Liberalism from Liberals

It's always a shock, but sometimes the "progressives" can surprise you with a little liberalism.

David Greenberg writes in TNR that perhaps the left should not be the cheerleaders for prosecutorial abuse, even would it net them the head of Scooter Libby.

But I think my fellow liberals, partaking in some hypocrisy of their own, have failed to grasp the true toll of this inquisition. We're supposed to be champions of the First Amendment and foes of overzealous prosecutors. For most of the postwar era, we were the ones who demanded greater exposure of government secrets, sharper skepticism about blanket claims of "national security," and stronger support for reporters against the assaults of the organized right. In keeping with those convictions, we should have protested this overwrought case from the start. In fact, applauding it actually benefits the Bush administration--and future regimes of its ilk--by further sanctifying secrecy and demonizing the press.

Greenberg also offers up the irony of his side's sudden antipathy for mainstream press and the Fourth Estate. I'll applaud his forward look at ideals over quotidian politics. He knows it might just come around.

I don't think liberals have totally forsaken their values. In cases like the wiretapping story, they've summoned their time-honored revulsion at government attempts to squelch information. But, regarding Libby, the left has acted differently. It has succumbed to an antipathy toward an unsavory White House operative and a few unloved journalists and has cheered on a crusading prosecutor's misguided tribunals. Everyone should have a moment to gloat. But we all would do well to recall that, if today it is Dick Cheney's henchman who stands in the dock, tomorrow it may be someone else's--John Edwards's, Hillary Clinton's, or Barack Obama's.

Posted by jk at February 22, 2007 12:58 PM