Please, Not In Front Of The Kids (Or The Sockpuppets... Or The Editors)

Joe Klein wastes his pixels and our time lighting into Glenn Greenwald.  Whatev - Klein will never be able to move far enough left to placate his audience, as much as he tries - the Atrios/Greenwald screamers have had good success in their goal of working the refs (OK, Bush helped...).  However, I *may* be burying the lead - in the email leaked by Greenwald, Klein makes no attempt to conceal his partisan rooting interest in Democratic success, which *may* have led to some awkward moments with his editors.  That is pure guesswork, BTW - I can think of plenty of commentators who make no attempt to hide their party preference; I just can't recall how Klein is marketing and positioning himself.

As to Klein's points about Greenwald, no kidding - Greenwald used to offer 5,000 word variations on "Bush Sucks" on a daily basis.  The one constant was lots of links to his "research", much of which was mischaracterized.

Ahh, but those links are to ancient history.  Closer to home, it was just last week that Greenwald managed six breathless updates to his post on the story that Tom Ridge had accused Evil BushCo of politicizing the terror alerts, yet we never got a seventh update mentioning a little August-October problem, namely, Ridge was describing an October situation where the alert was *not* raised.  (I did lose track in subsequent days, so perhaps Greenwald addresses this eventually.)

FOR THOSE WHO MUST KNOW:  Michael Calderone of Politico digs into the Journolist spat and provides this puzzler:

Time's Joe Klein, one of several hundred journalists, bloggers and policy wonks who contribute to Journolist, a private list-serve that I profiled last March,  wrote that Salon's Glenn Greenwald "knows little about politics, less about journalism and cares not a whit about the national security of the United States."

"I find the Limbaugh-like, knee-jerk devotion of his flock depressing," Klein added.

Despite off-the-record ground rules, it's not surprising that with so many members something occasionally slips through the cracks -- especially when it's an attack on a blogger with a large following.  So Glenn Greenwald got possession of the OTR email and posted it...

Greenwald is not on the Journolist, either as himself or under a pseudonym?  Really?

OTHER, POSSIBLY LARGER QUESTIONS I CAN ONLY ASK:  Does Joe Klein maintain a public pretense of being an objective journalist?  He quite clearly declares his rooting interest in the Dems in the excerpted email, which may be the real reason he has a problem with it. Here we go, from Klein:

If you have a white Democrat who is voting like a Republican—Billy Tauzin, for example—I don’t really care if he goes down, though I’d prefer a Democr atic conservative to a Republican if it means that Dems keep control of the House. But Jim Cooper isn’t remotely like a Republican. He is thoughtful on a range of issues. He is in favor of insurance reform, expansion of coverage and robust exchanges. That’s good enough for me.

or here:

I’ve spent a lifetime watching Democrats eat their own. In the past, I’ve sometimes been one of the cannibals. I regret that as much as Ted Kennedy went to his grave regretting that he didn’t make a universal health care deal with Richard Nixon. At this point, the Republicans are down to an obnoxious purist sliver. I’d like things to stay that way. Things will not if Democratic purists and self-righteous political naifs like Greenwald successfully challenge moderate Democrats who have won in districts that could easily go Republican.

I am not clear whether Klein pretends to position himself as an observer rather than a rooter at TIME, so I am only speculating when I say that his real annoyance may be due to the publication of his partisan positioning.  Over to Mickey!

OUR SUGGESTION TO TALK SHOW BOOKERS: 

What host will bring Klein and Greenwald together?  From the comments - "Man I love hot blue on blue action".

Don't forget to run a camera in the green room.

Comments

[BumperStickerist]

When asked by some lib friends of mine about Obama's performance so far I just say that I think Bush's third term is going well.

Sure, the carpets in John Bolton's former office needed to be replaced, but that seems to be the only significant change in foreign policy.

[Cecil Turner]

Here's Klein's time piece, and the bottom line:

I agree with Greenwald on some things, and appreciate his insights on others. But he is a thoroughly dishonorable person--as he proved by releasing my private emails--and, when it comes to his oft-trumpeted belief in the right to privacy, a stone hypocrite as well.

He also recapitulates one of the original e-mails he says Greenwald declined to include in his dump:

Therefore, I have seen no evidence that he cares one whit about the national security of the United States. It is not hyperbole, it is a fact.

And here's commentary from Politico's Michael Calderone on the JList roots of the "spat":

When I contacted JList members in March, most wouldn't talk at all. But those who did, mentioned that the list-serve can be a valuable sounding board for ideas (or in some cases gripes).

Seems to me the bigger issue is the one in Klein's first e-mail dump (sexed-up in my own inimitable idiom): Greenwald's writings are a remarkably useful stand-in for those of an enemy propagandist. The idea that he's a hypocrite for publishing e-mails (well, duh) or that there's some sort of privilege to pseudonymity (not so clear) is relatively unpersuasive.

[Captain Hate]

Lib circular firing squad. More popcorn!!

[Jack is Back!]

Blue on blue. Sort of what's going on in the Democrat party and all of left-liberal land these days. This is why I am urging all political pundits, commentators, strategists and wonks on the right to stop giving the left and the Dems and Obama any ideas on how to move to center and improve their ratings. I prefer they continue to disintegrate right before our eyes as we eat Cap'ns popcorn. Time to buy some Orville Redebacker stock.

[Jack is Back!]

OT but damn close:

Bill Whittle's latest slice and dice at LUN.

[Gmax]

Klein participates in a little of his own, eating his own. Man I love hot blue on blue action. Obama is going to rip this Democrat coalition into two separate and unequal pieces. And that will be the saving of our democracy. Thanks for the cannibalism, Joe. Soldier on. Want some ketchup?

[Jane]

Man I love hot blue on blue action.

It's early but I'm nominating that for line of the day.

[Appalled]

I know you guys think I'm a Democrat and a Liberal. But stuff like this from Joe Klein illustrates why I am not:

You actually believe polls about issues? On what basis? You think the public actually wants a public option...maybe what they really don’t want is a government takeover of health care. Or maybe both. Or maybe—no, this is actually the truth: they don’t know what the fuck they want. Maybe—no, again, the truth: they don’t have the time or interest to figure what any of this means. And they are one good negative 20-second spot away from being demagogued up the wazoo on this issue when the actual election begins.

I can't stomach this kind of stuff -- the idea you can force a major takeover of a segment of the economy by foolng all of the people some of the time.

[Darth Venomous]

Greenwald is not on the Journolist, either as himself or under a pseudonym?

You...you...you mean he's not...PUBLISHED?!?! >-D

[Captain Hate]

Bill Whittle's latest slice and dice at LUN.

Every time I think I've seen the best Whittle yet he outdoes it the next time. The most unexceptional preznit ever getting confused over the definition of exceptionalism; brilliant, is this what produces David Brooks's mandingo mancrush? Columbia and Harvard must be so proud. The next person that tells me how smart Bammers is better be wearing conversational kevlar.

[Neo]

As for Cooper and health care, HR3200 is more a bargaining chip than a bill—and a bad idea, at that. It forces Democrats like Cooper to take unnecessary votes on provisions like the public option and taxes that can come back to haunt them—especially when those provisions won’t be part of the final bill.

Exactly how does Joe know what will be in the final bill ?

Perhaps Joe could tell us what will be in the final bill .. so at least then we that take aim at a meaningful target instead of this amorphous cameleon of a bill which always seems to make everybody wrong when talking/criticizing it.

[boris]

"I know you guys think I'm a Democrat and a Liberal"

Not me. On the scale between intentions and consequences you seem to fall closer to the first. Reading intentions may be something you are better at than others but it's always risky and often leads to flawed analysis IMO.

[timeguy]

"... the idea you can force a major takeover of a segment of the economy by foolng all of the people some of the time."

Why shouldn't Joe Klein believe that? He's fooled his bosses at Time Magazine into thinking he's an unbiased journalist, when he's clearly a propogandist working for Democrat interests.

He's revealed that the editors at Time Magazine are buffoons.

[bishop]

Yes, Klein, is only marginally less deranged
then the likes of Michael Moore and Bill Maher in that statement, who at last recall
wanted to put an intern's head in Baucus's bed. But that is the M.O., they want to
seize the 'reins of the 'commanding heights'
of the economy. But a herd of wolverines, from all over, and a gal from the Klondike
has made it a mite difficult

[Rulez4daLittlePeeps]

He's fooled his bosses at Time Magazine into thinking he's an unbiased journalist...

Thanks, I needed a belly laugh.

[Captain Hate]

Appalled, I've always regarded you as a grumpy contrarian intent on poking holes in arguments presented here. If I were forced to characterize your politics, I'd say it's an oddly unique strain of libertarianism.

[fdcol63]

I sincerely hope The One is a one-termer and a lame duck after 2010.

[bishop]

Here's yet another example of this strain of plebiscite mania, from someone who forgets that the plebiscite is for popular
things, in the LUN:

[hit and run]

http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2009/09/back-from-vacation-bammy-goes-golfing.html>Fore!!!!

With a week on Martha's Vineyard behind him, President Barack Obama was back in Washington on Monday and raring to go -- to the golf course.

The president, in khaki pants and a blue polo shirt, headed to the private Army Navy Country Club for an afternoon round with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, press office staffer Ben Finkenbinder, and trip director Marvin Nicholson. That health care debate? He'll get to it next week.

"I mean, if he hits Marvin with a golf ball, I guess he'd become more active in health care," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters.

Asked on the course where he thought the health care debate currently stood, Obama said he empathized with struggling Americans before adding, "Now watch this drive".

Disclaimer: Not all parts of the above were copy and pasted. Any words or sentences not faithful to the original are incidental to the retyping on the part of the person placing the comment on Just One Minute, and not the fault or responsibility of the article's original author.

[Sue]

Drudge headline...Slip Sliding Away. Waterloo anyone? Gawd, I hope so.

[Sue]

Just to be clear, Slip Sliding Away is the headline. I added the rest.

[fdcol63]

Gibbs is a loathesome jerk.

[Neo]

He's fooled his bosses at Time Magazine into thinking he's an unbiased journalist...

I gave up the Time subscription years ago when I figured out that the once-fabled editors had been replaced by "4th graders" or an equivalent thereof ... so it's not hard to imagine Klein fooling them.

[pagar]

I sincerely hope The One is a one-termer and a lame duck after 2010.

Holder is working to make sure that doesn't happen.

WASHINGTON - Seven months after taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is reshaping the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division by pushing it back into some of the most important areas of American political life, including voting rights, housing, employment, bank lending practices and redistricting after the 2010 census.

My guess is the White House intends to control every aspect of the 2010/2012 elections, under the guise of civil rights.

[hit and run]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll>Obama now at 45% approval at Ras. New low.

Which is lower? Obama's approval #s or his front 9 score from yesterday?

Only one of those is supposed to be low, of course.

[Mark]

He's fooled his bosses at Time Magazine into thinking he's an unbiased journalist

Um, Time doesn't even pretend to be unbiased anymore. Did you see the 13 BHO covers?

[hit and run]

How long before Obama's approval #s match his bowling score from the campaign?

[MayBee]

He's fooled his bosses at Time Magazine into thinking he's an unbiased journalist,

He's a columnist, so he doesn't have to be unbiased. But he specifically states in his Journolist messages that it is his goal to get Democrats elected. Yet TIME put him on McCain's campaign plane.

Republicans giving Klein an interview is like allowing Howard Dean to interview them. His goal is going to be to make Republicans look bad, and everyone reading his columns should know that. He's an activist.

[Lou Shumaker]

Remember, Klein's the anonymous author of "Primary Colors," who spent months lying in the face of all his journalist friends, and his bosses at Newsweek, until he was outed.

With a character-defining moment such as that, why would anyone believe anything he says? I swear, the MSM has the intellectual capability and moral authority of a class of five-year-olds.

[daveinboca]

I regret that as much as Ted Kennedy went to his grave regretting that he didn’t make a universal health care deal with Richard Nixon. And I bet that he also regrets EMK went to his grave without working that deal with the Kremlin in '84 that Teddy and Gee-Mah were working on to elevate Mondale vis-a-vis Captain America. Maybe the Boys in the Kremlin should have worked harder, as subsequent events showed that Ronnie & Co. had the ultimate cure for them [and a temporary one for EMK & Gee-mah's orcs].

Time & Newsweak currently have a comic strip motif on the death of conservatism, yadda, yadda,.....

Will Rogers was right, and the Hindenburg didn't end cries of .... "o, the humanity!" as crashing and burning continues on a daily basis on the left side of the road.

[Jane]

My favorite story of the day at LUN.

Media Stunned as ObamaCare Unravels

By ignoring and ridiculing the tea parties and town halls, mainstream news reporters missed the story of Americans worried about the ever-expanding government. Now they are playing catch-up.

Maybe they will cover the DC Tea party after all.

[hrtshpdbox]

How long before Obama's approval #s match his bowling score from the campaign?

That (Shock: Obama's Approval Rating Even Lower Than His Bowling Score!) is the winning headline, alright.

[Sue]

Ridge is on my local AM station with Mark Davis. I've ignored most of it because I am boycotting Ridge, but what little bit I've heard he sounds a little bit combative.

[glasater]

Can anyone believe or understand why Zero is doing this?

Obama Celebrating Ramadn Tuesday?

He must not be concerned one bit about his slide in the polls which moves me to one of my large fears--and that is next years elections are going to be rigged in favor of the D's.

[Jane]

I half listened to him last night Sue. His excuse is that he was "musing" not stating facts.

What a jerk.

[DebinNC]

Jennifer Rubin quotes David Broder: "Obama’s patient, didactic responses have not quieted the reaction, let alone built fresh support for a vitally needed overhaul of our expensive, dysfunctional health system."

Broder is bearing false witness. I wonder if he realizes that.

[clarice]

To me Ridge's "musing" was punching up the story per an agent's advice to promote a doa book.

[Porchlight]

The percentage of likely voters who approve of Obama's performance is now lower than the percentage of actual voters who pulled the lever for McCain/Palin.

It will be amusing to watch the rest of the polls follow the Rasmussen bellwether.

[Fresh Air]

Deb--

Broder is unusually clearheaded for a lifelong liberal living in Washington. But he suffers from the same problem George Will and Charles Krauthammer do: He reads his own stupid newspaper, and, what's worse...he actually believes it!

Ha! If he just read American Thinker he would have a damn clue. Maybe it can be printed out on thin, wide sheets of paper, folded and slipped under his door in the morning.

[John Stone]

Please, for context: What does LUN stand for? This is not a joke.

[Sue]

But he skipped National Prayer Day. Wonder what this means?

[Sue]

LUN is "link under name". If you click on their name, it will take you to the story they are talking about.

[Captain Hate]

But he skipped National Prayer Day. Wonder what this means?

This is just more snarky activity from the mulatto punk who "surreptitiously" gave people "the finger" during the endless campaign, knowing full well that he was doing it but always having a fallback position in which he could claim it was an innocent gesture and that people are being delusional by bringing it up. In this case it will provoke discussion that he's a "closet muslim" and subsequently his MSM enablers can counter this with how people are irrationally reading things into his actions. It's really a childish game of "gotcha" but I haven't seen anything from him to suggest anything more mature than that.

[DebinNC]

"Wonder what this means?"

For one thing, it gives Obama a chance to utilize TOTUS and wax eloquent. It's all about rehabilitating his image now imo. No more "acted stupidly" and "wee-wee'd up". His every word and mannerism will be orchestrated and rehearsed until perfect. I bet the mammoth task of prepping him for the role he will next play is why his "vacation" is being extended.

[John Stone]

Sue:
Thank you.

[Rob Crawford]

Greenwald is not on the Journolist, either as himself or under a pseudonym? Really?

ISTR he was on the "Townhall" list, though. Likely some overlap which kept those two lists in sync.

[TOPSECRETK9]

I'm glad TM noted Glenn's habit of linking crap that in no way supports his posts. He routinely misrepresents links or just pretends they back up his assertions when they are nowhere near close to what he says. And Klein is right about the creepy "Acolytes" -- Mona, anyone?

[Mikey NTH]

In Re: Terror Alerts.

The answer to this is simple: The Dept. of Homeland Security is a Federal Agency. FOIA the terror alerts from September to December, 2004. Once you have that info the next questions are elementary.

Where the alerts raised? If so when and for what reason?

Where the alerts lowered? If so when and for what reason?

Not so hard to find the truth here if anyone wants to.

BTW: The US Coast Guard has the terror alert color bar on its website, and has for years. This stuff isn't a secret.

[J.M. Heinrichs]

"He quite clearly declares his rooting interest in the Dems, ..."
May I presume you are using the Aussie definition of 'rooting'?

Cheers

[Slartibartfast]

I'm a little confused. Practically simultaneously, we're hearing accusations that Bush elevated the threat warning level to rig the election, and that Bush ordered Ridge NOT to elevate the threat level, presumably to rig the election.

Reality-based, these arguments.