Memo
TO: Bill Bennett*, Sandy Carmany, and everyone in between who's concerned about government leaks.
FROM: Lex
DATE: 4/19/2006
RE: Government leaks
If y'all spent half the time cracking down on government that you do trying to crack down on government leaks, this would be a better country. Specifically, when a leaker is leaking about actual or potential violations of law by the government, were I you I'd be a lot more concerned about the violations of law by the government than any possible violation of law by the leaker.
I'm not saying every leaker should get a free pass -- even those whose intentions appear on the surface to be most honorable often are acting out of a complex mix of motives, not all of them admirable. But, folks, leaks do not occur in a vacuum. Most commonly, they occur because the public good is being harmed, a political advantage is being sought, or both. And it behooves public officials to worry first and foremost about possible harm to the public good, and in particular, about violations of law by our government, which acts with our consent and on our behalf.
Certainly, the media have obligations, too: to weigh, fully and fairly, the harm done by publication of leaked information against the harm done by withholding it; to consider what legal obligations they might have; and so forth. Not every leak clearly merits publication. For that matter, not every leak pertains to something that's arguably newsworthy. And anytime anything is leaked for purely political reasons, that fact should be treated as news in itself.
But government officials, elected or appointed, need to keep the public good uppermost in their minds. That means keeping their priorities in order and their eyes on the ball.
*And don't even get me started on the unintentional humor that abounds when our so-called betters presume to give us moral instruction, especially when they want to back it up with calls straight from the V.I. Lenin playbook.
Comments (2)
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Lex, your take on leakers is transparently far-left…but we wouldn’t expect anything else from you, would we?
When someone leaks or reports the truth about a liberal, you scream and squawk and squirm and decry the mean-spiritnedness that led to such shocking revelations. Does John Kerry vs. the truth from the Swift Boat Veterans ring a bell?
When Monica Lewinsky dared to tell the truth about Bill Clinton the rapist/sexual predator you were angered. When Juanita Broderick told the details of being raped by then-Attorney General of Arkansas Clinton you were quick to defend and denounce her for DARING to speak the truth.
When Gennifer Flowers detailed her years-long adulterous affair with Clinton you jumped on the bandwagon to destroy her reputation.
The these weren’t leakers in the true sense; they were telling personal experiences, not divulging classified info.
Those who leaked the NSA terrorist surveillance program should get the same derisive treatment from you. After all, they broke the law and put US lives in danger with their felonious disclosures.
McCarthy’s leaks likewise are serious Federal felonies.
Why do you defend criminals when they hurt our government and lambast non-criminal disclosures only when they reveal truth you don’t like?
You’re nothing more than a thinly veiled left wing reactionary intent on destroying the conservatives for your personal, vindictive motives.
Bush won, get over it.
I’ve noticed that almost every one of your blog posts over the last few weeks have NO comments. Did it occur to you that people are weary of your vile left wing vomitus?
Posted on April 28, 2006 3:34 PM
Uh, Jaycee, you might want to wipe all that foam and spittle off your chin. Just sayin'.
Posted on May 1, 2006 5:42 AM