Look Out Freedom, Here Comes the Liberals

As discussed in the post directly below this one, it is becoming apparant that the left is more than willing to sacrifice deeply held principles in order to fry a few Republicans. Ignoring seemingly obvious prosecutorial abuse in the DeLay matter and, according to the left-leaning Slate Magazine, virtually destroying the precepts of freedom of information and civil liberties in pursuit of Karl Rove.

Hold the schadenfreude, blue-staters. Rooting for Rove's indictment in this case isn't just unseemly, it's unthinking and ultimately self-destructive. Anyone who cares about civil liberties, freedom of information, or even just fair play should have been skeptical about Fitzgerald's investigation from the start. Claiming a few conservative scalps might be satisfying, but they'll come at a cost to principles liberals hold dear: the press's right to find out, the government's ability to disclose, and the public's right to know.

Before the rare-visiting leftist scoffs at such an idea, while salivating at the irony of taking down Rove, let Weisberg explain the toll that Rove-Plame is already taking in the media.

Already, Fitzgerald's investigation has proved a disaster for freedom of the press and freedom of information. Reporters, editors, and publishers have been put on notice about the legal risk of using blind sources, which most consider an essential tool of news-gathering. Any ambiguity about a press privilege under federal law has been resolved, not in favor of the media. According to some anecdotal accounts, journalists' failure to fully protect their sources in the Plame case has already chilled official leaks to reporters. Should Fitzgerald win convictions under the espionage law or Section 641, any conversations between officials and journalists touching on classified information could come become prosecutable offenses. That would turn the current chill into permafrost.

Weisberg makes a strong case that Rove-Plame is nonsense at its core, a fabrication of an investigation created by the NYT without any regard for the long reaching consequences.

The zeal with which the liberals are going after both DeLay and Rove, with little or no thought to the precedents they set, are disturbing to say the least. It would appear that nothing is sacred when the opportunity to fry a couple of Republicans rears its head.