First Amendment? What First Amendment?

This weekend, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez fired a shot across the bow of any journalists who still haven’t been intimidated by this administration. Suggesting that the government might prosecute reporters for publishing “classified” information – you know, things like the NSA spying on law-abiding Americans – Mr. Gonzalez seemed to be dropping a major hint to outfits like the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Gonzalez, appearing on ABC’s “This Week” stated, regarding prosecution of journalists, “There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility”. Well Mr. Gonzalez, I’ll see your statutes and raise you one Constitutional Amendment. I’d really love to see the federal government start prosecuting journalists for exposing illegal activity on the part of the government. No court will uphold any such prosecution, including the dubya-stacked Supreme Court.

Not to mention the media backlash that would follow any Bush admin. prosecution of journalists. Remember something Mr. Gonzalez… it’s the media that helps to frame public opinion of your administration, and not just the media that you control. It wasn’t Congress that brought down Richard Nixon. It wasn’t the American people. It wasn’t the opposition party, it wasn’t his own party. It was the media. It was honest, aggressive reporters, and they didn’t even have an axe to grind. Imagine how kind they will be to you when you start prosecuting their colleagues. The old adage applies here… “Those who forget the past…”

And let’s not forget the hypocrisy here. The double standard. If Mr. Gonzalez were to apply his logic consistently, Robert Novak would be in jail. Mr. Novak after all, who I hesitate to call a journalist, was the one who first published not only Valerie Plame’s identity, but “outed” an entire CIA brass-plate operation, Brewster-Jennings. And then there are those within the administration who have leaked info, sometimes for political gain. Do not ask for whom the bell tolls Mr. Gonzalez, it tolls for thee.

Prosecuting journalists for reporting the truth. What’s next, hauling me off to jail for publishing an opposing view on my blog? Bring it on. If that is what it takes for America to see what this administration is all about, I say, “bring it on.”