as no vice president has before,’ including his impact on the U.S. anti-terrorism effort, tax and spending policies and environmental regulation.

"’I resisted this assignment for a while because I thought it was too hard,’ Gellman said. ‘I thought the guy is just going to be too tough to crack.’” Thank goodness Gellman and Becker stuck with it. Given what is going on today regarding:

1. The U.S.’s “anti-terrorism efforts,” which include torture, warrantless eavesdropping, and beating the war drums for an attack on Iran;

2. “Tax and spending policies,” as our country goes into deep debt for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and slides into a recession; and

3. “Environmental regulation,” as global warming is largely ignored and scientific studies about how serious it is are repressed,

this series is as timely as it was six months ago because Cheney continues to exert tremendous influence over President Bush.

(Photos of Barton Gellman and Cheney from The Washington Post)