High Crimes and Misdemeanors

Front Page News by Any Other Name:

Imagine for a moment that Bush National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley or, say, Scooter Libby, had intentionally exploited his security clearance to steal top-secret documents out of the national archives. Is there any chance that would not be daily front-page fodder for the New York Times? Would the broadcast networks, CNN, the Washington Post, and the rest of the mainstream media give us five seconds of peace if all of America had not yet been shown every jot and tittle of what any high-ranking Bush official had been caught red-handed trying to hide?

Of course, as it turns out, (Sandy) Berger was not content merely to conceal the drafts of the after-action report. He has admitted deliberately destroying some of the documents he took. Unauthorized destruction of classified information, it bears noting, is yet another felony violation of federal law, carrying a potential ten-year penalty.

Maybe if Big Media didn't go so breathless on the story/non-story of Scooter Libby, there would have bee some time/energy/attention left for Sandy Berger.

No, you're right: If Scooter Libby had never existed, they still wouldn't report on Berger.