Thursday, December 22, 2005
Jonathan Alter
Bush’s Snoopgate or this is more fun than that icky Clinton stain.
Alter has had some pretty off-the-wall stuff before, but he is outdoing himself here. Remember, Alter is the guy who wrote Why the Leak Probe Matters and Federal Shield Law Needed for Reporters.
Alter thinks that he knows that the President thought he could act like a dictator. Alter's got the inside scoop that the leaker was not guilty of a crime nor a "shameful act", but a patriot that Alter knows was thinking that he knew he was stopping a presidential power grab. Alter knows that the President didn't really care about national security because Alter knows that the President "knew" (and Alter knows) that "publication" would cause hin great embarrassment and trouble for the rest of his presidency. Who knew? What a Kreskin! Where does he get his crystal balls. When does he make time to come up with this crap?
Maybe we need a Federal Shield Law to protect us from projectial reporting and reporters.
Bush’s Snoopgate or this is more fun than that icky Clinton stain.
Finally we have a Washington scandal that goes beyond sex, corruption
and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the
reasonable bounds of presidential power. President Bush came out swinging on
Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work. We’re seeing clearly now that
Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind,
no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
...
And rather than the leaking being a “shameful act,” it was the work of
a patriot inside the government who was trying to stop a presidential power
grab.
...
This time, the president knew publication would cause him great
embarrassment and trouble for the rest of his presidency. It was for that
reason—and less out of genuine concern about national security—that George W.
Bush tried so hard to kill the New York Times story.
Alter has had some pretty off-the-wall stuff before, but he is outdoing himself here. Remember, Alter is the guy who wrote Why the Leak Probe Matters and Federal Shield Law Needed for Reporters.
Alter thinks that he knows that the President thought he could act like a dictator. Alter's got the inside scoop that the leaker was not guilty of a crime nor a "shameful act", but a patriot that Alter knows was thinking that he knew he was stopping a presidential power grab. Alter knows that the President didn't really care about national security because Alter knows that the President "knew" (and Alter knows) that "publication" would cause hin great embarrassment and trouble for the rest of his presidency. Who knew? What a Kreskin! Where does he get his crystal balls. When does he make time to come up with this crap?
Maybe we need a Federal Shield Law to protect us from projectial reporting and reporters.
¶ 12:21 PM
