If I only had a brain!
Posted on 06/27/2006 6:24:22 AM PDT by Republican Red
TREASURY TO KELLER: "IRRESPONSIBLE;" MURTHA, KEAN, HAMILTON INTERVENED By Michelle Malkin · June 26, 2006 07:24 PM ***update: video of Keller revelations about Murtha here***
Keller CNN interview video
Keller: “Not all of them urged us not to publish.”posted at 12:06 am on June 27, 2006 by Bryan
Hm. The Bush administration asked three prominent people outside the administration to contact the NYT and urge them not to publish the SWIFT story. Two of the three did urge the Times not to publish, but according to Times editor Bill Keller, “not all of them urged us not to publish.” A bit later in the CNN interview with Keller, we find out who the three Democrats are: Lee Hamilton (who was a conservative Democrat when he held office and a co-chair of the 9-11 Omission), Gov. Tom Kean (also from the 9-11 Omission) and Rep. Jack Murtha.
“Not all of them urged us not to publish,” says Keller. Which means one of them green-lighted the story, or at least didn’t go to bat for the administration. The boss has the definitive answer as to which two of the three did urge the Times not to publish: Hamilton and Kean, who were the co-chairs of the Omission. They’re identified by Treasure Secretary John Snow as having weighed in with the Times against publication.
Which leaves Murtha as the one who did not urge the Times not to publish the story. Murtha greenlighted it. That’s the same Jack Murtha who has been prejudging the Marines guilty of a massacre in Haditha and trying to get us out of Iraq quick enough so we can all watch the fledgling Iraqi government collapse rather than waiting until it can defend itself.
And it’s the same Jack Murtha who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1980 Abscam bust. Question for the White House: Whose idiotic idea was it to make Murtha your go-to guy with the Times? Who thought you could trust that senile buffoon?
Ping to a new thread about Murtha's negotiations with the NYT not to publish.
If this is true that Murtha is the one who didn't press the NYT, we need to get this to his opponent's campaign.
Murtha was waiting for a payoff from the WH that never came.
Why would the administration contact Murtha, anyway?
Just to get him to PROVE he's a traitorous back-stabber?
Fox and Friends reported Murtha asked the NYT to hold the story. Somebody is wrong.
I guess we need a transcript of the interview...getting hard to keep up!
That video of Murtha with the Sheik in 1980 should be in every GOP congressional commercial.
Somebody is lying.
So Murtha is the man who has the final say on de-classifying documents? Wow.
Not exactly. INDC Bill now has a post up which explains it much better than I could:
http://www.indcjournal.com/
Murtha-NYT Notes (The Bush Admin Asked Murtha to Intervene?)
Posted by Bill
I've seen a few things get buried in quick analysis of Wolf Blitzer's interview with NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller, and I'd like to highlight a very odd aspect of his statements. As I e-mailed Allah at Hot Air, Wolf Blitzer explicitly asks Keller, "who were the three outside of the administration who asked asked you not to report this information," and Keller names "Murtha" as one of the three.
But earlier in the conversation, Keller says "I'm happy to tell you who I spoke to, but I'll leave it to them to tell you what they actually said," and prior to that he says "Three people outside of the administration were asked by the administration to call us ... all of them spoke, they thought in confidence, and I don't think I'll, I don't think I'll breach the confidence of what they said, um, uh, although I will say that not all of them urged us not to publish."
There are two major pieces of information to take from this:
1. Not all of the 3 individuals who spoke to the Times urged them not to publish. Since two of them are essentially on the record as asking the Times not to publish via Treasury Secretary Snow, Murtha was the one who "did not urge them not to publish."
2. Keller states that the three individuals "were asked by the administration to call us," essentially stating that someone in the Executive briefed John Murtha about the impending publication and asked him to call the Times to intervene.
Assuming that Keller's statement is accurate, I don't know who's crazier: John Murtha, for urging (or at least not trying to stop) the Times for exposing the program, or the fool in the Bush Administration who assumed that Murtha would be a rational advocate, prioritizing national security over his severe case of BDS.
Of course, my assessment wholly relies on the accuracy of an editor of the New York Times, so, grains of salt and all.
Absentee President.
Irey should cut an ad right away. "Murtha encouraged the NY Times to leak a classified successful anti-terrorism program."
Put the burden on Murtha and the Times for once..
Krauthammer reported that he was told Murtha tried to get them to hold the story. I heard him say it.
Keller just gave Murtha opponent another 10 points in the polls IMHO.
Thanks for that post RR.
I wasn't talking about Krauthammer :)
RR broke the interview down. Good stuff. Post #12
Zip it, buddy. Newsflash: The President of the United States delegates. That's why we have a Secretary of State. That's why we have a cabinet. Sheesh.
Good advice for those folks who have a hard time keeping their stories straight.
I have a high regard for President Bush, but sending Murtha up to bat for you completely mystifies me.
Jack Murtha deserves a tobacco juice facial just like the one bestowed upon Jane Fonda lst year. He is a traitor to his country.
Semper Fi'
Jarhead
Murtha's hometown newspaper is reporting none of these stories. The most recent story concerning Murtha in the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat (aptly named) is titled "Troops agree with Murtha's stance". I'm afraid the voters in his district and Murtha deserve each other.
I have wondered about that. He behaves like a man who is being blackmailed. I assume that at his time and station in life, he's not on the take. But covering up earlier indiscretions that would sully one's entire career, that makes sense to me. Maybe he didn't entirely give up those earlier associations? I don't know, but I suspect the story behind the picture you mention is a story not entirely in the past.
Excellent- I've gone back and listened to this on the video- and UNLESS there is some cagey, i.e. the meaning of IS game going on here- it appears that Murtha did NOT ask the Times to refrain from publishing...
If so- I think it's time someone in the media directly ASK Murtha what his recommedation was to the Times...
Yep, that was my first thought. Set him up and expose the tubby jerk for what he really is, a traitor. And Stupnagel took the bait.
Has anybody considered that Keller is flat out lying and just trying to cover his pathetic ass for this travesty. I think Keller and the Times are taking enormous heat on this. They have sent an entire Army out to perform damage control but it doesn't seem to be going away.
Murtha has just been ROVED by Karl.
Rep. Peter King is on Brian & the Judge radio program.
King is saying that Kean, Hamilton AND Murtha called the NYT to ask them not to publish the story.
It would appear that Keller is in self-defense mode and trying to imply that one of those 3 'did not' push to have the story stopped. So why, then, would they contact Keller? It seems that Keller may be doing his own rendition of the Rather-fake-but-accurate defense.
It DOESN'T MATTER who........KELLER published it and that is the STORY we need to exploit!!
transcript of Keller interview with CNN:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/26/sitroom.03.html
A very good quetion to ask.
Just love how the Slimes is hanging him out to dry.
Well deserved!
I believe you are correct. There are similarities in the way Murtha is acting with the way Saddam/Islamist on-the-take people like British MP George Galloway, former weapons inspector Scott Ritter, France and Russia have approached these issues.
Exactly.
"Rove for President" button now attached to right lapel.
You can't make this stuff up...
This is what I would like to know.
Murtha is a weanie.
I don't believe anything that comes out of Bill Keller or Jack Murtha's mouths.
Time for Murtha to answer some hard questions. But who will ask them? Certainly not Russert or the rest of the MSM.
With Murtha .. hard questions don't need to be asked
That man does enough damage to himself with his rambling
Just get him on air and let him talk
LOL. You're right.
He has no problem revealing classified information that will hurt the country but then turns ethical about private conversations. Upside down leftist world.
The president sets the tone. He's become tone deaf.
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