Executive editor of NYT confirms Harman did call paper in Fall 2004 asking to kill wiretap story

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/us/politics/21harman.html?_r=1&hp

<snip>

Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, said in a statement Monday that Ms. Harman called Philip Taubman, then the Washington bureau chief of The Times, in October or November of 2004. Mr. Keller said she spoke to Mr. Taubman — apparently at the request of Gen. Michael V. Hayden, then the N.S.A. director — and urged that The Times not publish the article.

“She did not speak to me,” Mr. Keller said, “and I don’t remember her being a significant factor in my decision.”

Shortly before the article was published more than a year later, in December 2005, Mr. Taubman met with a group of Congressional leaders familiar with the eavesdropping program, including Ms. Harman. They all argued that The Times should not publish.

[Botany]

1. She was being blackmailed by Alberto G.

The level of evil w/ bush/Cheney/Rove/Gonzo/Rummy is stunning.


Funny how the NY Times now remembers the conversation after not recalling it before. Now didn't Harman say she
never spoke to the NY Times?

[KittyWampus]

4. IMO, she wasn't "blackmailed". She would have done it anyway. Her entire career indicates that.

And I think it says something positive, ultimately, about Pelosi that she didn't give Harman the Chair she wanted.

[Adelante]

7. That's what I say nt

[HillbillyBob]

6. Makes me wonder if we can prove one way or the other if

w/ bush/Cheney/Rove/Gonzo/Rummy have copies of the recording if she did make the call?

[Howardx]

15. thats simply not correct

there was no need for blackmail

"But that's when, according to knowledgeable officials, Attorney General Gonzales intervened. According to two officials privy to the events, Gonzales said he "needed Jane" to help support the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about to be exposed by the New York Times.

Harman, he told Goss, had helped persuade the newspaper to hold the wiretap story before, on the eve of the 2004 elections. And although it was too late to stop the Times from publishing now, she could be counted on again to help defend the program.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/20/gonzales-harman-nsa /


im not going to let this "blackmail" bs get traction, she did it of her own free will.

[Botany]

17. no doubt Harman was a willing to help but to me @ least ...

.... it looks like Alberto "turned her out." I don't think she was the only one.
I remember Sen. George Voinovich crying and begging people to keep Bolton
out as U.S. rep to the U.N. and then 48 hours later he said he had no problem
w/ Bolton.



One way or another she needs to be gone from the U.S. House.

[Howardx]

18. did you read what i posted?

he didnt need to "turn her out" she was a willing conspirator.

[Botany]

20. did you read what i posted?

but to me @ least .... it looks like Alberto "turned her out."

[Howardx]

21. would you care to share...

why you feel that way despite the available evidence?

[Botany]

22. it doesn't pass the smell test .... @ least to me.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/the_harman-aipac_story_a_timeline.php?ref=fp1?ref=m1

[Howardx]

23. where in the timeline you linked to...

do you think the blackmail occurred? nothing in that timeline says anything different than what i posted above. is your "smell test" based on an inability to think democrats could do wrong?

[gratuitous]

16. Blackmail or not

Wasn't it nice of the Times to sit on the story for more than year when they had the goods in time for the 2004 election? An informed electorate is clearly not desireable for the folks at the Times, who liked the first four years of George W. Bush so much, they didn't want to interfere with the possibility of another four years.

With all the prattle about the possible demise of newspapers and the hand-wringing over who, oh who, will do investigative journalism, this should be Exhibit A to the counterargument.

[JackRiddler]

24. Blackmail or just a quid-pro-quo for her support...

This was one Democrat that the Bush Justice Department understood as a key ally, especially in the Total Homeland and Eternal War departements, so even when they had goods on her they were happy to keep her in place. (AIPAC is also no enemy to the Bush regime, right?)

[Supersedeas]

2. Mr. Hayden has an errant for you to run, Congresswoman.

[Solly Mack]

3. A lot to be said for a clean nose

K&R

[havocmom]

5. And a lot of people around here can remove the tin foil hats placed on them by others

who thought it foolish to suggest members of the US Congress had been wiretapped and were being blackmailed into compliance by bush/cheney.

Squeaky clean would be nice. Brave against bullies would be tolerable. Allowing blackmailers to control you, ah, that is unforgivable and only gets you in deeper.

'Can't pay? Then don't play' should be on every wall on the Hill. Seems too many are damned slow learners.

[KittyWampus]

8. So if all of Congress was being blackmailed into inaction or worse, why did Pelosi deny Harman the

chair she wanted?

Why didn't the NeoCons just use their old blackmail routine on Pelosi so they could have a compliant Harman?

The wiretapping NeoCons probably do have information on various Democrats and Republicans in Congress. And they would definitely be inclined to use that info to force actions.

But still, how can we know?

We can't.

So it seems best not to make such declarative statements as "Democrat X is being blackmailed" and use that as an explanation for their votes we don't agree with.

And looking at Harman's career, I don't think we need to even say she was blackmailed into acting on behalf of Bush in reaching out the NYTimes.

[havocmom]

13. Never said all of them were being blackmailed. But is does seem possible SOME were

:eyes:

What is with the all or nothing scale around here? Not pointed at you, but a vast number of DU members in general?

The 'black or white; there are no shades of gray' color scale is just not rational.

[Adelante]

11. Except she was caught on a wiretap of somebody else, not her

And except she is a total NS hawk and probably wouldn't have needed blackmailing. Maybe they did blackmail her, we'll see, but I don't see the evidence of anything but Jane Harman following her own impulses, so far, anyway.

[havocmom]

14. I am not familiar with her at all, but wiretaps, now that is something broadly used in America

and not just against terrorists. This case sorta puts a bullet in the hope that it wasn't happening. That is my point.

[Solly Mack]

12. If I was going to spy on Congress, I'd also try and tempt them

Dangle some bait...see what I catch. Use it to my advantage. Use it against them later. Once they've served their usefulness, that is


Sure, people would call me names. Call me a hypocrite. Rant and rave about how evil I am. How dirty and low-down I am.

How I have a lot of nerve to be pointing the finger of corruption at others when I'm so corrupt myself.

None of that changes the fact that my mark took the bait.

Someone comes dangling some bait - look for the net.

[dionysus]

9. hmm. methinks someone is caught in a lie...

[blogslut]

10. Did I just hear something fall over?

Maybe crashing into something else, that sounds like it's tippling towards a spill...

? :) ?

[Fireweed247]

19. This story would have sunk Bush- and this doesn't excuse the NYT

These people are responsible for 4 more years of Bush Bullshit. There should be consequences for their actions! The whole world should be fuming :grr: