How thoroughly has the Internet come to torment the dying industry that is print newspaper publishing?

So thoroughly that even a rare moment in the sun for print last week was overshadowed, at least in part, by the 800-pound online gorilla.

Perhaps you saw the reports: Newspapers nationwide couldn't spin their ancient presses fast enough to crank out extra copies and special editions trumpeting the news that Barack Obama had been elected president. Television news programs aired images of people literally lining up around the Washington Post building to buy a piece of history printed on dead trees.

Impressive, sure … but how 20th Century.

Meanwhile, mere hours later, sellers on eBay were asking $400 for a single copy of that day's New York Times (by the next morning, market saturation had knocked that price down to about $100). Lesser but still substantial sums were being offered for keepsake editions of lesser but still substantial metro dailies.

So in essence you have the ink-stained wretches doing all the production work and collecting all the grubby little quarters from those lines of loyal readers/speculators … and then watching the real money change hands online.

Still, considering all the abuse heaped upon newspapers these days, it was nice to see them bask in a bit of reflected glory from Obama's historic accomplishment. They, of course, will be happy about the additional revenue, however modest it may look in comparison to the go-go after-market on eBay.

But there were indications that the print barons still don't know what's hitting them: "This kind of demand for our newspapers is unlike anything we've experienced in recent history," said one newspaper executive. "This is a clear demonstration that people continue turning to their local newspaper to help them understand and interpret the news of the day, and that is especially true when big events happen."

No, this is a clear demonstration that readers cannot stash a Web site into a keepsake drawer.

And it only gets worse

This will seem blindingly obvious to my fellow political junkies but may surprise those who lead more well rounded (dare I say normal?) lives: The Internet has surpassed newspapers and trails only television as the primary source of political news for most Americans, according to a recent report from Pew Research.