Post Opinions

David Ignatius in the Washington Post gets the solution to the FISA debate correct but buys Rove’s spin about the “liberal position”. From Senator Feingold to the diaries over at the Daily Kos, the main liberal position has been to castigate the president for overriding Congress and the courts while acknowledging that stopping terrorism is primary. Ignatius claims that “both the administration and its critics are pursuing absolutist agendas—insisting on the primacy of security or liberty”—creating a false dichotomy. He source for this is apparently that he has been “told” that “liberal interest groups” are pressuring Democratic congressmen not to amend FISA.

Ignatius apparently does not realize that this debate has little to do with liberty versus security. Democrats and Republicans agree that wiretapping terrorist suspects is necessary. Ignatius ignores the Post’s own reporting of Senator DeWine’s attempts pass legislation allowing a broader interpretation of FISA which the White House opposed.

I have the feeling that Ignatius knew all this but felt his column would look better if he was coming down on both sides of the debate, placing himself in the middle as the reasonable observer. He took the extreme views of the left and set it against the White House’s views—that ploy that Rove has pulled off many times. Except this time, the extremists on the left come out about as unreasonable as the White House.

It’s time to be honest, David. Stop pretending to be the mediator between two teams of absolutists and stand up for the Democratic and Republican critics of the Bush administration. If you took the time to listen—perhaps to Senator Feingold’s speech—you might notice that he has almost the exact same position as you. No more mediation. Take a side.


Applebaum slams the right-wing blogosphere

Also on the Post’s opinion page today, Ann Applebaum on the hypocrisy of the right-wing blogosphere in blaming Newsweek for the rioting and violence regarding the Qur’an story and then rallying to support the Danish cartoonists:

“We defend press freedom if it means Danish cartoonists' right to caricature Muhammad; we don't defend press freedom if it means the mainstream media's right to investigate the U.S. government.”