Greenwald has become one of my favorite sources of commentary since DKos turned me on to him. Greenwald is fresh off a several-week spell of intensive book-writing under a tight deadline and one can tell that he's in a foul mood as a result. (I can identify - having done the same thing numerous times myself.) Since he returned to his
Blog site, he's really been takin' off the gloves. I think a lot of what he has to say needs yet more exposure.
In particular, let's look at what the compulsive gambler Bill Bennett has to say about the free press in this country (more below the fold):
Yesterday, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau received well-deserved Pulitzer Prizes for "national reporting" based on their (year-long-delayed) disclosure of the President's illegal NSA eavesdropping program. That award has set off a new slew of bitter commentary from Bush supporters, including Bennett, proclaiming that Risen and Lichtblau belong in prison. On his radio show this morning, the great free press crusader Bennett said: "I think what they did is worthy of jail."
Powerline, as always, helpfully expounds on this definitively American principle of throwing reporters in jail who publish stories which damage the political interests of the Commander-in-Chief during a Time of War. In an item entitled "Pulitzer Prize for Treason," Scott "Big Trunk" Johnson says that Risen and Lichtblau won the Pulitzer "for their treasonous contribution to the undermining of the highly classified National Security Agency surveillance program of al Qaeda-related terrorists," which -- according to Johnson, "is a particularly serious crime insofar as it lends assistance to the enemy" -- all together, now -- "in a time of war."
One thing I really like about Greenwald is his consistency. He does not allow anyone among the 101st Fighting Keyboardists (space permitting) to get away with reinforcing what really is a completely un-American, fascistic world view. Jailing journalists indeed. Here's another quote:
Remember - these are the people who think that they are elevated and pure enough to invade other countries in order to teach the repressed masses about democracy and freedom. They endlessly tout their own patriotism and crusades for freedom while agitating for the imprisonment of journalists who publish stories which reflect poorly on their leader. On countless fronts, they are on the precipice of dismantling every defining value and principle of liberty we have.
There are times when I think that in the span of five oh-so-long years these people have done irreversible damage to our country and our constitutional republic. As far as I'm concerned, every Republican elected official and media flack out there has a lot to answer for and many at the Federal level really should be prosecuted for treason themselves. You would have a hard time writing a script or a novel depicting a greater degree of insensate folly than the comprehensive cluster of incompetence displayed by this Administration and its erstwhile supporters.
BUT THERE'S MORE:
Today, Bennett said that the reporters who sparked one of the most important investigative stories in the last five years should be arrested, tried and convicted -- presumably for treason (I wonder whether Bennett and Johnson believe that a couple of decades in prison is a sufficient punishment for these reporters; after all, we hang, not imprison, traitors).
It is difficult, and I think foolish, to ignore these ugly impulses which are always pulsating immediately beneath the veneer of so many Bush followers. These are not random, fringe commentators whose extremist views are being held up to make a point. Rather, these are among the most representative and, in Bennett's case, influential Bush followers who have been incessantly and indignantly calling for the imprisonment of journalists. And as the drumbeat for war against Iran grows more intense, so, too, will the perceived justification for these types of distinctly un-American measures. The more "times of war" we have, the less room we have for marginal liberties, such as the luxury of a free press.
But please continue on to read Greenwald's own page and keep visiting him. It deserves much more attention.