12/17/2005
How It Works
I just saw this little snippet from Bush's radio address of today on TPM:
The existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk.I had a sneaking suspicion we'd hear something along these lines, when I read this Byron York bit from yesterday:
One obvious issue raised by today's New York Times story is that there appears to have been another leak of classified information that might affect national security. As observers of the Patrick Fitzgerald CIA leak investigation know, our national security agencies take such leaks very seriously; indeed, not long ago a CIA source told National Review that the agency had referred the "secret prisons" story from the Washington Post to the Justice Department for investigation as a possible leak of classified information. Now, it seems likely that the National Security Agency will refer the New York Times story to the Justice Department as well, but the NSA, true to its reputation, isn't saying. "We have no information to provide," an NSA spokesman told National Review Online. "We do not discuss actual or alleged operational issues." It also remains to be seen whether Democrats, as particularly strong supporters of the Fitzgerald investigation, will call for a probe into the New York Times leak.In lieu of decontructing the fallacy the York/Bush argument, I'd like to point out this as a textbook example of how the rightie blogosphere works. I know I pound on this fairly often, but it's an important distinction between the two halves of the blogosphere. The right-half, notably NRO, Malkin, and Powerline rehearse, repeat, and recycle Rove's talking points. They're an extension of the radical right-wing borg that includes Fox, Regnery, and Rush Limbaugh. Now, even PBS is controlled by right-wing activists, and the minions from NRO will frequently make guest appearances there.
The left, meanwhile, is trying to develop a grass-roots network to challenge the "Republican" Noise Machine, to steal David Brock's expression. The quotes are there around "Republican" because it's not fair to paint the party as a whole that way. We're really talking about a coalition of the Uber Nationalists (Freepers), Dominionists (Fundies), and Neocons (Neocons).
The larger issue is that this entity we call The Media, who at one time was responsible for objectively reporting on the news, is now subverting the process by creating the news.
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