General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'Meet the Press' Pundit With Financial Ties to NSA Misleadingly Slams Snowden
'Meet the Press' Pundit With Financial Ties to NSA Misleadingly Slams Snowden
Lee Fang on June 24, 2013 - 4:12 PM ET
On Meet the Press yesterday, shortly after host host David Gregory stunned many by suggesting that The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald should face prosecution, a roundtable of pundits discussed the unfolding Edward Snowden story. Mike Murphy, one of the Meet the Press pundits, mocked Snowden's attempt to seek asylum, calling him a "so-called whistleblower," and charging that "its never been easier in human history to be a whistleblower" through official means.
There are problems here with both the messenger and the message.
First, the message. In fact, the Obama administration has one of the worst records of any president in terms of prosecuting leaks and whistleblowers. Moreover, Snowden had virtually no legal protections as a member of an intelligence agency contractor (Booz Allen Hamilton). In These Times reported that, "As part of last years Whistleblowers Protection Enhancement Act, rights for whistleblowers were enhanced for many categories of federal employees, but intelligence employees were excluded from coverage under the act. Likewise, intelligence workersboth federal and contract employeeswere excluded from whistle blower protections offered to military contract employees under the most recent National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)."
But Murphy himself has a stake in this debate that arguably ought to have been disclosed. Though Murphy was introduced only as a "Republican strategist," he is also the founding partner of Navigators Global, a lobbying firm that represents one of the NSA's largest contractors. Disclosures show that Navigators Global represents Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) on issues before Congress. For at least a decade, CSC has won major contracts from the National Security Agency (NSA). Murphy's firm has lobbied on behalf of CSC for bills that would expand the NSA's reach, including the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act or CISPA, which passed the House of Representatives earlier this year. As the Center for Democracy and Technology noted, the "legislation is being billed as an expansion of a collaboration between the National Security Agency (NSA) and major ISPs dubbed the Defense Industrial Base Pilot."
...
Though Meet the Press has a strong reputation for confronting politicians with tough questions, often the show has trouble with disclosure, particularly in terms of revealing the private sector ties of their guests. For instance, Harold Ford, a regular Meet the Press pundit and a frequent voice for corporate-friendly policies, has served in various roles in the finance industry, with Bank of America and now with Morgan Stanley. He has used his perch on the show to criticize the Occupy movement, and more recently, to warn the Obama campaign against attacking Mitt Romney's private equity record. Yet transcripts show that Ford is almost always introduced not as a Wall Street executive but as a "former Congressman." Similarly, Murphy is almost always introduced as a "Republican strategist" without mention of his lobbying firm or its clients.
...
http://www.thenation.com/blog/174962/meet-press-pundit-financial-ties-nsa-misleadingly-slams-snowden
kentuck
(111,098 posts)I didn't know that about him.
think
(11,641 posts)I guess I know now.
think
(11,641 posts)to trash Snowden. It all makes sense now. Mike murphy didn't care about the law. He was worried he might lose some money!
These corporate spooks masquerading as someone other than who they are really have no shame....
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Carlyle Group owns Booz Allen, spies for hire of the NSA.
Gee. Up until September 11, 2001, Carlyle Group is the same company that the Bush and bin Laden families were investors in, Big Time.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)else?
It's an excellent article, but I can't agree that Meet The Press 'has a reputation for asking tough questions of Politicians'. I haven't seen it in years, because they did the opposite. The provided a forum for the War Criminals, Cheney, Condy, et al by asking a 'tough question', then letting them ramble on with diatribe sprinkled with 'mushroom clouds' and 'terror' and 'national security' and then after allowing them to lie moved on to the next question.
alsame
(7,784 posts)caught trashing Palin when they thought their mics were off.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)silvershadow
(10,336 posts)He was one of the reasons I quit.
alsame
(7,784 posts)Catherina
(35,568 posts)alsame
(7,784 posts)even really apply anymore, there are many more facets now, 'intelligence' being one.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)Civilization2
(649 posts)This is exactly what is going on all over the main-stream media,. corporate mercenary shills spewing lies to keep the lucrative "security" contracts and the expansions of the corporate-military state.
It is sad to see some folks fall for such lame character assassination attempts, clearly substance has the moral high-ground, and the message is more telling than the messengers. Unfortunately the corporate media has conditioned it's passive viewers to love it when a persons character is destroyed, while ignoring the substantive truth.
forestpath
(3,102 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)Corruption!?!?!
- Say it ain't so!
K&R
calimary
(81,302 posts)I suspect most "republi-CON strategists" are lobbyists tied directly to one big industry or another. Maybe several.
on point
(2,506 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts).