(Thumbnail image: Boston Herald)

"If anybody wants to know where cynicism is, cynicism is that there is one, two press people in this gallery.  We're talking about Eric Massa 24/7 on the TV. We're talking about war and peace, $3 billion, 1,000 lives and no press?" (C-SPAN)
 
Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy slammed the news media for ignoring the war in Afghanistan and instead, devoting coverage elsewhere.
 
We’re taking a look at perspectives on Kennedy’s speech from Gawker, Politics Daily, Fox News, MassLive.com and WNAC.
 
Kennedy unleashed on the House floor during a debate over troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.  On Gawker, a blogger says Kennedy targeted the media to draw more attention to the real issue—the war in Afghanistan.
 
“This rant against the media got him way more coverage than he would have gotten just ranting against the war in Afghanistan itself. (That old thing, YAWN). The media: always ready to offer wall-to-wall coverage of any story about the media. We really are the worst.”
 
On Politics Daily, a columnist says Kennedy made a fair point during his over two-minute rant.
 
“I, for one, would like to confess to being guilty as charged by the congressman. The joy of covering Capitol Hill for me is the drama that the 535 very human subjects bleed from their pores. Still, when shiny but questionably relevant stories overshadow the truly important, it's time to rearrange the priorities.”
 
Kennedy is no stranger to controversy, from a public sizzle with a Providence Bishop to run-ins with the law. Fox News's Chris Wallace appearing on Imus in the Morning, says Kennedy acted irrationally.

 
"Did Massa get more coverage than he deserved?  Absolutely, but it's hardly like we haven't covered the war in Afghanistan, and I'm very fond of Patrick Kennedy.  I've known him since he was about 13 years old, and his dad was running for president in 1980, but he just seemed a little overwrought on the floor of the House."

And a blogger on MassLive.com agrees saying,

 
“On the one hand you could appreciate Kennedy's rant, he's obviously passionate about his views, but jeez have a mint for crying out loud!...Wednesday's 'floor show' seemed a little over the top, even for Patrick Kennedy.”
 
But on Providence, Rhode Island’s FOX affiliate WNAC, a commentator says he appreciates Kennedy’s enthusiasm.
 
"I applaud him for his passion for all the things that he -- I don't agree with all the things Patrick Kennedy believes in, but to see a politician really get fired up about something like that, I'd like to see more of them."

So what do you think?  Was Kennedy over the top, or did he make a valid point?  We leave you with more of his speech.
 
“You wanna know why the American public is fit? They're fit because they're not seeing their Congress do the work that they're sent to do, it's because the press, the press of the United States is not covering the most significant issue of national importance, and that's the laying of the lives down in the nation, for the service of our country. It is despicable, the national press corps right now." (C-SPAN)