The REAL benefit of having a Glenn Greenwald fighting for decent journalism

glenn's excerpt from chris colvin in glenn's salon column of today...

From NBC News writer Chris Colvin, writing on the NBC Nightly News blog:

Salon's Glenn Greenwald has engaged in a fairly brutal takedown of something TIME columnist Joe Klein wrote about Congressional Democrats' updates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- which turned into a series of posts that culminated with Greenwald today demanding answers from Klein's editor. (And incidentally, raising the issue of a false story one of our competitors ran with back in 2001, which had a particularly nasty resonance in our newsroom -- and for which there was never an apology or any accountability.)

Believe me, I'm not pointing this out because it involves competitors. Browse around the archives of DailyHowler.com or MediaMatters.org if you want to see harsh criticism of us. The point is, journalists, particularly in Washington, aren't going to be able to repeat partisan spin that contains falsehoods as analysis without being called on it anymore. And as Greenwald notes, it's rather telling that the calling-out is coming from the blogosphere and not the actual Democrats who Klein misrepresented. Maybe that's why there is a blogosphere to begin with.

goddam right... if colvin is correct, and journalists "aren't going to be able to repeat partisan spin that contains falsehoods as analysis without being called on it anymore," that would be extremely good news, and, despite the respect i hold for media matters, the lion's share of credit is going to go to glenn for jumping into the ring and doing what's long been needed - a full-fledged, wwe take-down...

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Glenn Greenwald takes down Beltway journalism and k.o.'s Jokeline

glenn greenwald...

Scheming GOP operatives feed whispered lies to their favorite, most gullible, most slothful and/or dishonest Beltway journalists. Gleeful and grateful that they have been chosen for this dirty task, these journalists then scamper and write down what they were told and think that, by doing so, they are engaged in what they call "original reporting" -- which means uncritically passing on what they're told by government sources. As a result, they continue to obfuscate every key political issue and mislead Americans by doing the opposite of what journalists are supposed to do.

Even now that Klein knows that he was lied to by his GOP source(s), he still won't say that. Indeed, he does the opposite. He claims that there's some super-complex, clouded ambiguity here that people of good faith (such as his lying GOP operative-source) can see differently (Klein: "I reported as fact a provision of the bill that seems to be disputable, to say the least" and "I was clearly wrong to state as fact something that might not actually be in the bill"). Again and again, Klein defends his lying GOP source by pretending that there is some genuine grounds for disagreement here among good faith ladies and gentlemen that accounts for what he was told.

Worse, Klein now says that none of this really matters anyway, because "we are talking about relatively obscure and unimportant technical details" and his "larger point" about Democrats' excess partisanship is "still true." So Klein's column smeared House Democrats as wanting to protect Terrorists, based on a lie fed to him by GOP sources, and now that it's exposed for what it is, he says that none of that really matters anyway. What matters is that Democrats are still being foolish by not agreeing to the demands of the House Republicans and giving amnesty to telecoms and passing a bill that Republicans like, too.

my comment to glenn...

klein's obfuscation, like that of his masters, is deliberate... i simply do not understand why we continue to perpetuate the myth of the kind of so-called "journalism" that klein represents as incompetent or slothful... there's an agenda afoot here, the very same agenda we saw operating in the 12 december 2000 scotus decision that gave birth to the rolling coup d'etat that has been inexorably advancing for the past seven years... is there incompetence...? sure... take a 360-degree sweep and it's omnipresent... but there's also the agenda, an agenda that has systematically undermined the very foundations of the republic, an agenda that, until fairly recently, with the help of folks like yourself, glenn, dennis kucinich, naomi wolf, paul craig roberts, bruce fein, and others, has remained hidden... the role of joe klein and others of his ilk is no different than the public figures who pursue the same agenda and wear the same camouflage - joe lieberman, dianne feinstein, nancy pelosi, steny hoyer, and hillary clinton, to name a few... you would do all of us a great service, glenn, if, besides pointing out klein's lies, you would expound on WHY someone like mr. klein operates as he does, in spite of being caught out numerous times...

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The hideous excrescence that is domestic spying

glenn greenwald offers us a few glimpses of the very scarey allegations (here and here, both PDF files) pending against the federal government for illegal domesting spying and the telecom companies who aided and abetted the crimes...

And:

And:

he also shares a number of observations about the current brouhaha surrounding the documents that were released as part of the criminal prosecution of former qwest ceo joseph nacchio...

• The cooperation between the various military/intelligence branches of the Federal Government -- particularly the Pentagon and the NSA -- and the private telecommunications corporations is extraordinary and endless.

• [T]he nation's telecoms are recipients of enormous amounts of revenues by virtue of turning themselves into branches of the Federal Government.

• The top telecom officials are devoting substantial amounts of their energy to working on highly classified telecom projects with the Bush administration, including projects to develop whole new joint networks and ensure unfettered governmental access to those networks.

• The private/public distinction here has eroded almost completely. There is no governmental oversight or regulation of these companies.

• All of this takes place completely in the dark, in total secrecy, with no oversight and no checks.

• That is what is so extraordinary -- and so absolutely appalling -- about the casual advocacy on the part of our nation's "journalists" for Congressional amnesty for telecoms. The amnesty [journalists like Fred Hiatt, David Ignatius and Joe Klein] advocate would result in the complete and permanent dismissal of all of the pending lawsuits arising out of this joint telecom-government lawbreaking, which would, in turn, ensure that this lawbreaking remains concealed.

just when it seems that the excrescences of the bush administration can't possibly grow any larger or more hideous, guess what...?

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Jokeline

btd at talkleft can't resist going after joe klein's "blathering..."

Joe Klein just asks for it. Now he blathers on the Scooter Libby sentence:

I have a different feeling about Libby. His "perjury" . . .[why in quotes joe? He was convicted of 2 counts of perjury and two counts of obstruction of justice] would never be considered significant enough to reach trial, much less sentencing, much less time in stir if he weren't Dick Cheney's hatchet man.

Joe Klein's basis for this statement? Why nothing but his own imagination. Lying to a grand jury and obstruction of justice are considered serious crimes by every prosecutor I know.

the more i follow people like joe klein, the more i realize that - like broder, novak, and friedman - his brand of so-called journalism is particularly insidious... he's polished, he's articulate, and he's well-placed at a major national news outlet that reinforces his ability to make pronouncements about the national scene... these people are an integral part of keeping the population in thrall and fit chomsky's description of the elites in this country and their masters perfectly...

the boundaries of klein's world - power and privilege - are identical to those of his masters, and he knows full well that taking a divergent or more thoughtful view would jeopardize his status in that world... it's not unlike what i've seen happen to so many people as they rise up the corporate ladder... at one point in their lives, they were ordinary human beings, but, in learning to blend in and play the system, they eventually became detached from their moorings without necessarily being conscious that it's even happened... and, if they are conscious of it, they will smother you in perfectly logical reasons why... but it's a very human response... why would anyone who had worked so hard for their success, repudiate the very system that bestowed it on him...?

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Joe Klein and "extremist" left-wing bloggers

Joe Klein

basically, i haven't bothered to post on joe klein because i seriously don't give a rat's ass, but this pushed me over the top...

obviously, jokeline just can't give it a rest...

[T]he smart stuff is being drowned out by a fierce, bullying, often witless tone of intolerance that has overtaken the left-wing sector of the blogosphere. Anyone who doesn't move in lockstep with the most extreme voices is savaged and ridiculed—especially people like me who often agree with the liberal position but sometimes disagree and are therefore considered traitorously unreliable. Some of this is understandable: the left-liberals in the blogosphere are merely aping the odious, disdainful—and politically successful—tone that right-wing radio talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh pioneered. They are also justifiably furious at a Bush White House that has specialized in big lies and smear tactics.

And that is precisely the danger here. Fury begets fury.

but, ya gotta understand, this isn't ABOUT JOE... oh, no... he's ever so concerned about our POLITICAL PROCESS...

The spitballs aimed at me don't matter much. The spitballs aimed at Harman, Clinton and Obama are another story. Despite their votes, each of those politicians believes the war must be funded. (Obama even said so in his statement explaining his vote.) Each knows, as Senator Jim Webb has said repeatedly, that we must be more careful getting out of Iraq than we were getting in. But they allowed themselves to be bullied into a more simplistic, more extreme position. Why? Partly because they fear the power of the bloggers to set the debate and raise money against them. ... In the long term, however, kowtowing to extremists is exactly the opposite of what this country is looking for after the lethal radicalism of the Bush Administration.

you don't get it, joe, and you aren't being honest either... the liberal, progressive, democratic, anti-war - whatever label you want to stick on us - aren't EXTREMISTS... moreover, you can take your goddam concern for our precious political process and stick it directly up your ass... the united states is in the middle of the biggest constitutional crisis in its history and those who are speaking out about it and insisting that the united states halts its criminal behavior are EXTREMISTS...? it's precisely the demonstrated lack of urgency and concern on the part of those we thought we had elected to represent us that drives us into hissy fits... that you don't see that and don't appreciate just how much we care, is a pathetic demonstration of narrow vision... and comparing us to those who advocate murdering innocents, torturing detainees, castrating gays, and assassinating leaders of other countries is despicable...

whatever credibility you might have had with me, joe, is gone...

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