eebmore: Lateral Moves and Post Modern McCarthyism

Lateral Moves and Post Modern McCarthyism

April 25, 2006

So a former Fox New Anchor and frequent Rush Limbaugh radio stand-in is likely to accept the position of White House Press Secretary. I cannot think of anyone more qualified for the job of spinning to the point lying in support of the administration than a former Fox "news" anchor. And no, this is not a slam on the administration. Spinning/Lying is a press secretary’s job. I’m slamming the pretense of Fox News being a valid news source. By comparison, Al Jazeera is a fair and balanced news source. Blogs are less biased. But we all already knew that.

***

This Mary McCarthy secret prisons leak case is getting curiouser and curiouser... and more and more political. Every day it becomes more apparent the initial reports out of the CIA press office, were at best, not very accurate. Two polarized camps are emerging: Democratic spies and Republican spies. Rand Beers, staunch Democratic ex-spy and close friend of McCarthy, yesterday spoke for her, strongly denying the accusations. Of course, denying allegations does not make one innocent. I pretty much agree with Howard Kurtz on this one: if she is guilty and found to be so, she should most definitely serve jail time. If she was in the moral right to leak classified information about illegal secret prisons, she should go to jail and feel good about herself. But, we still have to see if she was a source for anything other than sharing ugly tips with Dana Priest.

In response to the firing, Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Pat Roberts said:

"Those guilty of improperly disclosing classified information should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,"

Oh Pat, if only I believed for one second that you had the same commitment to getting to the bottom of the Plame/Libby/Rove/Cheney/Bush debacle. Methinks you’re just another hypocrite.

12:48 PM | Permalink

Comments

I'd hesitate to call Rand Beers a "staunch Democrat". He's another die-hard national security policy guy who got fed up with working for Bush and his cronies and figured the best way to get Bush out was to get Kerry in. I bet if you scratched him, he'd bleed "old fashioned Republican" blood. Unfortunately for all those guys (Richard Clarke among them) the only place left for them is the Democratic party.

Posted by: jayinbmore at April 25, 2006 01:41 PM

as a staunch democrat myself, I have to say that smells like a pile of poo. sure, that's how they portray themselves. ALL ambitious intelligence and military individuals keep their politics to themselves while they are still climbing the ranks. it is when they near or at the point of retirement that they come out of the closet with thier political leanings. eisenhower, powell, kennan, lattimore, etc....

If you had said Zinni, I would totally agree; but let's be honest, Beers and Clarke are both democrats, as is McCarthy. Beers did not join the Kerry campaign out of a painful sense of duty, he did it out of a partisan belief that Kerry was the right man for the job. Now, he did retire fromt the CIA out of protest, again... influenced by his partisanship, and a partisanship that I support, but lets not beatify partisanship.

Posted by: eebmore at April 25, 2006 01:59 PM

whoops. i was getting richard clarke and wesley clark mixed up. yes, you are half right on clarke. that was exactly his motives for speaking out; but no, he is not now a democrat... as much as the republicans would like to portray him as one. but Beers is a democrat, through and through.

Posted by: eebmore at April 25, 2006 02:14 PM

I don't know if I'd consider Al Jazeera unbiased, but they do give coverage to stories that we don't hear about in the US MSM.

Posted by: tfg at April 25, 2006 10:17 PM

yes, I know. and yes, al jazeera is biased (although arguably less so than Fox News). I don't have a knee-jerk tooth spitting for Al jazeera arabist bias, like tards who watch fox do. Duh, "what? why don't arabs understand they're evil?" idiots. it is impossible to completely escape bias of one form or another; but the fact that what is supposedly considered to be a news source, is headed by Roger Ailes, a former Republican strategist, is mind boggingly despicable. it isn't news, it isn't even biased news, it's just spin. unfortunately, intelligant non-populist right leaning news, such as the WSJ, isn't free for some reason.

but please stop "informing" me as though I've never read a book before. that is SOOOOO annoying. ;-)

Posted by: eebmore at April 25, 2006 11:08 PM

Sorry.

Posted by: tfg at April 26, 2006 02:10 PM

don't be sorry. I was more than half kidding.

Posted by: eebmore at April 26, 2006 02:19 PM

Comments close after posts fall off the main index page.
Have more to say? Please mail me:
eebmore at yahoo dot com.