As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.

Sex and real estate? What about whitewater? And Monica? Of course the right wingers (and the media) had no problem nailing Bill and Hillary to the cross about sex and real estate, but Libby, who committed an actual crime, is the victim of an injustice.

better to keep the light off

a morbid fear of jail

Awww, poor widdle wich 'n' impowtant peep-hole.

I starting to understand the French Revolution.

And keep their job? And who, other than some 28 %r's would believe it? Maybe a few Albanians.

I'm glad you keep up on this trash, Glenn, so I don't have to. I just find it hard to believe that the paper would allow itself to be embarrassed by one of its employees this way. Opinion is one thing, facts, or in this case, false facts, are another. Maybe Cohen should consider another line of work. Maybe he could get on at the Bush Library after it is built. He'd fit right in.

In such cases, their motto becomes:

It is always imperative to keep the lights off.

I am going to have to fight hard to avoid putting this into every post I write. It will definitely replace Richard Wolffe's "the press here does a fantastic job of adhering to journalistic standards and covering politics in general" as my most used and favorite quote.

It really isn't liberal-vs.-conservative anymore. It's Richard Cohen, Chris Matthews, Tim Russert, Sean Hannity, Brit Hume et al and the 20 or so Republicans (and Lieberman) they have on their talk shows vs. everyone else.

Not that we should excuse conservatives for allowing it to get this way. But still.

this is the e-mail I sent to Mr. Cohen. What do you think?

"This is brilliant! I haven't seen such spot on sarcasm in a major paper in years. You captured the absurdity of the position of the hypocrites perfectly and stayed in character throughout the whole article. I only hope the readers get it and not confuse you with an insider who denies the facts and merely repeats easily refuted republican talking points. I commend you on not even addressing what obstruction of justice means in a land of laws.

Perfect!

Stephen P. Murray, Ph.D.

ps Unless, of course you were serious. In which case you are a complete..."

It will be even more of a mystery as to why millions of Americans were mesmerized by this nonsense than it is to most Americans today as to why so many Americans were taken in by McCarthy's nonsense.

I suspect this period will be the most studied, most talked about, most written about period of American history for at least a century. We should probably get to work on a name, like "McCarthyism." My vote is for "Wingnuttia."

Svensker:

I starting to understand the French Revolution.

You starting to understand why I use the term "Versailles."

This article says it all. I do not have any faith in our press anymore. They are all in bed with Bush and this administration. It reminds me of what David Halberstam said - "The more famous you are, the less of a journalist you are." That is so true! Tim Russert is a perfect example of this. Bush and company actually use Meet the Press for their own interests leaking stories and then going on Sunday to talk about what they leaked. Tim Russert just sits there not challenging anything they say. Cheney is a master of this! The problem is that Russert cannot ask tough questions and then have dinner with these people. And he is so immersed in "their" world, he doesn't see (or maybe he doesn't care)how any of this is playing with "regular" folks. For those of you who saw the Bob Moyers special on the press a couple of months ago, you know that there are some reporters (Knight Ridder) who are interested in the truth who are not buddies with Rove and Tony Snow. The problem is that these stories are not on the front page and most people are not reading them. I don't see any of this changing as long as massive corporations own all of these publications. I agree with Glenn that we will look back on this as a very embarassing time for the American press.

I'm as angry as Greenward at Cohen and all other journalists who pandered to the neocons. They bear substantial responsibility for the ever fulminating Iraq tragedy. But enough ridicule. Glenn, help us understand why they're like that. There afraid, I think, but not of Lompoc. They're afraid of real threats to their careers. After all, the Bush-Rove tar and feather machine is deadly. Very few people had so little to lose that they could afford to stand up to the Republicans in and around the Administration. And no one has yet found a way to defang them. This is one of many insights we need to truly understand them well enough to affect them. To this point, all of us--including the neocons--have been helpless victims of a profoundly destructive set of influences, and we're still just beginning to understand them. I think this empathic position can help us to truly understand rather than only angrily and too superficially expose the people who have both led us and themselves been pushed down the path of destruction.

I was raised a Jew. I was bar mitzvah'ed, sang my haftorah like a pro, and knew that Jews did no harm. But what Richard Cohen's piece describes to me is a Jewish mafia, where Jews defend other Jews no matter how errant their behavior. This is a disaster, for Jews and for everybody else. Righteousness fifty years ago does not mean righteousness forever. They have sold their souls, the Libby-lovers, in defense of a "landsman" who sold out his country. For shame.

dwemer:

You missed something Glenn

As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.

Sex and real estate? What about whitewater? And Monica?

Often, as in, whenever it's a Republican.