This isn't America

Paul Krugman is always worthwhile, but his latest is mandatory. Even the Israelis, it seems, use Bush's America as the standard reference point for governmental deception.

Krugman quotes an amazing bit of "reportage" from CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Unnamed administration sources allegedly told Blitzer that Richard Clarke "wants to make a few bucks, and that [in] his own personal life, they're also suggesting that there are some weird aspects in his life as well."

And that's it. "Weird aspects." From an unnamed source.

I never thought I'd live to see an American newsman stoop to so low a level. Even the Soviet-era Pravda rarely carried this sort of garbage. I understand that Ed Murrow's corpse is spinning so rapidly someone had to tether it in place before it dug a tunnel to China.