  
|
|
Feeding Frenzy: Dean's "Secret" Records Dean's "Hiding something," but Bush is acting out of "National Security?" |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
We
should wonder when several media opinion-makers suddenly dart in an odd
direction like a school of fish or flock of birds. This is known as "Conventional
Wisdom" - the often snide, always arrogant, usually simplistic and
factually wrong elite "consensus" from the major news media
which gets it wrong by selling out and sucking up to the political and
corporate elite. Author
William Greider and former AP and Newsweek reporter Robert Parry describe
and decry this in books like Who
Will Tell The People? The Betrayal Of American Democracy and Fooling
America: How Washington Insiders Twist the Truth and Manufacture the Conventional
Wisdom. We sometimes see the entire mass media move in unison, but
seldom for no reason. This time, they're going after Howard Dean on a
very odd topic, and I think I know why. Along
with RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie's hysterical tirade against Howard Dean,
Republican attack faxes apparently now flog the canard Dean has "something
to hide" in his official records. As most governors do, Dean sealed
some papers after his last term as Governor of Vermont. George W. Bush
sealed his records as governor as well. Dean
volunteers operate well-organized "Rapid
Response" and "Dean
Defense" groups which debunk dishonest attacks. These "volunteers
dedicated to advancing the Presidential campaign of Howard Dean"
are not affiliated with Dean for America (DFA), although individual members
of these unofficial groups may also perform volunteer activities to assist
DFA, but they don't accept any contributions to support operations and
do not make any expenditures. This strong support from independent thinking
self-starters is just one of the many reasons Dean maintains his momentum
in the face of concerted attacks from rival Democrats and Republican operatives
in and outside of the media In
this latest media feeding frenzy, editorials and supposedly fact-based
articles in major papers demand that Dean release his records, but ignore
Bush's secrecy on the state and federal level. As the DeanRR group explained,
media mania about Dean's so-called "secret records" makes no
sense. DeanRR reports about an incredible "Boston Herald piece that
makes Judicial Watch an authority on what's in Dean's files. In our current
environment, with the most secretive administration in American history
given a pass by far too many editorial pages across this nation, it is
stunning that Dean is taking this much heat...." More about "Judicial
Watch" later. "Anne"
(I'll add her last name if she desires) a volunteer with the DeanRR provides
sources to correct false accusations such as: Closing
Open Records: What George Bush and Rick Perry don't want you to know,
by Lucius Lomax of The Austin Chronicle, Dean Records Check by Peter Freyne of "Seven Days Vermont" (Inside
Track) and Dean's
Republican successor defends his decision to keep records sealed. In
the latter report, "Governor Jim Douglas says that he doubts that
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is trying to conceal any
major secrets in the gubernatorial records that have been sealed for a
10-year period. Douglas says there's a good reason why some records are
taken out of public view for a number of years." See: Douglas
sees merit in sealing gubernatorial records, by Bob Kinzel, Vermont
Public Radio. Listen.
Amazingly,
alternative journals like SevendaysVT.com
and part-time pundits like American
Politics Journal, the Carpetbagger
Report and The
Daily Howler report these stories accurately, often exposing double
standards and sloppy, lazy reporting from the mainstream media. Those
Peter Freyne calls "[T]he journalism stars of Washington" blow
it over and over. I have to wonder if the Conventional Wisdom clique even
tries to get their facts straight. It's hard to say they do when, as Freyne
explains, they missed: [W]hat
other governors, including Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, did with their
secret files. Only Dean's, however, appear to matter. According to a 2002
study by Professor Charles Schultz, 28 states have a law requiring governors'
records go to the state archives. Only 20 states, however, actually make
it a practice. In Colorado they're sealed for 25 years. In Maryland it's
30 years. How did George W. Bush deal with his gubernatorial records in
Texas? Our research indicates Dubya's done a better job than Dean of keeping
his from public view. Lomax's
Austin Chronicle story confirms Freyne's facts, detailing Bush's and
current Texas Governor Richard Perry's extraordinary and allegedly illegal
efforts to keep Bush's records sealed and - failing that - out of public
view by subverting Texas law: George
W. Bush suffered few setbacks during his time as a public official in
Texas, but the defeat of his original plans for his state papers was total.
During the chaotic period following the disputed 2000 presidential election,
Bush's Capitol staff loaded up a couple of trucks and carted his administration's
archives to his father's Presidential Library, and nominally federal jurisdiction,
on the campus of Texas A&M. The younger Bush may or may not have had
legal authority to attempt the transfer, but the consensus view of the
library officials is that he did not. In particular, state archivists
began to howl, politely but firmly insisting that the papers are state
property and needed to be cataloged before they went anywhere (see W's
Paper Chase, Sept. 28, 2001). Bush
continued his hard-line against freedom of information on the federal
level as well. On all important matters, the Bush White House operates
in a cone of silence. Except when they're "outing" CIA agents,
leaking important information and otherwise sacrificing our public safety
and national security to partisan politics of course. Still, the corporate
media ignore Bush's truth-blocking behavior and rank Republican hypocrisy
even as they dutifully repeat dishonest GOP attacks against Dean. Although
Bush is astoundingly secretive and Dean's actions are typical, only Dean
suffers a media mauling. American Politics Journal's
Tamara Baker and blogger the Carpetbagger
Report debunked the nonsense from the media. As Carpetbagger explains:
"The newest political flap for Howard Dean, all of a sudden, is his
decision to place a 10-year seal on his records. In a matter of just one
day, the story became all the rage with political reporters covering his
campaign, many of whom seem to believe that Dean is acting like he has
something to hide," and Baker debunks the ABC gossip
column "The Note" - notorious for backing Bush and fumbling
the facts. See: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/000897.html,
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html.
In
the widening media feeding frenzy, apparently Newsweek was the first to
rise to the RNC hypocritical call to arms when hack-man Michael Isikoff
misled readers about Dean's records in an article titled "What's
in Howard Dean's Secret Vermont Files?" which rings an alarm bell
over nothing: "As
investigative reporters and 'oppo' researchers flock to Vermont to dig
into Howard Dean's past, they have run into a roadblock. A large chunk
of Dean's records as governor are locked in a remote state warehouse -
the result of an aggressive legal strategy designed in part to protect
Dean from political attacks." Isikoff's claim that "Dean's efforts
to keep official papers secret appear unusually extensive" is not
only untrue, a web search reveals no such concern about Bush's extensive
efforts to keep his, his fathers, and Reagan's papers all secret. See:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/999347.asp The
ABC Note's team of chit chatters brand Dean with "Minuses: the Boston
Herald brilliantly unmasks some of the secret records rhetoric; having
Larry Klayman and Richard Cohen against you is not a great place to be
in American politics," but this makes as little sense as their contra-factual
remark: "Dean's stammering, inconsistent, error-filled performance
in Iowa regarding what he will do (and has done) about his sealed records
barely made it to even cable TV, although the newspaper accounts - even
from the ultra-fair Dan Balz - are dripping with skepticism." The
Note's reliance on Larry Klayman is problematic at best, as Klayman is
a Clinton-obsessive snoop who sues everyone in sight - including his own
mother - and almost always loses in court. His group "Judicial Watch"
operates only because of funding from equally an obsessive Clinton-hater,
billionaire Clinton hater Richard M. Scaife who suborned perjury and pays
all of Klayman's bills. The
Note fails to discuss that Cohen and Klayman agree Dick Cheney is wrong
to hold illegal secret meetings about energy policy while ignoring his
duty as chairman of Bush's anti-terror task force leading up to 9/11/01.
Clearly "having Larry Klayman and Richard Cohen against" him
hasn't left Cheney in "not a great place." So much for that
mighty alliance? The Note's suspect judgment about "Dean's stammering,
inconsistent, error-filled performance" is goofy and biased nonsense,
but Judicial Watch's process server claims Bush officials assaulted him
when he tried to serve Dick Cheney with court papers. Why is this not
notable for "The Note?" The
Note also misleads readers about Dan Balz. Balz is currently an opinion
writer masquerading as a news reporter who admits he's a product of the
ultra-right wing National Review. Calling Balz "ultra-fair"
is absurd. He's not even marginally fair or even credibly accurate. For
example, Balz blasted mild Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela as crazed haters
for remarks about Bush's rush to war in Iraq. Shortly afterward Balz blew
it again when he mocked Dean and other Democratic hopefuls for softening
opposition to Bush's Iraq invasion. They hadn't. Balz simply made it up. Balz
also claims Howard Dean lacks a "second act" insisting Dean
has nothing to say other than the Iraq War. Balz keeps claiming this,
but each time he's wrong - and unfair. Dean presents fiscal responsibility,
health care, and creating jobs the centerpieces of his campaign. Dean
presents wide-ranging, well-informed policies on these issues and more.
Dean only seems like a one-note candidate when people like Balz unfairly
attack and refuse to make any effort to report accurately. "Ultra
fair" Balz is actually as right wing, antagonistic and unfair
to Democrats as "Fair and Balanced" FAUX News. Importantly,
Balz is flat out wrong about Dean and other Democrats almost all of the
time. So it's unremarkable Balz' blather about Dean was "dripping
with skepticism." Relying on Klayman and Balz renders The Note off
key about Dean. They're also wrong about Richard Cohen, the worst sort
of unilateral disarmer who piles on when right wingers lie about Democrats
and then whines when Democrats dare to demand a fair fight. In the
referenced column, Cohen cautions Democrats that Howard Dean is reckless,
dishonest, and.... well read it yourself: Cohen
charges: "Howard Dean seems afflicted with Brooklyn Bridge syndrome.
This was epidemic when I was a kid - its symptom being the explanation
to a parent that you had done something stupid because a friend had done
it first. 'And if he jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you follow?"
the parent would ask. The answer was supposed to be no." This admittedly
childish analogy signals Cohen is belittling an important point, and sure
enough he is: "Dean
has twice now evinced Brooklyn Bridge syndrome. The latest example came
when he was asked why he had sealed his official papers as governor of
Vermont for 10 years. This is four years longer than the recent custom,
and Dean has been repeatedly asked why he negotiated such a long term.
Dean's answer was that George Bush had done the same thing as governor
of Texas." Here Cohen repeats the canard that Dean is asking for
something unusual when he isn't violating "recent custom." Cohen
even mocks Dean's demand that Bush partisans stop their hypocritical harping
about secrecy when Bush is the worst ever violator. Quoting Dean's sensible challenge: "I'll unseal mine if
he'll unseal all of his," Cohen inaccurately claims Dean "was
also wrong on the facts. Bush, as it turned out, had originally carted his official
state papers - baseball scorecards and the like - to his father's presidential
library, where he wanted them to remain sealed for 50 years. But Texans
balked, and the papers were deposited in the state archives, where the
bulk are available for stupefying viewing." Actually
Cohen, not Dean is "wrong on the facts." Cohen contradicts himself,
admitting "Bush, after all, is Mr. Secrecy. His White House - actually,
it's ours - is virtually hermetically sealed. We still do not know who
Vice President Cheney consulted in drawing up the administration's leave-no-energy-company-behind
energy bill, and there is the little matter of our still not knowing why
the administration went to war to rid Saddam Hussein of weapons he did
not have. It is - shhh - a secret." Cohen
then complains that Dean supporters refused to unilaterally disarm in
the face of Bush's all-time record massive fundraising: "When [Dean]
opted out of the federal campaign financing system with its limitations
on spending, he said Bush had done the same. So he had, and now this worthy
program - a vain effort to limit the corrupting influence of money in
politics - lies in tatters." Yes,
but Bush not Dean is at fault. Dean is to blame for refusing to lose.
Cohen insists capitulating to radical right wingers is preferable to standing
up in as close to a fair contest as possible. Cohen's demand that Dean
lose quietly echoes the Washington Post's editorial tirade again Dean
for daring to try to match Bush. For shame. Cohen
scolds Dean: "The problem in both cases - public access to public
records and campaign financing - is that grave matters of principle are
involved." But Cohen holds Dean at fault for challenging Bush. What
bad sport! Dean actually wants to win. Cohen, not content with this one-sided
moralizing launches into the litany of canards against Dean including:
"his tendency to shoot from the hip and to see himself as a victim"
and "he has denied the undeniable" and "refused to yield"
on Medicare, Confederate flag decals, etc. Cohen
concedes "Dean's willingness to say precisely what's on his mind
is sometimes downright thrilling" and sites the way Dean "reacted
to a New York Times story about how he avoided the Vietnam War draft by
issuing a brief news release: He opposed the war and did not want to serve
in the military. Nothing could be clearer." Cohen
can't issue praise for Dean's "laser-like clarity" without taking
a shot at Bill Clinton who according to Cohen "offered such a muddled
explanation that instead of pleasing everyone, as he intended, he managed
to offend all thinking people and not a few certifiable morons as well.
It was a stumble from which Clinton never fully recovered." Except
Clinton did recover, winning the White House. Twice. That's the trouble
with "liberals" like Cohen. They get the facts wrong in their
eagerness to blast Democrats with their friendly fire. Cohen
won't leave a Democrat looking good when he can blast away: "In Dean's
case, his chief asset is quickly becoming his chief liability. He continually
has to backtrack to explain what he meant in the first place - taking
him into that most perilous of all political places, off message. This
shows a certain lack of polish for the candidate or dumb staff work by
his organization." Of course. That explains Dean's precipitous plummet
in the polls from the high 90s to below 50%. Oh wait, that was Bush "After
all, the fuss over his state papers has been around since the summer.
Dean had plenty of time to come up with a better explanation than the
one he gave - especially when he got his facts wrong to boot." Again,
Dean's position is typical, and turns the attention on Bush's penchant
for skullduggery. Dean is correct, but Cohen unfairly attacked Dean and
"got his facts wrong to boot." Cohen
contradicts his assertion that Dean is "off message" and suffering
from "dumb staff work" when he allows "Dean's ability to
give voice to the raw anger some Democrats feel toward Bush - everything
from the Florida vote fiasco to the Iraq war - propelled him to the No.
1 spot in his party's nomination race." I wonder how well Dean would
be doing without these supposed screw ups, but is there any place better
than first place? Dean
is taking the fight to Bush on Iraq and national security, the economy
that is out of balance and unable to produce enough jobs to break even,
and even Cohen has to admit Dean is in "the No. 1 spot," but
Cohen can't accept that. According to Cohen, Dean "remains a problematic
prospect who too often does not look before he leaps - off Brooklyn Bridges
of his own making. Dean may jump, but unless he does better, the Democratic
Party would be foolish to follow." Wrong, Mr. Cohen. The Democratic
Party will wisely follow Dean, all the way to the White House. See:
Dean, Leaping Into Trouble by Richard Cohen, Washington Post, Dec. 4,
2003; Page A35: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33561-2003Dec3.html. Of
course this clucking is more of the same from Cohen who also blasted the
supposedly "shoot from the lip" Dean for daring to admit he
doesn't know everything: "By now you have probably heard of Howard
Dean's recent appearance on 'Meet the Press,' in which he may have set
a record for saying, 'I can't answer that question.'" See: Death
Penalty Tap Dance by Richard Cohen, Washington Post, July 3, 2003; Page
A23 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1907-2003Jul2.html As
usual, Dean's critics try to have it both ways. In the more recent attack,
Cohen claims Dean is too arrogant to admit he's wrong, but somehow he
also apologizes when he is. The earlier Cohen attack on Dean for admitting
he doesn't know everything belies the "arrogant Dean" canard
which also says he's too stubborn to change his mind, but also complains
he changes his mind too much. Critics
say Dean is too much like George McGovern - a losing lefty. No wait, he's
too much like Newt Gingrich - a heartless budget cutting right winger.
Which is it? Dean can't be both. In
a column he probably wishes he could seal for ten years, Cohen actually
sided with disgraced, double-dealing Richard Perle who called Seymour
Hersh (no relation) a terrorist, and praised Perle for calling Dennis
Kucinich a liar. As usual, Cohen piled on the Democrat and defended the
right winger: "Kucinich,
who must have studied logic in France, came roaring back [after liar Perle
called him a liar] 'Well, if America is not at threat, then what is this
about? And many people are wondering: 'How did our oil get under their
sand?'" Cohen slams "his side" and sneers at France at
the same time, although who now can will say France was wrong to favor
inspections over invasion in Iraq? Not Cohen, who now knows Bush, Perle
and other Bush officials misled us about Iraq, but back then Cohen thought
he knew better: "A
better question is: How did this fool get on 'Meet the Press'? The answer
is disheartening. Not only is Kucinich running for president, but he has
emerged - along with former Vermont governor Howard Dean - as the darling
of antiwar Democrats who will have much influence in the Iowa caucuses."
See: Antiwar And Illogical by Richard Cohen, Washington Post, February
25, 2003; Page A23 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62679-2003Feb24?language=printer If
Kucinich is a fool but he knew better than Cohen, what does that make
Cohen, other than the worst sort of pseudo-liberal pundit? So now Cohen
is criticizing Dean for not unilaterally disarming on secrecy, fundraising,
and other things. With "friends" like these.... The
Carpetbagger
Blog lists other media mouthpieces hyperventilating about Dean's records: The
NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/national/02DEAN.html The
New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/primary/index.mhtml?pid=1020 USA
Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2003-12-02-dean-under-fire_x.htm Ms.
Baker's and Carpetbagger's comments apply equally well to that column
of bunk by Cohen, the Note and others wringing their hands over Dr. Dean
imagined secrecy while pointedly ignoring Bush's massive attack on Freedom
of Information and freedom in general. In "Tamara Baker versus ABC's
The Note concerning Howard Dean, George W. Bush and damned near everything!"
she shares a message she sent to the ABC's The Note website: "Dear
Noteistas: On December 3, 2003, you reamed out Dean for (among other things)
his 'error-filled' explanation of why he (like every other freaking governor,
including Bush) had his records sealed after he left office. The errors,
my dears, lie with y'all, not him. You assume a bunch of things that just
aren't so." She then lists and debunks their assumptions: Are
Bush's records indeed, readily accessible, as the Bushistas claim? "They're
not. The following
incident is typical of what happens when somebody actually tries requesting
some of the Bush records:" Publication
of Berlow's article prompted the Chronicle to file a similar open records
request, asking for all of Bush's death-penalty clemency memos, as well
as all death-penalty memos prepared for Gov. Rick Perry by General Counsel
Bill Jones. Instead of releasing the documents, J. Kevin Patterson, Perry's
assistant general counsel, appealed our request to the AG's office, asserting
that both Bush's and Perry's memos (including those already disclosed)
are "privileged" attorney-client communications and therefore
legally exempt from public disclosure... As
Baker explains, "This means that the Bushistas (who still run the
Texas Leg.) can basically say that everything they want to hide is privileged"
and quotes from the same article: In
the future, if Gov. Perry, for example, decides that a document out of
Gov. Bush's files - an opinion by Al Gonzales might be a good example
- should be treated as confidential, it will now be submitted to the attorney
general for a ruling (the same attorney general who just endorsed the
idea of attorney-client privilege for state officials). In the past, there
was a presumption of openness - and with all due respect to his position,
the governor would have been told to go fish. Now - gradually, and then
abruptly - Gov. Rick Perry has laid his hands on the keys to Gov. George
W. Bush's filing cabinet... "They're
trying to get around the open records law," commented a prominent
Texas academic archivist (who asked to not be identified), when informed
of the changes in progress. That opinion is held by others as well. Steve
Hensen of Duke University, who was president of the Society of American
Archivists in 2001, notes similarities between what is happening in Texas
now and the firestorm in Washington when, shortly after prior administrations'
papers out of the hands of national archivists and transferred that power
to the White House. The presumption was that the second Bush administration
wanted to protect the first Bush administration - but there were also
classified Reagan administration files scheduled for disclosure that were
suddenly made subject to presidential veto, in perpetuity. The same secrecy
two-step is now under way in Texas... Baker
explains another assumption is wrong: "2) Bush freely and willingly
released the records... (...er, not quite.) The truth is that he released
them only because he was forced to release them after legal action, as
the article quoted above shows." See: http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2003-11-07/pols_feature4.html Then
she exposes a "third wrong assumption: 3) Everyone thinks that Dean
should go against nationwide gubernatorial precedent and release the records.
His Republican successor in Vermont doesn't think so, and defends Dean
thus (http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/vpr/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=575622):" Governor
Jim Douglas says that he doubts that Democratic presidential candidate
Howard Dean is trying to conceal any major secrets in the gubernatorial
records that have been sealed for a 10-year period. Douglas says there's
a good reason why some records are taken out of public view for a number
of years.... Douglas says he's not sure what the appropriate time frame
is for a governor to seal their records. He says a six-year period was
chosen for Madeleine Kunin because she had been in office for that amount
of time. Baker
does the math: "Dean was governor of Vermont for eleven years, a
ten-year period is, if anything, short by a year." Then she redresses
another faulty Note assumption: "You
Note folks have been wondering out loud for months about how Dean, to
your eyes, is getting off scot-free with regard to scrutiny.... Examine,
if you will (http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh062703.shtml),
how Candidate Bush in 1999 got a free pass from Tim Russert (a.k.a. Employee
of GOP stalwart Jack Welch) on NBC's Meet the Press on the very same question
(troop strength) that Russert would later harangue Dean about. (Note,
also, that Russert this June ambushed Dean with bogus, Bushista numbers
especially on Bush's tax cut.)" Also,
"The US press, which had spent the better part of the past decade
working with the Republicans to get Americans worked up over an old Arkansas
land deal where the Clintons did nothing wrong other than losing their
shirts, suddenly decided that Al Gore's earth tones were a bigger story
than Bush's raping the Harvard endowment fund. Or UTIMCO. Or Harken. Or
Arbusto. Or deserting his Air National Guard unit for nearly two years
during Vietnam. Why is it that business deals of Democrats are always
suspect, but business deals of Republicans are always A-OK?" Notably,
"Howard Kurtz loves to point out to the entire nation when even minor
Democratic pols can't keep their zippers zipped, but is oddly silent when
Philip Giordano, the Republican mayor of Waterbury, Connecticut and Joe
Lieberman's rival for his Senate seat, gets thrown in prison for child
molestation?" As
Baker explains, "The real question isn't 'Why are Dean's people backing
him despite his alleged gaffes?' The real question is 'Why has the US
corporate media, ever since 1999, treated Bush far more gently than ANY
Democratic candidate of the last thirty years?'" See: "Tamara
Baker versus ABC's The Note concerning Howard Dean, George W. Bush and
damned near everything!" American Politics Journal, Dec. 4, 2003;
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20031204Baker.html Of
course Bush's gaffes, flip-flops, lies and crimes remain un- and under
reported by the big-time corporate news. Meanwhile Dean faces unrelentingly
unfair and inaccurate attacks. The Dean Rapid Response group exposes and
corrects erroneous editorials and stories from supposedly "Liberal"
media outlets: The
New York Times got it wrong in their editorial, The Doctor and
His Documents: "[W]orking the primary campaign in Iowa and New
Hampshire, Dr. Dean is being increasingly zinged by Republicans and buttonholed
by reporters who want to vet his 11-year executive record. Their sister
opinion-makers at the Boston Globe did no better in their editorial: Dean's
Unseemly Secrecy: "Howard Dean's major asset as a candidate -
his trenchant criticism of President Bush - is undercut by his continued
foot-dragging on the 145 boxes of gubernatorial documents he has had sealed
for 10 years in Vermont." DeanRR volunteer Anne expresses exasperation
over this lazy inaccuracy and blatant double standard: "Continued
foot-dragging???" While this issue may have been around, the press
stomped on the accelerator pedal only since Michael Isikoff did in Newsweek
on Sunday. Nothing else has changed, except that Ed Gillespie decided
to feign self-righteousness and the mainstream press seems to buy it.
No holding the Bush administration (the ones who are currently governing us, by
the way) accountable for their hypocrisy. No looking at the situation
with the Bush records and how open they are. Dean indicated that he would
like to be accommodating and is looking into it. Perhaps we can give him
a few days guys? We've given Cheney's energy task force a wee bit longer.
Does anyone feel like we're in The Twilight Zone again? The
right wing Boston Herald makes an even bigger mess of this story in: Argument
Unravels: Dean Still Refuses To Unseal Vt. Gubernatorial Records by
David R. Guarino, the Boston Herald: "Despite his claim that he cannot
release his gubernatorial papers because of privacy and safety concerns,
Vermont Democrat Howard Dean has already made public sensitive security
documents and letters detailing people's medical histories, records show."
Anne from the DeanRR disputes these accusations: My
biggest argument, aside from the headline which reporters may not choose,
is with this quote: "My guess is that if Howard Dean and his advisers
did not consider a document to be politically embarrassing, they released
it,'' said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a Washington-based
group suing to open Dean's secret files.' A better title for the piece?
"Political enemies speculate self-servingly on the contents of Howard
Dean's gubernatorial records and we, at the Herald, choose to print it."
This piece makes giant leaps with little information. Fortunately
we don't have to sit back and take it as the corporate media trivialize,
distort, and demean our political process with one-sided and lazy reportage.
Unfortunately it requires an incredible amount of work to dig up the facts
which refute the facile slams and urban legends, while it takes about
15 minutes to "report" a story generated by an RNC attack fax.
You can help balance the scales. You must rise to the occasion and stand
up against media malpractice. Follow Tamara Baker's example. Make your
voice heard. Anne asks us to contact the media and correct this story
which they're getting flat out wrong, advising us to keep letters "respectful,
factual and brief." Contact:
The
Boston Globe: letter@globe.com The
Boston Herald: letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com The
Washington Post: letters@washpost.com The
New York Times: letters@nytimes.com USA
Today: editor@usatoday.com ABC's
The Note c/o Mark Halperin - ABC News Franklin
Foer c/o The New Republic Jody
Wilgoren c/o New York Times New
York Times - Website: www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial Washington
Post - Website: www.washingtonpost.com USA
Today - Website: www.usatoday.com |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
