Who Benefits From NY Times Mea Culpa?

By
October 22, 2006

Why would the New York Times admit to wrongly publishing classified information just two weeks before an election? Yes, it’s that big because it is breaking Sunday and is going to take up a lot of ink and TV time this coming week, right before an election. And the tenor of the conversation is going to help the Republicans and George Bush while also motivating the conservative base.

Assuming there was even a remote possibility of prosecution for publishing classified material, the Times would be reluctant to put a mea culpa in print. But get conspiratorial and ask yourself who this really helps the most. The answer is Hillary Clinton.

While probably not the only motivation, I wouldn’t be surprised if it entered into the calculus. Hillary is the NY Times dream, not Nancy Pelosi and the House.

As I recently posted, the worst thing in the world for a Hillary Presidential bid in 08 is two years of uber-liberal Democrats running wild through the halls of congress and a mid-term result that strengthens the also uber-Liberal Netroots.

Hillary would welcome near parity in the congress for now. But a majority threatens her ultimate ambition more than Karl Rove. If Dean and the Netroots crash, Hillary, the Democratic Leadership Conference and the Blue Dog Dems are the only ones around to pick up the pieces heading into 2008.

Unlike Patterico, I wouldn’t want Calame to resign. Why throw out an Editor when you have him on record publicly acknowledging the mistake and that the NY Times doesn’t like George Bush? I’d prefer having him right where he is.

Comments:
  1. Squiggler says:

    Mad at George Bush? Get even, give away our intelligence secrets

    THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT! Or so says Ombudsman Bryan Calame at the New York Times. Michelle Malkin calls it Un. Freaking. Believable! It really is, isn’t it? The arrogance is mindboggling. What the heck are you talking about Sara? Remember the Swift Pro…

  2. NYT Public Editor Admits Publication Wrong

    It takes three months to realize that these stories undermine US national security? That there was no illegal activity on the part of the US government? Or that the NYT should have held the stories because of the beneficial data that these programs c…

  3. Bill's Bites says:

    Resign, hell! Fetch a rope.

    NYT’s Calame: Oops. Our Bad.Ed Morrissey The New York Times’ public editor, Byron Calame, initially supported the publication of the confidential national-security program that tracked terrorist financing through the Swift banking program. Now, at the …

  4. ajacksonian says:

    Mr. Calamity resign? Heavens no!
    Prosecuted for endangering the Nation and breaking the security laws on secrets? Damn straight! And the informants he rode in on.

  5. Some time ago Ace (when he was still living in NYC) noted that Calame was at war with Krugman over Krugman’s being an unrepentant serial liar in columns. Calame’s irritation was enough that it emerged in his own columns.
    At the time, I didn’t think he’d last another 6 months given his dissing of the NYT’s high priest of moonbattery, but he did.
    For the moment, lacking other inputs, and given his past confrontation with Krugman, I’m willing — for the moment — to allow that the guy may have had a genuine guilty conscience about some of the stuff going on at the NYT and felt he had to come clean out of a sense of fairness to the public.
    Its worth noting where Calame came from — 40 years at the WSJ.
    Its also worth noting how long his stint at the NYT will be — a fixed two years starting May 2005.
    So, Calame is in his last 7 months or so at the NYT, and will leave after that. Essentially, he’s an editor with a 7 month life span left. He’s on the clock, has nothing to lose, and nobody to impress anymore at this point in his career. That could make him a dangerous man for the next 7 months if this is an actual attack of conscience.

  6. Ummm… not 40 years at WSJ (that was his last posting) rather 40 years doing financial news.

  7. “the also uber-Liberal Netroots.”
    I’m pretty sure that was a typo and you meant nUtroots, right?

  8. Iowa Voice says:

    NYTs Editor Now Regrets Printing Leak

    As a few in the blogosphere are pointing out, New York Times editor Byron Calame included a “my bad” piece in yesterday’s paper. Not where your average reader would see it, mind you, but it’s in there:
    My July 2 column strongly supported The Times’s

  9. Iowa Voice says:

    NYTs Editor Now Regrets Printing Leak

    As a few in the blogosphere are pointing out, New York Times editor Byron Calame included a “my bad” piece in yesterday’s paper. Not where your average reader would see it, mind you, but it’s in there:
    My July 2 column strongly supported The Times’s

  10. Iowa Voice says:

    NYTs Editor Now Regrets Printing Leak

    As a few in the blogosphere are pointing out, New York Times editor Byron Calame included a “my bad” piece in yesterday’s paper. Not where your average reader would see it, mind you, but it’s in there:
    My July 2 column strongly supported The Times’s

  11. NYT Public Editor Brian Calame Should Resign

    I was determined to take the whole weekend off from this bloody blog, so I let a Sunday blog swarm pass me by. Time to play catch up.
    Background
    Back in July, the New York Times decided to run a story on a secret government terrorist-f…

  12. Webloggin says:

    NY Times Published National Security Secrets To Get Back At the Bush Administration

    We should be thankful that the New York Times decided to undermine the security of the United States in recognition of the hypersensitive fears of foreign opponents of the Bush administration.