Realistically, does anyone believe that the NYT will ever be prosecuted and if so, due to the First Amendment, will it ever fly?
I'd really like some feedback on this.
> Realistically, does anyone believe that the NYT will ever be prosecuted and if so, due to the First Amendment, will it ever fly?
I've posted before, if the Administration lifts a finger there will be a First Amendment case that will rock the nation. The Times, longing for a Watergate type scandal to topple the Administration, would revel in this, and old media would fall in behind them for their last hurrah.
Besides speaking out to chastise the Times for its reckless disclosure, as the President and Secretary Snow have done, I would think the next step is for DOJ to find who leaked the classified info, subpoena documents from the paper to see if any laws had been broken...but like the Plame affair--which in retrospect seems to have been a shot fired across the bow, that'll take a special prosecutor and three years.
I'm surprised there has been no talk of congressional hearings on the matter.
In election year? Not a chance. And Arlen Specter has already thrown a protective arm around the Times. So even the Repubs aren't united.
The President was giving us the lead in his speech the other day.
He described the actions of the NYT in very negative terms.
He is letting the Justice Department do what is legally allowed to put a stop to it.
BUT. The only real action is the one that WE do.
We must get their Board members to realize they are going under if they do not correct the leadership/management problem they have.
I don't want CBS, NYT, etc. going down in flames. Many people would be out of work. Many of those people are innocent in all this.
The problem comes from the TOP. This is a private issue, and not one the government can solve. The Media, as long as it can make profit from influence-peddling to the power-mad in political positions, will continue to do so. The market is there.
President Bush is overseeing the correct administration of the Department of Justice, and the investigative agencies (FBI, NSA,GSA,etc) in following the law and prosecuting those who don't. There has been more activity behind the curtains (meaning the media didn't report it) than you are likely aware of.
For instance, before the 2nd new director or the FBI was sworn in, IIRC, over 50% of the staff had been terminated. (I think the figure was higher, but won't argue it without finding the proper figure first).
Demanding the President take out the NYT is asking him to step, IMHO, over the line. A line we won't like crossed, when we see the results of leaders who don't have the legal standards, morals, and convictions of our current President.
The NYT is part of a company that lives in the private sector, the capitalism that we are so known for.
That is OUR territory, and not the governments'.
As the stockholders start complaining, heads will roll.
This is the American way, not forcing our President to go beyond the law to solve a problem that is truly personal.
That we swallow the pigslop the MSM feeds us is our own fault. They have been doing so ever since the first magistrate found it could help 'control' the masses.
We have this tool, the INTERNET, that is helping us defeat our enemy, which is named IGNORANCE.
That is how we solve this problem.
Then, we can stand up for right, and against wrong.
It has always been choosing and standing up for one or the other. We must not expect 'others' to do our fighting for us. If you take a 'bye', it means you lose.