I'm watching Wolf Blitzer interview Andrea Koppel, reporting from the US House where they've just passed a resolution condemning the media for reporting classified stories about the Bush administration's law-breaking and near law-breaking domestic spying programs. Listen to the way Andrea Koppel describes the vote:
This doesn't have the force of law but Republicans hope it sends a strong message not just to the media but to those who leak within the Bush administration.
Or, this was part of a much larger and ongoing Republican effort to:
Chill any criticism of the Bush administration;
Delegitimize Bush critics (e.g., the media) by labeling them as liberal and un-American in the eyes of the American public;
Help George Bush's sagging poll numbers by shifting the focus and blame for his incompetent handling of the war on terror to the "liberal media" and by changing the story from high gas prices and the failed war in Iraq;
Deflect the real story that Bush is yet again spying on American citizens in possible violation of the law without obtaining a court order; and
Force yet another vote on a do-nothing issue in order to divide Democrats and ultimately use this as an election issue rather than focusing on the real problems facing Americans.
But come on, reporting this as "real" news without mentioning the entirely political motivation behind the entire effort? You really think this resolution came up because Republicans hope to send a message? A message to the voters, sure. This is yet another political ploy to invoke the war on terror to shore up the Republican poll numbers. And not even mentioning that is neither fair nor accurate.
