Doug Clifton gives a nice summary of the Richard Clarke affair. I thought this passage was telling:
Let’s assume Clarke’s version of things is true. He thought the Bush administration was being less than attentive to the terrorist threat but when called upon to do the administration’s bidding in a background briefing, he played the good soldier.
With the help of a cooperative and, I would add, co-opted, press the American public was mislead on this vital question.
And because briefing on background is so pervasive in Washington, misleading the public is the norm, not the exception.
I can’t remember the last time I heard the editor in chief of a major newspaper admitting the press has been co-opted by the White House. Maybe they all say it in private, but it’s rare to see such a thing in public.
(Yes, I noticed he misspelled misled).