Monday, July 11, 2005
Stolen from comments on Hulaballo
FrankSpace
Why are we all letting Cooper and Time off the hook for their complete failure to act as journalists?
Let me see if I've got this straight.
Matt Cooper, a "journalist," has a straight pipeline to Karl Rove, such that he can call Rove or Rove can call him whenever it's time to push the Rovian spin on a public issue. These conversations with Rove are "superdoubleprobationsecret", such that when Cooper e-mails his boss at Time, the two of them agree that the information Rove has given Cooper (information, by the way, that is illegal for Rove to give to Cooper, and information that has but one purpose, and that is to send a message to Wilson that no holds are barred in the White House's determination to destroy him)is so sensitive that the White House's involvement in the story will be suppressed, to the extent that another reporter will be sent off to find out from the CIA what Wilson's wife's role has been.
Cooper does what Rove wants him to do, which is act as a stenographer for the Rove version of the facts, but before he can publish his report, Novak scoops him, and there is a brief firestorm of inquiry into who leaked the information to Novak, at which time it becomes obvious to any sentient human being that the leaker has severely damaged national security.
The White House springs into action. Scotty McClellan denies that anyone in the White House is the leaker -- and specifically says that Karl Rove has told him that he had nothing to do with the leak. Bush announces that he's determined to get to the bottom of the leak and will leave no stone unturned in rooting out the leaker.
Every statement from the White House is a lie. Cooper and his editors at Time know that McClellan is lying, they know that Rove is lying, and they know that Bush is lying.
Cooper and Time, knowing these facts, quietly sit on their asses for two years, pretending that they know nothing (even after the CIA refers the case to the Justice Department for an investigation). They suppress evidence that the President's closest adviser is a felon who has severely damaged national security, and they say nothing as the White House lies, prevaricates, spins, and fakes concern about this leak.
What kind of "journalists" are these? This should have been the biggest story of Cooper's career, one that would put him up there with Woodward and Bernstein. He knew that Rove has lied to him, and he knew that several crimes have been committed inside the White House. So what does he do? He protects his source, covers up Rove's crime, and allows the White House to get away with two solid years of a cover-up -- and neither he nor his editors follow up on the lies or the crimes, thus preventing the public from knowing the full extent of the criminal activities in this White House -- information that, one would think, would have been useful to know prior to the November 2004 election.
Has there ever been a more appalling example of the complete and utter corruption of the Washington press corps? When did protecting a criminal become more important to these "journalists" than informing the public about the despicable and criminal activities of the government, activities that the public has a right to know about if it's going to exercise its right to vote intelligently?
I don't want to hear any more nonsense about how brave and honest Cooper has been in this case. As far as I'm concerned, he's as much of a criminal as Rove and should be prosecuted as one. At the very least, he should be crowned "Mediawhore of the Decade."
Basharov | 07.11.05 - 7:22 pm | #
Why are we all letting Cooper and Time off the hook for their complete failure to act as journalists?
Let me see if I've got this straight.
Matt Cooper, a "journalist," has a straight pipeline to Karl Rove, such that he can call Rove or Rove can call him whenever it's time to push the Rovian spin on a public issue. These conversations with Rove are "superdoubleprobationsecret", such that when Cooper e-mails his boss at Time, the two of them agree that the information Rove has given Cooper (information, by the way, that is illegal for Rove to give to Cooper, and information that has but one purpose, and that is to send a message to Wilson that no holds are barred in the White House's determination to destroy him)is so sensitive that the White House's involvement in the story will be suppressed, to the extent that another reporter will be sent off to find out from the CIA what Wilson's wife's role has been.
Cooper does what Rove wants him to do, which is act as a stenographer for the Rove version of the facts, but before he can publish his report, Novak scoops him, and there is a brief firestorm of inquiry into who leaked the information to Novak, at which time it becomes obvious to any sentient human being that the leaker has severely damaged national security.
The White House springs into action. Scotty McClellan denies that anyone in the White House is the leaker -- and specifically says that Karl Rove has told him that he had nothing to do with the leak. Bush announces that he's determined to get to the bottom of the leak and will leave no stone unturned in rooting out the leaker.
Every statement from the White House is a lie. Cooper and his editors at Time know that McClellan is lying, they know that Rove is lying, and they know that Bush is lying.
Cooper and Time, knowing these facts, quietly sit on their asses for two years, pretending that they know nothing (even after the CIA refers the case to the Justice Department for an investigation). They suppress evidence that the President's closest adviser is a felon who has severely damaged national security, and they say nothing as the White House lies, prevaricates, spins, and fakes concern about this leak.
What kind of "journalists" are these? This should have been the biggest story of Cooper's career, one that would put him up there with Woodward and Bernstein. He knew that Rove has lied to him, and he knew that several crimes have been committed inside the White House. So what does he do? He protects his source, covers up Rove's crime, and allows the White House to get away with two solid years of a cover-up -- and neither he nor his editors follow up on the lies or the crimes, thus preventing the public from knowing the full extent of the criminal activities in this White House -- information that, one would think, would have been useful to know prior to the November 2004 election.
Has there ever been a more appalling example of the complete and utter corruption of the Washington press corps? When did protecting a criminal become more important to these "journalists" than informing the public about the despicable and criminal activities of the government, activities that the public has a right to know about if it's going to exercise its right to vote intelligently?
I don't want to hear any more nonsense about how brave and honest Cooper has been in this case. As far as I'm concerned, he's as much of a criminal as Rove and should be prosecuted as one. At the very least, he should be crowned "Mediawhore of the Decade."
Basharov | 07.11.05 - 7:22 pm | #
