Posted on 07/01/2006 3:49:34 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
July 1, 2006
At this point, how many people are interested in hearing more preachy justifications from newspaper editors about their decision to spill the beans on anti-terror programs? Yada yada yada, the sensitive balance between legitimate secrecy needs in time of war and the public's right to know. Yeah, we get it.
But there were Dean Baquet and Bill Keller, editors of the LA and NY Times respectively, with an op-ed this morning humming the same tired 'on the one hand, but on the other' sing song .' Things reached their apotheosis of annoyingness [poetic license in the cause of alliteration] when the duo approvingly cited WaPo editor Robert Kaiser editor thusly:
"You may have been shocked by these revelations, or not at all disturbed by them, but would you have preferred not to know them at all? If a war is being waged in America's name, shouldn't Americans understand how it is being waged?"
Answer: you're damn right most Americans would rather not have known. And NO, Americans should NOT understand the clandestine details of how a war is being waged! To restate the classic example, on June 5th, 1944, we shouldn't have understood what Ike had in mind for the morrow. In more contemporary terms, it was right to keep us in the deepest dark about the plan to zap Zarqawi.
The editors' bland notions of balance and appeals to the public's right to know are less than meaningingless. They are absolutely pernicious. Yes, we understand that the politicians who lead us can have less-than-pure motives for keeping some things secret. Some things can and should be divulged by a vigilant press. The decision obviously involves a case by case application of patriotism and good judgment. That the NY Times has repeatedly failed to manifest either is, in most eyes, beyond cavil.
LA Times/NewsBusters ping to Today Show list.
Weak excuse. We would like to know how we won the war... after we won it.
What we don't want, is to know how we lost a war before we've lost it.
I read it as nothing more than Baquet and Keller giving the US the finger while their helicopter is warming up on the pad to whisk them away to Fire Island for high summer.
I believe most Americans understand that some things must be kept secret in order to win a war. I believe that most Americans dont want assholes at the New York Times being the arbiter of what should be kept secret, especially since their bias against this administration is so blatant.I also believe that most American would like to see whomsoever is the leaker of these secrets to the media caught and hung by the Gonads, along with the editors of the New York times.
Just typing that "national dialogue" phrase made me wanna puke...
Perfect imagery!
The headline should be changed to "Shouldn't Newspaper Editors Know How Wars Must be Waged."
That we have record EMPLOYMENT.
That we have surpassed the 90's in economic growth. That the deficit is shrinking at a much faster rate than predicted.
That Bush's tax cuts are working exactly as he predicted, bringing record tax revenues into the treasury.
That the majority of Afghanistan and Iraq is now peaceful, and striving forward into freedom for the first time, and that the entire region is now slowly moving in the direction of allowing their peoples free choice in voting for their own futures.
Why is it only "doom and gloom" that gets the headlines?
Because the left can not allow the people to know the truth. That our country is a great one.
That our people are a force for good in the world, that we are the most generous nation, trying to help the entire world strive towards democracy, freedom, peace and prosperity.
For if they really understood what the left stands for, they would throw them out on their ears! They cannot let the people learn the truth, or they will lose their chance at power and control. They cannot let the people honestly decide on a future without the left in charge.
That's different. It would only confuse the people ;-)
"Editors' Defense: 'Shouldn't Americans Understand How War Being Waged? "
Readers reply: "Shouldn't newspapers understand there's a war being waged"?
Well said, and true.
Let's also hear from the Slimes on why the public needs to know where the security cameras are on the Secretary of Defense's summer home during a time of war!
All of a sudden I need a dictionary or thesaurus while reading your posts??
< just kidding >
Thanks again. Really look forward to your thread every day.
After all, someone has to stand up for them.
Sorry about that.
Secret: Something the NY Times shouldn't blab about on the front page ;-)
Shortly after 9-11, the President spoke to the nation and told us of his intentions in the WOT. No one, at that time, wanted to know every detail of the process. We simply wanted the job to be done. The NYT doesn't want what We want.
LOL!
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