On Thursday, the New York Times called for the Obama administration to enter into a plea bargain or offer clemency to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden in order to bring him back to the United States.
On PBS’s McLaughlin Group Friday, syndicated columnist Pat Buchanan observed during a discussion about this issue, “There is an inherent conflict of interest between journalists and so-called whistleblowers” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
On Thursday, The New York Times clearly insisted on its own Person of the Year: it lauded "whistle-blower" Edward Snowden’s allegedly heroic mass-leaking against an allegedly criminal federal government, and demanded that Snowden not only receive clemency, but that “President Obama should tell his aides to begin finding a way to end Mr. Snowden’s vilification and give him an incentive to return home.”
Is it realistic for the Times to think the government should stop everyone from vilifying Snowden? Or are they only saying all good liberals should refrain from criticizing him? Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan asked editorial-page boss Andrew Rosenthal if this would sway Obama:
It's not often that liberals and conservatives can agree on something, but on Thursday night's "The Last Word" on MSNBC, host Lawrence O'Donnell agreed with us that Edward Snowden showed a very flimsy grip on reality in his "alternative Christmas message" that aired on Britain's Channel 4.
"So, here we have another Edward Snowden statement. And once again, Joy Reid, he says things, every time he speaks, every time, he will say things that are absurdly, wildly overblown." Let's stipulate that MSNBC is "leaning forward" for the Obama administration, and yet reality is reality:
Something absolutely marvelous happened on MSNBC Thursday that could have only been a better Christmas gift to those fighting liberal media bias if the host at the time had been a more prominent person on that so-called “news network.”
When MSNBC Live substitute host Kristen Welker scolded the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald for appearing to always be defending NSA leaker Edward Snowden, Greenwald marvelously shot back, “I do defend him just like people on MSNBC defend President Obama and his officials and Democratic Party leaders 24 hours a day” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Britain’s Channel 4 turned itself into the Edward Snowden Propaganda Channel on Christmas. Washington Post deputy managing editor Griff Witte wrote a story for Thursday’s paper headlined “Spying worse than in ‘1984,’ Snowden tells Britons.”
But “1984" was a novel about a totalitarian state that attempted constant of surveillance and mind control of all citizens to rid the nation of Oceania from all “thought crimes.” How is Snowden comparing America to that dictatorship? He claimed children today have “no conception of privacy at all.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is jealous of Barack Obama.
At a news conference in Russia Thursday, Putin said, "How do I feel about Obama after Snowden's revelations? I envy him, because he can get away with it."
All three networks on Monday night and Tuesday morning covered the "major blow" a judge delivered by ruling that the National Security Agency's massive data collection is likely unconstitutional. Yet, NBC's Nightly News managed to mention the President only once in passing. Instead, anchor Brian Williams kept the nearly three and a half minute segment politically vague: "Privacy violation: A surprise ruling about the government's spying on the phone calls made by Americans. The question tonight, what will this change and when?"
Williams lectured, "In the name of keeping us safe, Americans have sacrificed a number of freedoms since 9/11, including the privacy of communications." Journalist Pete Williams added, "It's a serious legal blow to one of the most controversial practices of the NSA." Is it a blow to Obama? Neither journalist said. In contrast, NBC's Today on Tuesday immediately mentioned the President. Matt Lauer opened the segment by noting that "the Obama administration's beginning to plan an appeal of a major court ruling." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
“It’s a leak Barbara Walters doesn’t want you to know about,” the New York Daily News gossip column “Confidential” promised on Wednesday. “The ABC News doyenne pushed hard to have NSA leaker Edward Snowden at the top of her list of 10 most fascinating people of the year — but in the end was overruled by network brass,” said a source. Snowden did not cooperate.
“She had a particular fascination with the former NSA contractor, we’re told, because at one point she believed he would be chosen as Time magazine’s Person of the Year.” Snowden is on the list of 10, but the number-one pick remains unknown until the show airs, which is on December 18. Then there were the Clintons:
President Obama's narcissistic hits just keep on coming. Yesterday, we noted that in his interview with NBC's Chuck Todd, President Obama cast himself as the victim of the ObamaCare mess, complaining that "I've been burned" by the bad website.
In a new clip from the interview, aired during today's Daily Rundown, President Obama bragged "I can guarantee you that I have been more deeply involved in our intelligence operations on a whole set of areas where there real threats against us than just about any President." As with his victim whine, the prez caught himself and amended his remark. But once again, his true feelings were clear. View the video after the jump.
CBS This Morning on Tuesday allowed a scant 21 seconds to the newest revelations about the National Security Agency. The government organization has been secretly collecting millions of internet address books and instant message accounts from around the world, including Americans. In contrast, ABC and NBC highlighted the story in full reports and news briefs. [See video below of ABC's Good Morning America coverage. MP3 audio here.] None of the three network morning shows made any reference to Barack Obama or speculated on what the President's responsibility might be.
In the briefest of summaries, This Morning anchor Charlie Rose explained, "The agency is pulling the information from address books and buddy lists accounts on instant message accounts worldwide." He reassuringly added, "But a government spokesman says NSA is not interested in personal information about so-called ordinary Americans." However, the same morning show devoted three minutes to the not-so important story of President William Taft's attempts to lose weight.
A Soros-funded journalism organization also has copies of secret intelligence files from NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Reuters revealed this during an Aug. 30 article that called ProPublica an “independent investigative journalism group,” and made no mention of its political left-wing leanings. ProPublica is a liberal investigative journalism outfit that has received $300,000 from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations since 2000 and millions of dollars from the liberal Sandler Foundation.
According to the Reuters story, the British Government is asking The New York Times to destroy its copies of British intelligence documents, but “[t]o date, no-one has contacted ProPuiblica.” The British news outlet The Guardian also had Snowden documents, which it said have since been destroyed. Both the Guardian and The New York Times are listed as partners on ProPublica’s website.
The Gray Lady on Sunday packed a tremendous amount of bias into the opening sentence of their “Most of U.S. Is Wired, but Millions Aren’t Plugged In.”
Brace yourself - here goes: