Posted on 07/05/2005 2:21:05 PM PDT by rface
A man who taught with Karl Rove, and considers him a friend, writes that in the Valerie Plame case, Rove is using journalists, and the First Amendment, "to operate without constraint, or to camouflage breaking the law." That's why neither reporters Cooper and Miller, nor their publications, should protect the behavior of Rove (or anyone else) "through an undiscerning, blanket use of the First Amendment that weaken its protections by its gross misuse."
(July 05, 2005) -- In 99.9 percent of cases I know, journalists must not break the bonds of appropriate confidentiality, to protect their ability to report, and to defend the First Amendment. I’ve testified in court to that end, and would do so again.
But the Valerie Plame-CIA case that threatens jail time for reporters from Time and The New York Times this week is the exception that shatters the rule. In this case, journalists as a community have been played for patsies by the president’s chief strategist, Karl Rove, and are enabling him to abuse the First Amendment, by their invoking it.
To understand why this case is exceptional, one must grasp the extent of Rove’s political mastery, which became clearer to me by working with him. When we taught "Politics and the Press" together at The University of Texas at Austin seven years ago, Rove showed an amazing disdain for Texas political reporters. At the same time, he actively cultivated national reporters who could help him promote a Bush presidency.
In teaching with him, I learned Rove assumes command over any political enterprise he engages. He insists on absolute discipline from staff: nothing escapes him; no one who works with him moves without his direction. In Texas, though he was called "the prime minister" to Gov. George W. Bush, it might have been "Lord," as in the divine, for when it came to politics and policy, it was Rove who gave, and Rove who took away.
Little has changed since the Bush presidency; all roads still lead to Rove.
Consequently, when former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson challenged President Bush’s lie that Saddam Hussein imported yellow-cake uranium from Niger to produce nuclear weapons, retaliation by Rove was never in doubt. While it is reporters Matthew Cooper of Time and Judith Miller of The New York Times who now face jail time, the retaliation came through Rove-uber-outlet Robert Novak, who blew the cover of Wilson’s wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame.
The problem, as always, in dealing with Rove, is establishing a clear chain of culpability. Rove once described himself as a die-hard Nixonite; he is, like the former president, both student and master of plausible deniability. (This past weekend, in confirming that Rove was indeed a source for Matthew Cooper, Rove's lawyer said his client "never knowingly disclosed classified information.") That is precisely why prosecutor Fitzgerald in this case must document the pattern of Rove’s behavior, whether journalists published, or not.
For in this case, Rove, improving on Macchiavelli, has bet that reporters won’t rat their relationship with the administration’s most important political source. How better for him to operate without constraint, or to camouflage breaking the law, than under the cover of journalists and journalism, protected by the First Amendment?
Karl Rove is in my experience with him the brightest and most affable of companions; perhaps I have been coopted, for I genuinely treasure his friendship. But neither charm nor political power should be permitted to subvert the First Amendment, which is intended to insure that reporters and citizens burrow fully and publicly into government, not insulate its players from felony, or reality.
Reporters with a gut fear of breaching confidential sources must fight like tigers to protect them. But neither reporters Cooper nor Miller, nor their publications, nor anyone in journalism should protect the behavior of Rove (or anyone else) through an undiscerning, blanket use of the First Amendment that weakens its protections by its gross misuse. Bill Israel teaches journalism at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). He has worked for several leading newpapers.
Fortunately, Mr Israel has a paper trail that indicates that his alleged familiarity with Mr Rove is somewhat over-stated. His politics are exactly what you would expect from a journalism professor at UMass.
http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2001/09/12/3b9eec7ab008c?in_archive=1
Prof Israel maintained that 9/11 was Bush's fault for neglecting the Palestinians!!
He was a graduate student when he supposedly taught with Mr Rove! Seems to me that he suffers from similar delusions to Ward Churchill.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
I love the way this Israel guy begins by stating he is friends with Rove and then proceeds to stab Rove in the back with unsubstantiated claims. It's like Durbin (or other libs) saying they support the troops and then in the same breath compare our soldiers to Nazi's. Do they believe everyone is that stupid?
"The left wingnuts are so deceitful, they would have you believe that an American Hero Karl Rove controls the media."
Not that I don't respect Rove as political strategist, but since when have we started elevating a pollster and direct marketer to the status of "American hero"? Shouldn't we reserve that for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dwight Eisenhower, etc?
Supposing the reporter says, "Karl, if the CIA agent is Valerie Plame, and you can't tell me that, but if you say 'red' when I show you a blue card, I will know what you are really saying." The reporter holds up a blue card, Karl says "Red". Does that make Karl a criminal?
Point, set, match.
The best part of your link to the article by Israel are the comments people posted at the end. I only read the first five, but they are very entertaining. Here are a few select clips:
" The author of this article is an idiot and should resign from journalism."
"You sir, are a complete and utter moron. Did you receive you degree in Journalism from a cracker-jacks box? You and all your leftist b*tt-buddies make me sick. How many recounts were there in Florida? How many did Gore win? You are STILL talking about how W 'stole' the election. Even that paper that I wouldn't use in the cat-box, The New York Times, admitted that W won fair and square. Get over it. Better yet move to France, you will be much happier there. I feel sorry for your students. You must be brainwashing them with your leftist propaganda bovine scatology."
"Bill Clinton worked for eight years to resolve the conflict in the middle east? What a joke! I must have blinked and missed his eight years of work. All I saw was a month of forced feeding at the end of his term. Mr. Isreal is a typical arrogant, liberal journalist who is so full of his own misguided self-rightousness that he is completely out of touch with reality."
Rove is a political strategist. If he uses anyone, whose fault is that?
It's not the leaker that is using or abusing the first amendment right of freedom of the press, it's the person who prints or broadcasts the information.
Leftists are always quick to shout "Freedom of the Press" when the subject is protecting criminal or terrorist sources. But let the source be suspected to be someone close to President Bush, well that's a horse of different color. (Or in this case a horse's ass of a different color).
If this guy is a friend of Karl Rove---Karl Rove doesnt need any enemies.
That was making fun of the Left's hyperbolic fear of Rove, not celebrating it.
Like a student who never read the book, but only watched the movie: C-
If he was connected to the journalism dept. at UT, then he is very familiar with Robert Jensen. I'm sure you've seen his lunatic rantings on the talk shows.
how in the world does he know Rove leaked the name?
I'm sorry..I find it hard to believe that these two rat reporters(given the chance) would not *out* Rove if he was the leaker....someone convince me if I'm wrong
For some reason Colin Powell is in the back of my mind as the leaker. I don't know why, I'm probably dead wrong, but for some reason it's the gut feeling I have.
If these Israel and Jensen are typical of Professors of Journalism, the MSM is clearly drinking from a poisoned chalice.
Thought you two might be interested.....tell me why two rat reporters are willing to go to jail for Rove..
"For some reason Colin Powell is in the back of my mind as the leaker. I don't know why, I'm probably dead wrong, but for some reason it's the gut feeling I have."
My (current) top guess is one of Powell's aides. Powell's office seemed to leak a lot through Novak.
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