Informed Speculation

Jeez, I hardly have the energy for Eleanor anymore.  Responding to the “GOP war on the media” (make that the NY Times, Eleanor):

The current President Bush has raised the stakes, threatening prosecution and jail time for reporters and editors who broke the story about a program to track the financial records of those with suspected terror ties. Most of the administration’s ire has been focused on The New York Times, the paper they view as exhibit A of the liberal media elite. The Times did break the story, but others were close behind, including The Wall Street Journal, an administration favorite. Considering what many see as the Times’s role in promoting phony stories about WMD in Iraq, lending its imprimatur to bad intelligence and smoothing the way to war, it’s hard to think of the newspaper as a liberal crusader. Still, 17 Democrats joined the GOP to inoculate themselves against a 30-second television spot labeling them soft on terrorism. “They might as well vote for it,” says Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow with the centrist Democratic Leadership Conference. “It’s meaningless anyway and will soon be forgotten.” Fair-minded people can disagree on whether the Times made the right call on the need to publish. These editorial decisions are not made lightly, but whichever side you take in the debate, this is not treason. The administration doth protest too much.

Well, we’ve already discussed the difference between the Journal and the Times on this story (hilarious how Eleanor faithfully parrots the talking points, though, isn’t it?). And has the administration REALLY accused the Times of treason, or threatened them with prosecution or jail time for leaking the SWIFT story? I certainly don’t recall it; I know plenty of Bush supporters have, but the administration itself? Perhaps, but I seriously doubt it; it would help if Eleanor provided a quote, instead of just making a bald assertion…