Pentagon Papers lawyer on Obama, secrecy and press freedoms: 'worse than Nixon'

[KoKo]

Pentagon Papers lawyer on Obama, secrecy and press freedoms: 'worse than Nixon'

Career First Amendment and transparency advocate James Goodale sounds the alarm about the current president



Let's talk about some of the challenges to press freedom now.


The biggest challenge to the press today is the threatened prosecution of WikiLeaks, and it's absolutely frightening. . . .

"The one case that is troublesome and is still out there as we speak is the case of James Risen, who was a journalist who was leaked national security information in respect to the warrantless wiretapping program, which was disclosed by The New York Times.

"He's won his case, but most people are going to be surprised if he can win it on appeal. It's been sitting on appeal for a year. Now what's going to happen — if the shoe drops and we're back to Judy Miller, it means Risen goes to jail. And if in fact it doesn't turn out that way and it turns out well, we'll have the question of whether the government will go to the Supreme Court and we will always have the question whether it will turn out well for the next Risen. And who's behind this one? Obama."

Could you talk a bit about President Obama's approach to classified information and press freedom?

Antediluvian, conservative, backwards. Worse than Nixon. He thinks that anyone who leaks is a spy! I mean, it's cuckoo."


Could you compare what we see in the Pentagon Papers and what we see in WikiLeaks?

Well, I think it's very much the same thing. We have a leak of classified information. And by the way — you've got to remember [Bradley] Manning's the leaker. Everyone says Assange is a leaker. He's not a leaker. He's the person who gets the information.

"So why we're so concerned about the prosecution of Assange is what he did is the same as what the Times did in the Pentagon Papers, and indeed what they did with WikiLeaks. The Times published on its website the very same material WikiLeaks published on its website. So if you go after the WikiLeaks criminally, you go after the Times. That's the criminalization of the whole process."

So you think that if John McCain or Mitt Romney were the president and doing this, there would be a different response?

We'd be screaming and yelling and the journalists would be going crazy. And that doesn't speak well of journalists."

Read the entire excellent interview here. This is from somebody who has worked on press freedom and excessive government secrecy for his entire career, including during the Bush years when he told PBS: "I think that Bush is as anti-press as the Nixon administration [was]". But citing Obama's unprecedented war on whistleblowers, targeting of core journalism, and expansion of radical secrecy doctrines, he's now sounding the alarm that Obama is worse to the point where basic press freedoms and transparency are seriously threatened.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/19/goodale-obama-press-freedoms-secrecy-nixon

[msongs]

1. worshippers aren't gonna like this lol nt

[xiamiam]

3. who cares?..lost respect for them a few years ago...nt

[ProSense]

2. Wait,

"Pentagon Papers lawyer on Obama, secrecy and press freedoms: 'worse than Nixon'"

...President Obama committed treason?

LBJ’s ‘X’ File on Nixon’s ‘Treason’
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101617507

Even the TradMedia Almost Admits It Now: Nixon Sabotaged the Paris Peace Talks
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10022523509

"Antediluvian, conservative, backwards. Worse than Nixon. He thinks that anyone who leaks is a spy! I mean, it's cuckoo."

Silliness. President Obama has signed some of the strongest whistleblower protections into law.

President Signs Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021890422

[Luminous Animal]

12. Obama is worse on his "approach to classified information and press freedom"

The man didn't compare any other of Nixon's actions with Obama's.

"Could you talk a bit about President Obama's approach to classified information and press freedom?

Antediluvian, conservative, backwards. Worse than Nixon. He thinks that anyone who leaks is a spy! I mean, it's cuckoo."

[OldDem2012]

4. Wow. Just wow. Sorry, but there's no real comparison between Nixon and Obama....

....and I watched Nixon from the time he was Ike's VP doing the administration's dirty work in the late 1950s until he was forced to resign in 1974. That period of time included assassinations in the Caribbean Basin, Central American, and South America; participation in the Cuban Task Force and planning for the Bay of Pigs operation; flying out of Dallas at the exact moment JFK was killed; the secret bombing campaign of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War; the so-called compilation of his so-called "enemies list"; and the Watergate break-in, among other events/activities too numerous to list.

I don't see anything President Obama has done to compare to the above.

Sorry, no comparison.

[ProSense]

6. There is a push

to prove Obama is the worst President ever, everything that's wrong with America, evil. It's like the country was in great shape prior to President Obama, and he came along and ruined it.

I can't find the motivation. Is it because he's black? Is it because we just live in a time of heightened hyperbole? I don't know what it is, but it's bizarre.

FYI: America's problems predate 2009, and President Obama is working to improve the country.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022462880

[AnotherMcIntosh]

8. Maybe it would help if he would stop betraying the base.

It would be relatively easy. All he has to do is just stop it. There are enough people with short-term memory loss who would start thinking that he's a wonderful President.

[ProSense]

9. Dumb!

What the hell does that nonsensical point have to do with being worse than Nixon?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

22. The post was a response to your post "There is a push to prove Obama is the worst President ever ...

Did you mean that when you said that?

Obviously, it would undermine some of the effort (which you say exists) and "would help if he would stop betraying the base."

[uponit7771]

35. Another fudr\freeper meme

[AnotherMcIntosh]

38. Your answer is either (1) he has never betrayed his base or (2) you favor what he is doing?

Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2013, 12:02 AM - Edit history (1)

Or you want to engage in childish name calling.

If so, sticks and stones and all that. Grow up.

[rhett o rick]

34. "There is a push", fear the "push".

"I cant find the motivation". Not surprised. There is no "push". If you disagree with the OP, provide a counter argument instead of submitting that "there is a push".

If there is "a push" it's to try to get the President to be more transparent. He campaigned on transparency.

I submit that blind support of everything that the president does isnt in line with being an open-minded Democrat.
It isnt reasonable that every single stand he takes is perfect. You would be more creditable if you disagreed with him on an occasion.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

7. What specifically was the "dirty work" that you say that Nixon was doing for the Eisenhower Admin?

Do you have an example? Do you have a quote from any politician from the 1950's, anyone at all, who said that Eisenhower was engaged in "dirty work"? Do you have a quote from any known historian from the 1950's who said that Eisenhower was engaged in "dirty work"?

The best statement from Eisenhower may have occurred when he was asked to name name an important decision his Nixon had participated in.

Ike responded,

“If you give me a week, I might think of one.”

So you "watched Nixon from the time he was Ike's VP doing the administration's dirty work in the late 1950s." What "dirty work" were you talking about?

[snot]

10. You're distorting. No one said worse than Nixon in everyway. What the fellow said was that,

"President Obama's approach to classified information and press freedom" is worse than Nixon's.

If Nixon's DoJ sought to prosecute a publisher of leaks re- classified war crimes, then he's as bad as Obama on that particular issue. If not, Obama's worse.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

14. The words at post #4 speak for themselves.

"I watched Nixon from the time he was Ike's VP doing the administration's dirty work in the late 1950s ..."

The question is simple.

If Nixon was doing Ike's dirty work in the late 1950's, what was the "dirty work"?

[OldDem2012]

13. You seem rather unduly disturbed by my post....

....as a result, I'm going to let you look for the answers. Believe me, they're out there for anyone willing to look.

Start with the 5412 Group ( http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/USO/appC.html ).

[AnotherMcIntosh]

21. No, I like facts. It is a false equivalency to equate asking for facts with being "unduly disturbed"

You mentioned "the 5412 Group."

When Eisenhower approved NSC 5412 on March 15, 1954, that event

"marked the official recognition and sanctioning of a much larger program of anti-Communist activities in Indochina and throughout the world"

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/USO/appC.html

Eisenhower had a fiduciary duty to do what was in the best interest of the country. That fiduciary duty was determined by the events at the time. Both Democrats and Republicans thought that it was in this country's best interest to contain the aggressiveness of the Soviet Union and Red China, and their satalite countries, by a means other than having another Korean War.

Given a choice betwen another hot war like the Korean War or a cold one that did not involve massive troops on the ground, the politicial leaders of the day chose a cold one. Even JFK preferred to have a cold war rather than a hot one. When LBJ was elected, his official policy was to continue a cold war. The public was in agreement and overwhelming elected him over the hot-head candidate who wanted a hot one.

And now you refer to the 1954 event and want someone to do your homework for you because you cannot identify the "dirty work" that, in your unsupported view, Nixon was purportedly doing for the Eisenhower Administration?

Somehow, I think that if Nixon had made any signifiant contribution to the Eisenhower Administration, Eisenhower would have said something other than “If you give me a week, I might think of one.” You can't point to any "dirty work" that Nixon did on behalf of Eisenhower and I can't think of any. Since you're the one claiming that Nixon did dirty work on behalf of the Eisenhower Adminstration, you should do you own homework.

[OldDem2012]

23. LOL! I've done my homework for decades, but based on the rather nasty tone of your response....

...you'll get nothing more from me. Had you been more polite, I would have been happy to comply with your request.

You can pretend all you want that the dirty work in which Nixon participated doesn't exist, but that's your problem, not mine.

Have a nice day. We're done.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

5. Yes, but Nixon glowered while Obama hasn't.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. the people in charge of his campaign who got him elected are not dumb

they know how to make and keep an image.

[randome]

17. The people who voted for him are not dumb, either,

[liberal_at_heart]

19. you can't deny marketing was involved

There are political scientists studying why it is his campaign is quite possibly the most successful campaign ever. They knew who to target and just how to target them. I know they got me all excited and ready to vote by whipping us women into a frenzy over what the GOP were saying about women. It definitely worked on me. I've been teetering on the edge of voting third party for a long time especially now because the education system is failing my son. But this last campaign they definitely snagged me.

[randome]

20. There is always some marketing involved for any public figure.

That doesn't mean everything someone says is calculated or forced, though. Just because a commercial is cute doesn't mean you don't actually need or want what they're selling. Even human rights issues need to be 'marketed' or else no one hears about them.

Of Obama's 3 stated objectives this term: meaningful gun control, immigration reform and climate change, only one of those can be viewed as self-serving.

[Luminous Animal]

15. K&R

[Rex]

16. Oh bullshit. The M$M kowtowed to the BFEE and gave in to every whim.

They fucked up a national election, why the FUCK would I trust 'the press' anymore than I do my own government at this point? Quick answer, I do not.

Granted I do give The Guardian some respect. At least they have not soldout like Reuters.

[randome]

18. 'Persecution' of Wikileaks.

Is he including the credit companies that decided not to do business with an anonymous organization that tries to publish national security secrets?

THAT Wikileaks?

[OldDem2012]

24. Trashing yet another Obma-Hater thread. Sad, really. nt.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

25. But..but..Obama's the "Transparency in Government" guy..,.isn't he?

You bet we'd be screaming if Bush or Romney did what he's doing. But, now, we have the "Father Knows Best" wing of the party who embraces and excuses government secrecy and condemns whistleblowers.

[MoclipsHumptulips]

27. "Father Knows Best" wing of the party

Love it. Spot on.

[progressoid]

26. "I was Bradley Manning"

[SamKnause]

28. Whistle blowers

I don't think ANYONE is in favor of the approach the Obama administration has taken against whistle blowers.

Only those in our government favor these tactics.

They govern out of fear and what ifs.

Our voices have been silenced.

That is the reality we live in these United States of America.

[Generation_Why]

29. An issue that doesn't matter to most Americans.

Most people just want a stable job, a roof over their head, and food in their belly.

We don't have time to sit around and fret about someone crying about not getting their way or being prosecuted for breaking the law.

Give us a fucking break.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

30. I think the charge is a bit hyperbolic but not unfounded.

And I would also note that expecting better of the President is not the same as betraying him to conservative criticisms.

[uponit7771]

36. There's not ONE KKKon criticism I trust, if they say the sky is blue I go check...they are liars

...and give up their souls

[Mr. Sparkle]

31. To be fair to the President, the Bush administration "burrowed" a lot of political appointees

just before leaving office.

Almost all the leaks against the Obama administration have been suspected, to come from those folks.
Sadly, this is never reported in today's media leaks. They are quite happy to say when they suspect information has been leaked from Obama's administration but not from the republican's plants.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2008-11-18/politics/36899009_1_civil-service-political-appointees-posts

[KoKo]

32. Still think this is a read folks need to know about, though.

[KoKo]

33. There's been Push Back but it seemed sort of "Out of Sink"...so

a Kick to my Post...because we need to "Move Forward" and that's what our President TOLD US TO DO!

[SidDithers]

37. Greenwald. LOL...nt

Sid