I’m still upset at the Journal – they have been completely silent on the issue – I think they’re a bunch of, uh, wussies (well, rhymes with wussies).

I suspect that the whole thing will die down very quickly now, however; these things tend to…

If you don’t like Clarke and Cressey – both of whom served as top anti-terrorism officials – then feel free to dismiss both of them. I would think that their backgrounds would give them some credibility. Their take on the issue is:

“There is, of course, another possible explanation for all the outraged bloviating. It is an election year. Karl Rove has already said that if it were up to the Democrats, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would still be alive. The attacks on the press are part of a political effort by administration officials to divide America, and to scare their supporters to the polls again this year.”

We’ve seen a number of efforts to fire up the base over the past few weeks. First the Congress wasted a few days to debate a gay marriage bill which everyone knew was doomed to failure. Then there was a few days to talk about a flag burning amendment, which is a solution in search of a problem if there ever was one. Now we have the brouhaha about the Times. During this period, the media focus shifted from gas prices, the immigration bill deadlock, and the war in Iraq to three issues which are red meat for the base. Now you may feel that an administration which is willing to expose a CIA operative to the press for partisan gain would be genuinely upset when the Times reveals minor details about a program which has been public knowledge for years. Sorry, I just don’t buy it.

You’ll also notice that people were in fact blogging about this story, the day it was published, such as High Hewitt and Instapundit, both of whome include links to other bloggers talking about it. I guess they all must have misread the orders dictating no discussion of this until Tuesday.

I must say, I’m feeling a little left out. I’m just honestly aggravated. No one instructed me on what emotion to have.

The article by Richard Clarke and Roger Cressey in today’s Times says it better than I can:

“(The Bush administration) wants the public to believe that it had not already occurred to every terrorist on the planet that his telephone was probably monitored and his international bank transfers subject to scrutiny. How gullible does the administration take the American citizenry for?”

It was a no-brainer. The NYT revealed a secret program, once effective becuase it was a secret program.