Adventures in Self-Delusion: I just loooove this excerpt from Karen Hughes’ new book, in which she discusses (gasp) leaks of information to the media:
“I don’t know how these kinds of leaks happen: I don’t think, as some of the critics do, that reporters make it up. The way reporters frame their stories sometimes shades or colors them, but I do not believe that most of the journalists I know fabricate news. Someone gives them the information…But the use of unnamed sources has become a convenient way for too many political operatives to hide and avoid accountability for their statements…I hope that thoughtful members of the journalistic community will consider dramatically reducing their reliance on anonymous sources; it would be healthy for American democracy to put it on the record.”
Puh-leeze. I’m all for a healthy critique of anonymous sourcing. But Karen Hughes? A former TV reporter herself, saying she doesn’t know where these crazy journalists come up with these things? The amazing condescension of “I don’t think…that reporters make it up”? As if she’s never been the “senior administration official” cited in a leak? Calling on reporters to put things on the record when her administration has been one of the (if not the) most secretive in American history? Balderdash, I say.