A Vacation With Bill Keller: Yuk!

This morning, I got up at 8:30. It was about 90 degrees. By 9 I was exercising at the resort's air conditioned exercise room and my temperature went up to about 113 -- today's expected high.

Bill Keller was the reason. Not the insulting platitudes and talking- down- the- nose style that is like fingernails on the chalkboard; no, it was this (paraphrased):

The Bush White House is the most secretive administration since Nixon.

Why do you suppose that is, Bill? Do you toss it off to whacky GOP paranoia, to conservatives who see commie boogiemen and conspirators under every bedsheet and behind every door?

I'm sure that's his twerpy, preppy explanation. But how about this: Bush is the first president since Nixon to be fighting an important war that is unpopular with the press. Nixon saw the need to win in Vietnam to prevent what happens when Communists take over a region. Attacked on all sides by reporters and anchormen and publishers who didn't see it that way, and wary of an enemy that wanted to destroy us and committed great resources to intelligence gathering, Nixon's naturally distrusting nature grew necessarily to become a secretive administration.

Anyone see any parallels here?

Then Keller went on to blame the Bush White House for the backlash against his paper.

The White House full-court press started on Wednesday. The people's outrage started on the previous Sunday. And Keller, who positions himself as knowing more than enough to make tough calls on national security, blames the White House.

AAARRRRRRGGGGHHH!

Related Tags: Bush, Nixon, Keller, New York Times, Free Press, Politics