Everyone in Left Blogostan has known that Billmon’s the man for so long that it’s rarely mentioned any more. Whiskey Bar is one of ten blogs whose RSS feeds I subscribe to (not counting the three I write for ;-), so I generally know within five minutes that he’s put up a new post. He sends the entire post with the feed, so I rarely even visit his site; but, as with Simbaud, I read everything he writes.

On Friday he posted something that seems important to repeat. In a discussion of John Dean’s take on the Fitzgerald investigation entitled “Will the Grinch Steal Fitzmas?”, he makes a contrarian case for the prosecution of administration leakers. Many journalists, from the scummy to the not-so, worry in print about the possibility of leakers being prosecuted:

The prospect of espionage charges, of course, is giving the lapdog pundits a bad case of the fantods. On what will they subsist if their official sources are too frightened to pass out a steady diet of classified doggy treats — premasticated for easy digestion?

It’s interesting to note that the real journalists, those who deal in real secrets, like Sy Hersh, aren’t in the crying poodle chorus. Sy’s sources already know that the long hand of official retribution could come down on them at any time. But now the official sources who hand feed kennel-bred columnists over martinis at Jack Abramoff’s restaurant are feeling the same chill breeze. Is it any wonder their pets are yapping about First Amendment rights?

To me, Billmon has hit the highlights. If Sy Hersh were complaining, I’d be in the chorus. After all, who’s the most important journalist in the world right now? But Jim Hoagland? Richard Cohen? Judy Miller? Give me a break.

If Fitzgerald reaffirms the post-Watergate principle that Big Brother can go to jail, it will do more to advance the cause of civil liberties than a baker’s dozen of Washington pseudo-journalists. On the other hand, if he backs down now, it’s easy to imagine future administrations finding other official secrets to use against their critics, all in the name of national security.

Posted by Chuck Dupree at October 23, 2005 07:32 PM

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