'Disgrace' Under Pressure
President Bush: "Congress was briefed. And what we did was fully authorized under the law. And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful."
Vice President Cheney: "What is doubly disturbing for me is, not only have they gone forward with these stories, but they've been rewarded for it, for example in the case of the terrorists surveillance program by being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for outstanding journalism. I think that is a disgrace."
Rep. Peter King: "And I'm calling on the attorney general to begin a criminal investigation and prosecution of The New York Times, its reporters, the editors that worked on this, and the publisher. We're in time of war, Chris, and what they've done here is absolutely disgraceful. I believe they violated the Espionage Act, the Comint Act. This is absolutely disgraceful."
Notice any similarities?
Yes, in a stunning coincidence, Bush, Cheney, and King all independently came to the conclusion that the decision by the New York Times and other newspapers to publish a report on a secret government program examining bank data was a disgrace. A disgraceful disgrace, in fact. We haven't seen a coincidence this amazing since a number of Republicans somehow independently stumbled upon the exact same language to describe Democrats' plan for Iraq.
Karl Rove: "When it gets tough, and when it gets difficult, they fall back on that party's old pattern of cutting and running."
Bill Frist: "If we break our promise and cut and run, as some would have us do, the implications could be catastrophic." (As Dana Milbank notes, Frist "also said 'we can't cut and run' twice on CBS News and issued a follow-up press release titled: 'FRIST DENOUNCES DEMOCRATS' PLAN TO CUT AND RUN'"
Sen. Jon Kyl: "If we cut and run in Iraq, what we will have done is prove what Osama bin Laden said."
Ken Mehlman: "There's a debate going on within the Democratic Party. Some are saying we need to cut and run, others are saying we need to cut and jog, and still others are saying we need to cut and walk."
These are not identical cases: While the "cut and run" rhetoric was a pretty transparent political attack, the argument about what the media should and shouldn't publish is a serious one deserving of a continuing debate. As such, it would be nice if the rhetoric on that issue, at the very least, didn't seem to come straight out of a memo.