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Liberal Dinosaurs On Parade

I agree wholeheartedly with Polipundit’s excellent post on Watergate below. La Shawn Barber also has excellent commentary today about the liberals on television all week reliving the “Golden Age of Journalism” (she also has plenty of links to those writing about other aspects of the story).

I have found it almost unbearable at times to watch the liberal dinosaurs saying that Deep Throat saved the republic. On last night’s special edition of Hardball, Ben Bradlee was interviewed by Andrea Mitchell:

MITCHELL: How mean and ugly was it? We now see some of these post-Watergate people as pundits and commentators. And it seems there‘s sort of a moral equivalency. How does that make you feel?

BEN BRADLEE, FORMER “WASHINGTON POST” EDITOR: It makes me sick to hear Gordon Liddy talk about morality in government. He hasn‘t been out of jail all that long. I mean, I—it‘s—it‘s just—it makes me sick.

And why—why people—why the press goes to him to get quotes about the morality of—the morality of it all surprises me. Chuck Colson, the same way.

Bradlee’s wife, Sally Quinn (who looked amazingly young, if a little more like Joan Rivers than I remember her ever looking), took things up a notch with something she said on an edition of Hardball hosted by David Gregory last night:

GREGORY: Sally Quinn, there‘s a contrary view to the view about Mark Felt over the last couple of days. And that is, did he really do the right thing? I mean, we‘re reporters. We want information. But was leaking to the “Washington Post” the right way to handle his grievances?

QUINN: Well, you know, leaking is really an honorable tradition in Washington. People leak stories so that they will get out and so the public will be informed and often for the better.

I think Mark Felt is a hero, because he really risked his job, and some might even say his life, by telling Bob Woodward the things that he told him and by steering him in the right direction. I mean, we had a very, very corrupt government. And they were not beyond, some would say—and there were some crazies—they were not beyond murder.

And I think that this country would have been absolutely devastated if Nixon had continued on and Watergate had not been found out. I think…

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Ok, this one frankly had me yelling at the very young-looking Sally Quinn on my television screen. Leaking wasn’t considered so honorable during Bill Clinton’s administration, or during the recent judicial committee memo situation, now was it? About half of the stories I recall on those subjects practically dismissed any substance because the information was obviously leaked by those with an agenda. Of course, that kind of coverage ceased when Paul O’Neill and Joe Wilson had books to hawk.

I don’t even know what to say about Quinn’s statement about the very, very corrupt Nixon government and the crazies that were not beyond murder. As for the country being “devastated” if Nixon had continued on and Watergate not been found out – puh leeze, lady. Could the woman be any more insulated and cocooned in her liberal Washington establishment mindset? I don’t think so.

And another thing…Sally Quinn also discussed how exciting it was to be in the Washington Post news room all those years ago when they were constantly breaking news. There are fewer and fewer stories these days being broken by newspapers in this era of the 24 hour cable news channels and the internet. This is why I believe the term “dinosaur” is entirely appropriate.

-- Lorie Byrd, polipundit.com, June 2, 2005