Wash. Post scoop stirs it up ("shadow government")

U.S. News ^ | 3/6/02 | Washington Whispers by Paul Bedard

[Jean S]

That Washington Post scoop about President Bush setting up a "shadow government" to handle things in the event of a major attack on Washington has media tongues wagging. It all started last week when the paper broke the story and bragged about it on TV and radio. U.S. News editors realized it was a very long version of a very short Whisper published in October, and we said so on this site (see related Whisper). The Cleveland Plain Dealer then told us they, too, had the news earlier, and we put their story on our Web site. The shoving match then made a popular media site, Jim Romenesko's Media News.

Now, like a good local story, it's being fought in the letters section of Romenesko's Web site. Post reporter Barton Gellman complains about the "snarky" tone Washington Whispers took in poking at his scoop. "I confess," he writes, "I did not notice Paul Bedard's three-sentence 'Whisper' in US News about the bunkering government managers. Not sure I buy his snarky tone." Gosh, we're so sorry.

Sabrina Eaton, who wrote about the administration's contingency plans for the Plain Dealer, reacted with a tough review of the Post's reporting. "The Post's 'first' boast is especially puzzling since Mr. Gellman's March 1 letter demonstrates folks at the Post were aware of prior reporting in the Plain Dealer, as well as in U.S. News & World Report, before their subsequent stories went to press." She adds: "Why did it take them nearly six months to notice sustained absences of anyone in Washington besides Dick Cheney? Are they that disengaged from the communities they live in and the people they cover?" Ouch.

Finally: The Federation of American Scientists has weighed in, suggesting that details of the "shadow government" have been known for years in public documents. But, they note the Washington phenomenon that unless a story's in the Post or New York Times, it doesn't exist. "If a tree falls in the forest, and it is not reported in the Washington Post or the New York Times, it evidently doesn't make a sound."

[TomB]

The Federation of American Scientists has weighed in, suggesting that details of the "shadow government" have been known for years in public documents.

Here is a website, copywright 1998, that discusses it. I remember hearing about it long before that, though.

[scooby321]

bump

[Prodigal Son]

I'm not sure where all these little political fires are coming from- Bush administration disinfo or just the stupid liberals doing it to themselves- but it is sure funny to watch. The left have gotten themselves worked up into a froth.
"Bush is Hitler!"
"All the money for national defense is going straight into Bush's pocket"
"The elections in 2004 will be cancelled by Bush!".
"Shadow Gov't!!!" Oh my sweet Jesus! He's done it now!

They are stark raving mad. It's hilarious watching them run from one end of the house to the other yelling about the sky falling and crying wolf wolf wolf and in the mean time not getting anything in the way of a democratic agenda accomplished. Right now their only mission seems to be "Stop Bush (Hitler), oppose EVERYTHING he does". They are literally losing it right before our eyes and the only pity is- people will still vote for these talking dung heaps.