The Obama Administration vs A Free Press

[Major Robert Dump]

You crossed the line, Husar. Kim Jong threatened Guam directly, which is a direct threat to not only me, but to all members of The Org and my future resto bar, Cheap Food and Quality Wool.


I like how he is the most closed administration to the press since Nixon, even having "transparency meetings" with no press present, yet puppet mouthpiece press secretary talks about how they are the most open administration in history, which is a bold faced lie that the sheeple eat up hook, line and sinker.

I like how he stifles FOI yet the press sucky sucky cuz Republican so yucky yucky

I like how all the stuff he is doing regarding drones, detainees, national security, DHS etc was all cool with many Republicans and Democrat knee jerkers when GWB was doing it. From listening to Fox and Rush, the TSA was invented by Obama. Who knew???????????????

And I'm still trying to figure out who the DHS is going to war with.

[Lemur]

It's good that people are writing and making noise about cases such as this one. Prosecutorial overreach is a clear and present danger to activists of all stripes.

Although, skimming the materials, Barrett Brown did not button down his Scheiße to the degree you should when taking on the rich and powerful. If you're going to antagonize the national security establishment, you'd better not have leave any easy angles for them to take you out.

Creating a YouTube video in which you promise to "destroy" an FBI agent: Not smart. Ongoing substance abuse problem while you're irritating Federal agencies: Not great. Being closely associated with Anonymous and other gray-hat and black-hat hackers: Bloody chum in shark-friendly waters.

So ... sympathies to Barrett Brown, and I hope the media attention brings a dose of sanity to his prosecutors. But seriously, don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

[Major Robert Dump]

Somebody should have also told that to Bob Woodward. Oh, how the winds change when the glove is on the other foot

[Lemur]

Somebody should have also told that to Bob Woodward. Oh, how the winds change when the glove is on the other foot

No lo comprendo. Woodward was a young journalist with the full backing of what was (in 1972) a very powerful newspaper when he helped break the Watergate scandal. And even given this protection, there were some serious calls for his scalp.

Woodward was young, stupid, spitting in the eyes of powerful men ... and he had backup. And once he was in the crosshairs, he did not do anything notably stupid to give those powerful men leverage to destroy him. These seem like critical differences.

[Note that in his later career, Woodward became the leading expert at sucking up to powerful men. His access to the Clinton, Bush, and Obama admins was based on stupendous acts of bootlicking. There's a lesson in there, somewhere.]

[Major Robert Dump]

I was referring to Woodward of today, and his riling of the current administration. After seeing how the White House and SOS staff responded to the diary/journal in Libya, I would have thought that Woodward would know that the WH doesn't give a hoot who he is or what he's done. Hell, half of the young whipper snappers on the WH staff probably don't even know who he is.

although, to be fair, he is not facing threat of prison

[Lemur]

I was referring to Woodward of today, and his riling of the current administration.

What, the "email threat" thing that kept the rightwing media in business for a couple of weeks? That was debunked. By an intrepid reporter named Bob Woodward. Or maybe you're referencing something else.

Woodward has done with BHO exactly what he did with GWB: flatter the president in the first term, then attack him in the second term. I can't imagine anyone with a functioning brain is surprised.

[Major Robert Dump]

I knew about the threat being exaggerated. However, the administration is thin-skinned as are some of its fan bois in the press, and before Woody had a chance to explain himself he had the republicans using him as a source, a martyr, a democrat version of what happened to Chris Christie.... and more than a few meanie weanie comments were made by the left directed at Woodward, some of them downright hateful. I still am not sure if Woody played his editors or if his editors played him

They may be now poking fun of the incident at the WH dinners and such, but all sides got pretty riled up for a few days, and I find it hard to believe that "former staffers" and other publications in regular contact with WH staffers did not have a blessing to go on the offensive. At the least, I doubt they were discouraged from doing so

In all, though, the comment about Woodward was tongue in cheek, I know it is nothing in comparison to what is happening in the OP. I was just getting all uppity about this transparency thing, and how the emporers crew gets mad when you point out he is naked. But when Bob Woodward commits suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head, don't say I didn't warn you

curse words:

[Greyblades]

I like how he is the most closed administration to the press since Nixon, even having "transparency meetings" with no press present, yet puppet mouthpiece press secretary talks about how they are the most open administration in history, which is a bold faced lie that the sheeple eat up hook, line and sinker.

I like how he stifles FOI yet the press sucky sucky cuz Republican so yucky yucky

I like how all the stuff he is doing regarding drones, detainees, national security, DHS etc was all cool with many Republicans and Democrat knee jerkers when GWB was doing it. From listening to Fox and Rush, the TSA was invented by Obama. Who knew???????????????

I like how taking everything into consideration he's still infinitely preferable to the republican alternative.

[Major Robert Dump]

I like how taking everything into consideration he's still infinitely preferable to the republican alternative.

Never said he wasn't, but then I've never been one to gloss over something I don't like just because he is "my guy." In fact, I cannot stand him. Romney, however, was a Mormon version of Bush and I prefer not to pursue that avenue again. Ever.