NYT: First, a Leak; Now, a Jam; Timing Is Bad for President (damning)

[ProSense]

News Analysis

First, a Leak; Now, a Jam; Timing Is Bad for President

By SCOTT SHANE
Published: April 8, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 7 — That President Bush authorized an aide to disclose classified intelligence on Iraqi weapons, as asserted in court papers, comes as no shock to official Washington. The leaking of secrets has long been a favored tool of policy debate, political combat and diplomatic one-upmanship.

"Snip...

But the accusation that Mr. Bush, through Vice President Dick Cheney, authorized the aide, I. Lewis Libby Jr., to fight back against critics of the war by discussing a classified prewar intelligence estimate comes at a particularly awkward time for the administration.

Snip...

For months, Mr. Bush and his top aides have campaigned against leaks of classified information as a danger to the nation and as criminal acts. A Washington Post report on secret overseas jails run by the C.I.A. and a New York Times report on domestic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency have led to criminal investigations, and scores of intelligence officers have been ordered to take polygraph tests.

In that context, the report that the president was himself approving a leak may do serious political damage, said Mr. Shenkman, who has a blog on presidential politics. "It does give the public such a powerful example of hypocrisy that I think it might linger for a while," he said.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/washington/08assess.html?hp&ex=1144468800&en=351fd0db81455552&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[ProSense]

1. More....

Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, disputed the charge of a double standard on leaks. "There is a difference between declassifying information in the national interest and the unauthorized disclosure" of national security information, Mr. McClellan said Friday.

Of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, part of which Mr. Libby shared with Judith Miller, then a reporter for The Times, Mr. McClellan said, "There was nothing in there that would compromise national security."


Snip...


Republicans in Congress, led by Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, have also pressed the issue. By coincidence, the committee's report on the annual intelligence authorization bill was made public on Friday. It features a vehement attack, describing leakers as "a small few who have taken it upon themselves to, for political or other motives, recklessly and illegally disclose America's necessary secrets and national security information."

Leaking intelligence information to the news media, the committee reports, "costs untold millions of dollars in lost intelligence collection capabilities funded by U.S. taxpayers, literally puts lives in jeopardy, and makes the work by the honorable people of our intelligence community far more difficult."

[Doctor_J]

3. Is he claiming that Plame was outed IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST?

:wtf: How stupid do they think the LImbeciles are?

[TayTay]

5. OMFG! The Dems should just take that last quote

and hang it around the Rethugs necks in Congress. I would love to see that all blwon up in, say, a Censure Hearing in the Senate. :rofl:

[skooooo]

2. I hate it when that happens!

(except to little fascist criminals)

[monarch]

4. Ah schadenfreude!

Spellcheck doesn't recognize the word so I had to look it up in the dictionary--you don't use a word like that and misspell it. What I should have done is just search DU. I thought that I learned the word here in the first place and sure enough a search turned up lots of posts--and my spelling was just fine.
On edit: removed N/t and added text

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. I see your scadenfreude and raise it to

Verisimilitude