Today on
CNN in an interview by Soledad O'Brien, Bill Bennett asserted that Americans (based on his Radio show listeners) are outraged at the New York Times for outing the governments secret program in which they are examining the banking records of thousands of Americans.
Bennett:
But the fury this morning was about the "New York Times," and it wasn't fury about people having their bank records looked at. It was hundreds of people calling and saying, Look, we're in a war on terror. This program, the SWIFT program, at the Treasury Department, apparently doing a lot of good. We captured this guy who was responsible for the bombings in Bali because of this program. And it also led to the arrests of some of the people last July 7, and people are wondering about the "New York Times" and other outlets as to when they will stop interfering with these intelligence programs
Continued below
Apparently his listeners feel that the government is entitled to have its views respected over that of the NYT editors as Bennett describes their views:
They said the "New York Times" cloaks itself in the First Amendment, but it's a profit-making media behemoth which is out to make headlines and make profits. And the government is entitled to have its views respected over that of the editors of the "New York Times."
Bennet continues to assert that "Americans" (clearly implying most Americans, have a simmering anger that is about to boil over with respect to journalists efforts to hamper the war on terror throught their investigative journalism.
So this thing continues to build. We had Pete Hoekstra on, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who is extremely frustrated about this. Something is going to happen before long. I know we've had hearings on this, but people don't appreciate just how angry a lot of the public is, in what they feel is an interference with the program.
Finally he cites Alexander Solzhenitsyn's speech at Harvard in 1978:
He said, Sometimes the public doesn't have a right to know. There are things that we shouldn't know. There are things we need to leave secret so that we can be protected. I mean the assumption that the government is always in the wrong and that it always -- we always have to spill the beans on the government is not a correct one, either, and particularly in a time of war, people are putting more confidence in the government than the "New York Times."
O'Brien finishes with "I think you're right. I think it's going to lead somewhere, as you mentioned those hearings."
Is this where we have come to? CNN is now giving a man a platform to assert that most Americans are angry with the press for reporting on secret government programs designed to spy on Americans, programs which in some (if not all) cases are illegal. They continue to advance the frame , "Trust us! Be afraid! We will protect you from terror!" while the real issue is unprecedented lawbreaking and seizure of power by the executive branch in violation of our constitution.
Why are people so very very afraid? And of what? As others have noted this country has faced far far far graver dangers than terrorism and survived with our civil liberties and constitution intact. A most notable example, the American Revolution, when we stood up to the most powerful military on the earth and prevailed. It was in that climate that our Constitution was carefully deliberated and written.
Citizens must fight back and rise to the challenge put forth by our founding fathers to be vigilant, informed and engaged.