We Got Gamed
Would Dubya have offered up his "kiss my ass in Macy's window" taunt to the public about the authorization of the NSA's warrant-free wiretaps had it been revealed a year ago when the New York Times first knew it was happening? Which would have put it... take off my shoes, 10, 11, 12...around election time last year?
This isn't the first time we've heard of a major news media outlet rolling over for the White House as they sought to keep their dirty laundry out of the election headlines. As emptywheel reminds us, the New York Times was also at this very same time covering up the fact that Scooter Libby was quite possibly trying to obstruct Judy Miller's testimony.
And let's not forget the fact that Time Magazine did not even seek a waiver from Karl Rove on behalf of Matt Cooper until long after the election. From the LAT:
Time editors were concerned about becoming part of such an explosive story in an election year....The result was that Cooper's testimony was delayed nearly a year, well after Bush's reelection.Much of this probably comes from not wanting to suffer the fate of Dan Rather at the hands of White House thugs -- after all, the same news outlets who became so delicate about "influencing the election" had no trouble giving those Swift Boat nutjobs the copious amounts of time they needed for their deranged accusations to induce a national fugue state. But for whatever reason they decided they had priorities that superseded reporting important stories during an election year which could quite possibly have changed the outcome.
The GOP found a much more effective and subversive way to steal an election in 2004 that avoided all the flap and hubub of 2000. And the next person who pops off about the "liberal media" takes one in the eye.
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 12/17/2005 09:16:00 PM
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