Blogger Botch

If anyone hasn't read up on the ridiculous case that was made by some conservative bloggers that the NY Times had somehow attempted to retaliate against Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney by publishing pictures and locations of their vacation homes in a Travel section article, you must.

The theory went as follows:

The NY Times published a story outlining the details of a government anti-terrorist program in which banking data was successfully used to track terrorists.
The Bush administration and its supporters spoke out forcefully against the NY Times story, with Bush calling it "disgraceful", and some going so far as to call the Times' publishing of the story an act of treason.
Then, (and here's where you must put on your tinfoil hats), the NY Times, so outraged by the criticism it received, published photos and locations of the vacation homes of Rumsfeld and Cheney in a story on a resort area.

The above scenario was treated as gospel by some conservative bloggers, to the point that some started posting the name and address of the NY Times photographer who took the picture, as well as those of some of the NY Times editorial staff, in addition to putting out a call for others:

So, in the school of what's good for the goose is good for the gander, we are providing this link so YOU may help the blogosphere in locating the homes (perhaps with photos?) of the editors and reporters of the New York Times.
Let's start with the following New York Times reporters and editors: Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr., Bill Keller, Eric Lichtblau, and James Risen. Do you have an idea where they live?

Go hunt them down and do America a favor. Get their photo, street address, where their kids go to school, anything you can dig up, and send it to the link above. This is your chance to be famous - grab for the golden ring!

Of course, when the fact came out that Rumsfeld had given permission for his house to be featured in the article, there weren't many retractions or apologies for the publishing of addresses of supposed perpetrators of a misdeed that evidently never occured.

Let me be clear. With the facts as they have come out, I actually do not support the writing of the original story by the NY Times. They have done nothing to convince me that the story did not harm a very successful anti-terrorist operation, and they did not succeed in convincing me that the program was anything but legal, so therefore certainly not worthy of publication at the risk of shutting down the operation. Their editorial on Sunday which basically read "Trust us that we always do the right thing - but don't trust the government!" did nothing to change the direction of my take on this story. So there's certainly a case to be made against the NY Times here.

But still. One has to wonder whether it the conservative blogosphere do themselves any favors when they come up with these crazy conspiracy theories. Ther's a case to be made here, people. But you'll do much better if you just stick to the facts.

A terrific (and hilarious) summary of the whole flap can be found here, by blogger Glenn Greenwald:

I learned today from Michelle Malkin, Powerline's John Hinderaker, Red State, and David Horowitz, among others, that The New York Times not only wants to help Al Qaeda launch terrorist attacks on the United States, but that newspaper also want to do everything possible to enable The Terrorists to assassinate Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. That is the conclusion which these sober leaders of "conservative" punditry drew after reading this article in the Times' Travel section, which features the tiny, charming village of St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where both Cheney and Rumsfeld have vacation homes.

Darkly lurking beneath the rustic, playful tone of the NYT Travel article is a homicidal plot on the part of the reporters and editors of the Times to provide a roadmap to their Al Qaeda allies so that they find Cheney and Rumsfeld (and maybe even Mrs. Rumsfeld) and murder them.

...Being an ardent admirer of such investigative journalism, I wanted to add to this scoop. On June 8, 2003, the same New York Times published a lengthy article entitled "The Ex-President Next Door," which provided every possible detail one would ever want to know, and then many more beyond that, about Bill and Hillary Clinton's new home in Chappaqua, New York and the lives they lead there. The article contained numerous photographs of their home, and all sorts of information about where they eat, recreate and jog.

...The article essentially provided a daily roadmap of Bill Clinton's day. But that was completely different, because everyone knows that the Clintons are good friends of Al Qaeda's and have nothing to worry about. When The Times publishes extensive photographs of the Clintons' private home and reports on their daily activities, that's done with the purpose of glorifying them. But when The Times publishes an article on the town where Cheney and Rumsfeld have vacation homes, and includes a photograph of the mailbox of Rumsfeld's house, it's all part of a nefarious plot to tyrannize prominent conservatives and send Al Qaeda hit squads to get them.

You have to laugh. Read the whole thing, as well as his update here.