Anonymity: Bloggers and Sources Merge

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Off Topic
Posted on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 01:03:04 PM EST
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Update [2007-6-14 16:14:17 by Big Tent Democrat]: Bloggers on the call debunk the story. Will Politico correct or at least report on these denials?

The Politico is reporting:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "incompetent" during an interview Tuesday with a group of liberal bloggers, a comment that was never reported. Reid made similar disparaging remarks about Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said several sources familiar with the interview.

Hmm. Who are these sources familiar with the interview? I assume it was not Reid. Who else was there? The most likely candidates are the people who were on the call. The "liberal bloggers." Now here is a question for Politico and the sources and, for that matter, everyone who was on the call - Why are you anonymous (or at least not identified by your blogger name)? Why are the sources anonymous? Why did the sources, if they are bloggers, not write about this? And if Reid did say it, why was this not blogged about it?

This is extremely strange. Do "liberal bloggers" fear "retaliation" for being a source on this story? Or is it that they are embarrassed that they did not blog about it? Is "being embarrassed" sufficient for the grant of anonymity? The description of the sources "persons familiar" provides no guidance on this one. But here is a chance for blogs to shake things up.

I ask for a couple of things. First, if the comments were on the record, that the bloggers who were on the call confirm or deny that Reid said it. It could be that the bloggers did not find the comments newsworthy and that is why they were not reported.

Second, I would ask Politico to explain why it granted anonymity to its sources.

Third, did Politico call Senator Reid's office for a reaction or confirmation? The story does not say they did so I assume they did not. It should.

I think the substance of the story, if it is true, is rather "weak tea," but that is par for the course for Politico. The journalistic questions, and the issues of blogging and cooptation, are much more interesting.

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Anonymity: Bloggers and Sources Merge | 21 comments (21 topical)

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An annonymous source just told me (5.00 / 1) (#22)
by eric on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 04:19:19 PM EST

An annonymous source just told me that John Bresnehan has admitted that he made the story up. Really.

Please keep on this. Here's (none / 0) (#1)
by oculus on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 01:27:13 PM EST

mcjoan's reply to the question of who was on the call with Reid:

Um, me, Barb, Kagro (0 / 0)
The Ameericablog guys, Bob Geiger, Jonathon Singer.
by mcjoan on Wed Jun 13, 2007 at 11:33:59 AM PDT
[ Parent | Reply to This |Recommend Troll ]

She never replied to my questions as to who instigated the call, who decided which bloggers to include, etc.

Sorry (5.00 / 4) (#6)
by mcjoan on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:28:47 PM EST

Didn't see your question over there. Reid's office called it, and chose the bloggers.

We've been talking it over among the three dKossers on the call, and none of us remember him saying that, or have it in our notes. We're working on our response now, with a little extra research into Politico's penchant for making stuff up in progress by Barb.


Thanks for your response. I (none / 0) (#7)
by oculus on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:30:56 PM EST

appreciate it.


mcjoan, did you catch the net radio (none / 0) (#10)
by oculus on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:35:50 PM EST

program this week in which clammyc and thereisnospoon hosted BTD? It seems to me the latter speaks very well to the reason Reid/Feingold is the means Congress has to extricate the U.S. from Iraq. Reid [and many others in Congress] need to hear this, either in this format or directly from its source. How? Thanks.


No, I didn't (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by mcjoan on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:50:33 PM EST

Is it archived? E-mail me the link and I'll send it on to Reid's staff.


: Thanks. It is archived and the link is on (none / 0) (#17)
by oculus on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:52:29 PM EST

clammyc's diary, which I think was posted Wed. of this week. I'll find it.

mcjoan (none / 0) (#11)
by Edger on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:38:58 PM EST

Do you have a recording?


Poor question. Do you have any (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by oculus on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:42:22 PM EST

information the telephone conference call was recorded? If so, by whom? Where is the recording now? [original and any copies]


: I didn't record it, nor did Barb or Kagro (5.00 / 2) (#14)
by mcjoan on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:48:55 PM EST

Reid's staff didn't record or transcribe. I can't speak for the others. Per Greg, Jonathon doesn't remember any of this, either.

: Not a poor question. (none / 0) (#18)
by Edger on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:56:31 PM EST

It was a dumb question. I posted it before I thought it through. Some days I'm as dumb as I look.

Forget I asked. (none / 0) (#12)
by Edger on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:42:18 PM EST

If you had one the Politico would be thoroughly rebutted by now.


Sorry, didn't see your response (none / 0) (#8)
by andgarden on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:32:07 PM EST

before responding with the same quote.


Suspicious (none / 0) (#2)
by Edger on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 01:43:40 PM EST

There is not even a quote in the Politico article.

If they had a quote they'd have published it.

Lame attempt to change the subject to Reid and and way from the debacle in Iraq, the incompetency of the administration, and the utter and complete failure of their policies?

And away from the fact that Gates is replacing Pace?

known for duplicity (none / 0) (#3)
by Sailor on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 01:49:14 PM EST

John Bresnahan is a hack, see here and here.

well, (none / 0) (#4)
by andgarden on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 01:54:04 PM EST

mcjoan says

Um, me, Barb, Kagro (0 / 0)
The Ameericablog guys, Bob Geiger, Jonathon Singer.
by mcjoan on Wed Jun 13, 2007 at 02:33:59 PM EDT[ Parent | Reply to This ]

were on the call. Assuming the Politico story is true (or even important, which I'm not convinced of), these would be the people to ask.

Classic Politico (none / 0) (#5)
by MikeInOhio on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 01:54:17 PM EST

It would be interesting to know the context of the remarks. I just don't see that disparaging comments by Reid about those in charge of much of the recent Iraq debacle would be considered too "radioactive" to report. It is "weak tea" indeed.

Anonymity, as evidenced by the recent dust ups on the subject, is an entirely different matter. And worthy of the scrutiny which you posed in your questions.

Will be interesting to see what dribbles out of this over the next few hours.

Hacks (none / 0) (#9)
by eric on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:32:57 PM EST

If Politico reports it, there is a very good chance it's wrong.

TPM (none / 0) (#15)
by eric on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 02:49:03 PM EST

TPM is on this. In short, it sounds like Politico just made this up.

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jun/14/reid

Reid - an old hand (none / 0) (#19)
by koshembos on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 03:23:24 PM EST

Reid is well polished and accustomed to DC. The likelihood of him saying anything about Petraeus is very low. Although turning Petraeus into a hero was pulling a rabbit out of hat, why fight it; the surge is collapsing rapidly.

How strange (none / 0) (#20)
by Militarytracy on Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 04:00:11 PM EST

I'm staying out of the defunding debate for sanity's sake, this story feels really strange though. I don't know a great deal about military tactics but I do listen to the officers around my family. During this difficult time Pace is highly regarded and sometimes less so is Petraeus (because he calmed the area of Iraq he first served in with a lot of money to the local people but he left no follow on for the command and troops replacing him....he took his money connections at the Pentagon and his policies that were working in that area with him). If their own extremely strained drained troops respect these guys I can't imagine Reid saying anything about them other than he is probably glad that he doesn't have their job given the situation that George W. Bush has placed them in and they are holding up amazingly well!