Public Nuisance

Random commentary and senseless acts of blogging.

The first Republican president once said, "While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of four years." If Mr. Lincoln could see what's happened in these last three-and-a-half years, he might hedge a little on that statement.
-Ronald Reagan

Left Bloggers
Blog critics

Gryffindor House
Roger Ailes
AintNoBadDude
Americablog
Amygdala
Angry Bear
Atrios
Billmon
Biscuit Report
Body and Soul
Corrente
Daily Kos
Demosthenes
Digby
Kevin Drum
Electrolite
Firedoglake
Glenn Greenwald
Group Think Central
Hamster
Inappropriate Response
Mark Kleiman
Lean Left
Nathan Newman
Nitpicker
Off the Kuff
Pandagon
Politus
Prometheus Speaks
Rittenhouse Review
Max Sawicky
Scoobie Davis
Seeing the Forest
Sideshow
Skippy
Sully Watch
Talking Dog
Talking Points
TPM Cafe
Tapped
Through the Looking Glass
Washington Monthly
WTF Is It Now?
Matt Yglesias

Slytherin House
Gideon
Indepundit/Lt Smash
OTB
Damian Penny
Natalie Solent
Andrew Sullivan
Tacitus
Eve Tushnet

Ravenclaw House
Balkinization
Michael Berube
Juan Cole
Cronaca
Crooked Timber
Decembrist
Brad Delong
Deltoid
Donkey Rising
Dan Drezner
Filibuster
Ideofact
OxBlog
Sandstorm
Amy Sullivan
Volokh Conspiracy
War and Piece
Winds of Change

House Elves
Tom Burka
Al Franken
Happy Fun Pundit
Mad Kane
Neal Pollack
Poor Man
Silflay Hraka
SK Bubba

Beth Jacob
Asparagirl
Gedankenpundit
Kesher Talk
Meryl Yourish

Prisoners of Azkaban
Antidotal
Ted Barlow
Beyond Corporate
William Burton
Cooped Up
Counterspin
Cogent Provacateur
Letter From Gotham
Likely Story
Limbaughtomy
Mind Over What Matters
Not Geniuses
Brian O'Connell
Rants in Our Pants
Ann Salisbury
Thomas Spencer
To the Barricades

Muggles
A & L Daily
Campaign Desk
Cursor
Daily Howler
Op Clambake
Media Matters
Spinsanity

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Party Animals:
Clark Community
From The Roots(DSCC)
Kicking Ass (DNC)
Stakeholder (DCCC)


Not a Fish
Ribbity Blog
Tal G


Baghdad Burning
Salam Pax

<< List
Jewish Bloggers
Join >>

Monday, October 13, 2003
 
Calpundit is rather too kind to this Times editorial on the Plame scandal. Kristof is harsh on attempts to spin the crime, noting that, "Republicans have inexcusably tried to whitewash it". But he tries to balance that with a criticism of Democrats for, "engaging in hyperbole when they describe the White House as having put Mrs. Wilson's life in danger and destroyed her career". But the truth is that the exposure does cause some personal danger to Ms Wilson and her family, and any such added risk, although small, is inexcusable. The very public nature of the exposure makes them a potential target not just for foreign intelligence organizations, but also, probably a greater concern, for generalized nut jobs, such as the man who broke into the home of Clinton associate Cody Shearer, vandalizing property and threatening visitors with a gun, after Shearer was falsely accused on talk radio of having threatened Kathleen Willey.

Democrats have consistently emphasized the national security aspects of this story from the beginning. Here is the first statement by any prominent Democrat I know of, Shumer's call for an FBI investigation:"Leaking the name of a CIA agent is tantamount to putting a gun to that agent’s head. It compromises her safety and the safety of her loved ones, not to mention those in her network and other operatives she may have dealt with. On top of that, the officials who have done it may have also seriously jeopardized the national security of this nation." This early treatment by Josh Marshall similarly is more concerned about security implications, although it does suggest, perhaps incorrectly, that ongoing activities of Plame personally were damaged.

Kristof also states:

Moreover, the Democrats cheapen the debate with calls, at the very beginning of the process, for a special counsel to investigate the White House. Hillary Rodham Clinton knows better than anyone how destructive and distracting a special counsel investigation can be, interfering with the basic task of governing, and it's sad to see her display the same pusillanimous partisanship that Republicans showed just a few years ago.

First, Hillary Clinton has no particular knowledge of special counsels. Ken Starr and his cohorts were special prosecutors, appointed under a law that no longer exists, and with a diffenent status than special counsels. Special counsels go back a long way. The first President to hire one - and to fire one - was Ulysses S Grant. Special counsel investigations, not conducted under the Special Prosecutor Act of 1978, have an extensive history, and have generally been more successful than otherwise. It's true that this is a subtle distinction missed by most people, but that's no excuse for a writer in the NY Times making such a mistake.

Kristof also entirely ignores some facts which weaken his case considerably. Karl Rove, a major potential target of this investigation, has close ties not only to Ashcroft's boss, but to Ashcroft himself. Worse, Ashcroft has not merely kept the investigation within normal DoJ channels, he has so far not taken the obvious step of recusing himself. There are legitimate arguments against a special counsel, but recusal is a routine action which should have been immediate and uncontroversial.

One point which nobody seems to have made: one new piece of information in the editorial is that over the past several years, some of Plame's primary duties have been in "liaison roles with other intelligence agencies". Such work would almost certainly have involved foreign travel, which would mean that Plame is covered under the "5 year" provision of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

In general, Kristof spins the story a standard partisan food fight, with both parties failing to live up to the magisterial ethical standards of the Times. Kristof succeeds in leaving the impression that the malfeasance on each side is about equal, although in one case it involves a premeditated crime involving grave damage to national security and a lack of interest bordering on coverup in prosecuting that crime, on the other is a slightly excessive emphasis exaggerating one aspect of the harm done by this act and a call, which Kristof doubtfully labels as premature, for an independent counsel. Along with some journalistic self-gratification, this closely corresponds to the current Republican approach. David Corn gives an illuminating example of that spin in action.



Site 
Meter