Text 20800, 70 rader
Skriven 2006-06-27 08:31:00 av BOB SAKOWSKI (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JOHN HULL
Ärende: Try a REAL journalist for
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In their apoplectic fury over The New York Times's publishing a 
front page expose of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, the 
White House and their lackeys may be backing themselves into a 
corner.

Consider what's happened in the last 24 hours. Bush has called the disclosure
"disgraceful," looking far angrier (or fake-angrier) 
than he ever did about the Katrina fuckup. Cheney, of course, 
released some deep-stomach rumbles. Tony Snow made his displeasure known. And
in a cloud of dust rode the Ox-Bow posse, fashioning a necktie for Bill Keller
and company. Congressman Peter King, the 
sort of bullyboy who would have been right at home planted next 
to Joe McCarthy during the Red Scare, urged criminal prosecution. 
Today alone I've seen Newt Gingrich employing his full-press 
sneer to decry the "pathology" of the Times is revealing security secrets, Hugh
"The Iceman Cometh" Hewitt demagoguing the issue on 
CNN, the blue glint in his eyes demanding retribution. The Fox 
News All Stars haven't yet convened, but I'm certain they're 
return with a guilty verdict.* The right blogosphere is similarly inflamed.
Michelle Malkin and sundry molluscs at PJ media's 
amateur hour want to release the hounds. The National Review, 
stepping forward into the chamber with a heavy heart, grumbles, 
"The administration should withdraw the newspaperƒ€Ös White House 
press credentials because this privilege has been so egregiously 
abused, and an aggressive investigation should be undertaken to 
identify and prosecute, at a minimum, the government officials 
who have leaked national-defense information." I didn't bother 
listening to talk radio, but I'm sure they're baying for blood 
between commercials for bladder control.

What a gummy uproar. One so loud and ferocious that there almost 
has to be some follow-through, otherwise you are going to have 
one frustrated batch of highly indignants. They want the 
administration to show the Times and the rest of the press who's 
boss. The neocon contingent is already dismayed with the 
tiptoeing around Iran's nuclear program, with Ledeen and 
Perle lodging protests. If the pushback against the Times 
peters out, if the posse disbands shortly after mounting up, 
the White House is going to look weak in the bugged-out eyes 
of its mutant defenders. It'll be interesting to see if the 
controversy builds or fades over the next few days, and whether 
or not the Times-bashers will be compelled to call their own 
bluff. In the meantime, whatever one thinks of the Times's 
performance leading up to Iraq and the Judith Miller debacle, 
the ugly threatmongering and barking ("For the Times to release information
about secret operations and methods is treasonousƒ€�) 
of Peter King shouldn't go unchallenged. Let him climb the 
Empire State Building if he wants to work off steam.

*They sure enough did. Fox News All Star and full-time 
schmendrick Mort Kondracke said, more in anger than sorrow, 
"I think they [The New York Times] has forgotten that New York 
is the place 9/11 happened." Only a Beltway coward could be 
that obtuse.

http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2006/06/gripes_of_wrath.php

Careful John, your earthtone shirt is showing.

Consummate Corruptables, the conservative wing of the Republican 
Party working diligently to bring down the America of The Founders.

Patriot?   My ass!!




... Rabid conservative republicans, America's Brown Shirts
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