At NOON TODAY, Richard Cohen wants to hear from you about Scooter!

[bunkerbuster1]

I kid you not--picked this up from Atrios:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/06/19/DI2007061901259.html

Cohen: Why Scooter Shouldn't Do Time

Richard Cohen
Washington Post Columnist
Wednesday, June 20, 2007; 12:00 PM

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen will be online to discuss how an overblown case born of a political vendetta netted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby 30 months in jail, and to explain his stance that Libby should be pardoned.

Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion.

Well? beyond "Why do you still have a job?", can anyone think of some good ones for our "liberal" editorialist?

[bunkerbuster1]

1. shameless self-kick

wouldn't normally do this, but there is a deadline approaching, hope anyone who wants to contribute to Cohen's discomfort level knows about it.

[Stephanie]

2. asshat

Now I'm torn btw who's worse, him or David "Teeny Little Girly Hands" Brooks.

[bunkerbuster1]

3. Brooks is EXPECTED to be a wanker

Cohen is expected to be "liberal."

Given the expectations vs. the execution, Cohen is worse, IMHO.

[Stephanie]

4. but Brooks gets all that face-time on the "liberal" outlets

He's the liberals' conservative: NPR, PBS, NYT

[bunkerbuster1]

5. I hear you. and on a certain level, I don't mind Brooks

He's not entirely unreasonable (important qualifier here) as Republican apologists go.

On another level, he is the kind of conservative that allows liberals to think that the neocon brain trust isn't bat-shit crazy.

[bunkerbuster1]

6. He's been called on his "should be done with the lights out" comment

He thinks it's funny.

Phoenix: Hi. You mentioned "politics, like sex and real estate, should be done with the lights off." I get the Clinton references but would argue that your later reference to a Stalin-style trial done by the left undermines that idea. Politics should be done with the lights on because I, for one, would like to know my candidate's bedfellows.

Richard Cohen: (Laughs.) I don't want to beat this sexual analogy to death. What I meant is that there are unsavory aspects to politics -- as there are to almost anything else -- and you just have to accept it. It was clear from the get go that the administrration wanted to destroy Joe Wilson. I thought Joe Wilson was right. I thought the administration's tactic was underhanded, a smear, and meant to undermine anyone else who might speak out. I condemned it at the time, but that's the way the game is played. I may not like, but there are basic principles involved. Back when I was a reporter I often relied on anonymous and confidential sources. And without them, some stories would never see the light of day.

Ok, Richard. We trust you.

[BurtWorm]

7. Appropos of that, I asked

Was the fact that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for the CIA a story that *needed* to see the light of the day? Why would reporters find that newsworthy anyway, unless its newsworthiness was being spoonfed to them by all the VP's men?

[11 Bravo]

8. I called him a devotee of the Blanche DuBois school of journalism.

"Keep the lights down low so I don't have to report anything unpleasant." I notice that my submission, like yours, was not posted. What a surprise.

[Stephanie]

9. oh really?

is he choosing the questions he'll answer himself?

[11 Bravo]

12. Yes, if you scroll down and read the fine print ...

it says that the guest may select which questions they wish to answer.

[BurtWorm]

14. Blanche DuBois school of journalism! That's excellent!

:toast:

I asked several questions. I wish he would have asnwered the one about whether or not he'd read Greenwald. Or even just this one:

"Libby (and Cheney) were using the apparatus of the state (and a compliant media) to go after a private citizen who criticized the government through his wife. That's nothing?"

[mmonk]

10. Mr. Cohen, some of us are old fashioned

and don't support acts of treason against the US by the executive branch. Why do you? And why are Americans uninformed and dumb as bricks these days? Good day shithead.

[Robbien]

11. Ha, only one question favoring Cohen view

the rest all saying Cohen is full of shit. I don't even trust that one question, it seems like a plant.

The questioning period didn't change anything. Cohen still feels Libby should be pardoned because there "is no underlying crime". No story here, move along.

[mmonk]

13. It's what my newspaper spouts too.

No underlying crime. And they ran Broder's column expressing the same lie. I really wonder, are America's reporters really that dumb or are they a willing party to the propaganda bubble?

[Robbien]

15. I just think that media latches on to what is the easiest

Right wing Memes are pushed on corporate media. The RNC/Government pushes these memes and punishes any outlet which does not fall in line with their agenda.

Dems are not co-ordinated. Plus, Dems don't have the entire government to use as an extra arm of their party like the RNC does.