Posted on 06/27/2006 6:00:30 PM PDT by Jameison
BILL KELLER ISN'T VERY BRIGHT, or else he thinks you aren't. How else to explain this passage in his apologia for the Times' publication of classified information about the terrorist financial surveillance program:
"Some of the incoming mail quotes the angry words of conservative bloggers and TV or radio pundits who say that drawing attention to the government's anti-terror measures is unpatriotic and dangerous. (I could ask, if that's the case, why they are drawing so much attention to the story themselves by yelling about it on the airwaves and the Internet.)"
I realize that the Times' circulation is falling at an alarming rate, but it hasn't yet reached such a pass that its stories are only noticed when Rush Limbaugh mentions them.
A deeper error is Keller's characterization of freedom of the press as an institutional privilege, an error that is a manifestation of the hubris that has marked the NYT of late. Keller writes: "It's an unusual and powerful thing, this freedom that our founders gave to the press. . . . The power that has been given us is not something to be taken lightly."
The founders gave freedom of the press to the people, they didn't give freedom to the press. Keller positions himself as some sort of Constitutional High Priest, when in fact the "freedom of the press" the Framers described was also called "freedom in the use of the press." It's the freedom to publish, a freedom that belongs to everyone in equal portions, not a special privilege for the media industry. (A bit more on this topic can be found here.)
Characterizing the freedom this way, of course, makes much of Keller's piece look like, well, just what it is -- arrogant and self-justificatory posturing.
(Excerpt) Read more at instapundit.com ...
Vapid ex culpa for treason.
Seal Team 6 should pay a visit to W. 43d and dangle Keller out the window until he coughs up the names of his sources in the government. Those scumbags should then be tried for treason and hanged.
Pride goeth before a fall.
Egregious hubris goeth before jumping the shark.
Actually, I wondered today if Keller wasn't doing this with CIA secrets to get attention for himself, like maybe he wants to be known as the modern Woodward-Berstein...lookin' for a Pulitzer, looking to become an icon, thinkin' he's baaad, trying to pull the Gray Lady out of the slump-dump...thinkin' people will buy his rag because he's so hot...
And the funny thing is, he's doomed to fail. Nobody likes the Times. Fewer and fewer advertisers are going to take a risk with a paper that 76% of the country thinks is run by traitors.
Falling circulation and shrinking ad revenue have forced the Times into layoffs in the newsroom. Quality is a thing of the past. Over the last few years the Times has been forced to increasingly correct itself in it's own pages. I found this one today:
"An article yesterday about the controversy over the construction of a dam in Laos that will provide the country a source of income misidentified the location of Thailand, which is expected to get some of the electricity produced as a result of the dam. It is to the west of Laos, not to the east. (Go to Article)"
It will backfire on him and The Times.
I don't think he's stupid, just evil.
SOP for the media, really.
Because, unlike the 'people's right/need to know" which you filthy traitors used as your thinly veiled excuse to print classified information that helps our enemies, the people DO have a right/need to know that traitors like you exist that will put their lives at risk. Got that, you lily-livered puking traitor?
(that felt good)
He obviously thinks we are all quite stupid. I hope this ruins the New York Times. I pray they go down the tubes.
There. all better
Yes, I pray the newspaper goes down the tubes and all responsible for printing leaks go to jail along with the leakers.
This is news? :)
Characterizing the freedom this way, of course, makes much of Keller's piece look like, well, just what it is -- arrogant and self-justificatory posturing.
ROTFLMAO Yep, Keller's a puffed-up embarrassment.
The only defense information they have protected since 911 is the contents of John Kerry's service record.
Compare thsi to possesion of stolen goods. If documents are classified and you find them it is your duty to turn them in to the government. If you in turn make them public knowledge you are guilty of a crime. If I buy a stereo and it was stolen I am still in possesion of stolen goods. The NY times is no exception.
Keller's counter argument wasn't just arrogant. It failed logic. It was infantile. Perhaps his par amour is telling him he's smashingly brilliant.
Well put!
That'll make my day...
Wow... It's a beautiful chart. If the NYT keeps it up, they'll go flatline around May 07!!!
Great suff for a tag... may I?
"I could ask, if that's the case, why they are drawing so much attention to the story themselves by yelling about it on the airwaves and the Internet."
And those are the words of the boy who runs the New York times.
Looks like a buying opportunity! If I take out a second mortgage...
"Actually, I wondered today if Keller wasn't doing this with CIA secrets to get attention for himself, ......"
It's not that simple.
It's about retaining monetary support from "advertisers".
To see an example of this sort of transaction, check out this week's full page Kennith Cole ad in New York Magazine.
Obviously, the New York Times is guided by "al-Qaida's right to know".
"And those are the words of the boy who runs the New York times."
Exactly.
Its such an infantile comment.
I heard Fred Barnes use this analogy: If you or I went and told Bin Laden this info, we would be guilty of treason...yet if we tell Keller and he prints it, then Osama reads it....is there any difference??
That chart just warms my heart.
BDS can do that to a guy..or a compnay.
That chart shows about 145 million dollar loss on the day The New York Times betrayed this country.
If you read their last quarterly report you will see there is no mention of setting aside massive funds for the charge they will have to take for legal expenses, loss of goodwill, loss of subscribers and loss of advertising as a result of betraying The United States.
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