{"id":7844,"date":"2006-07-04T10:01:17","date_gmt":"2006-07-04T14:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/7844.html"},"modified":"2006-07-04T10:01:17","modified_gmt":"2006-07-04T14:01:17","slug":"nyt-pics-no-security-threat-secret-service-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/nyt-pics-no-security-threat-secret-service-says\/","title":{"rendered":"NYT pics no security threat, Secret Service says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just to put a period on yesterday’s item<\/a> about the right’s apoplectic reaction<\/a> to an NYT puff-piece<\/a> about Cheney and Rumsfeld owning weekend homes in [tag]St. Michaels[\/tag], Md., Greg Sargent dug a little deeper<\/a> and debunked the right’s complaints completely.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the [tag]Secret Service[\/tag] has told me that the New York Times article providing details about the homes of Dick [tag]Cheney[\/tag] and Donald [tag]Rumsfeld[\/tag] is not a [tag]security threat[\/tag], as many conservative commentators have been trying to argue.<\/p>\n

Relatedly, Rumsfeld’s spokesperson also confirmed to me that his office gave a Times photographer permission to photograph his home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oops.<\/p>\n

So, the right’s firm contention that the article and accompanying pictures was not only a tip for terrorists, but also revenge for the administration’s criticism of the Times is, not surprisingly, demonstrably false. The paper wasn’t endangering anyone, but that didn’t stop some far-right activists from publishing personal information about NYT journalists in retaliation, and in at least one instance, threatening violence.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, even Rumsfeld’s office is bewildered by the right-wing fuss.
\n<\/p>\n

“She got approval to take a picture,” [Hollen Wheeler, director of public affairs for Rumsfeld’s office] told me. “She called, we said fine, go take the picture. And that’s it.”<\/p>\n

Wheeler also added of the picture: “It’s already out in the public domain. I’m a little confused about why this has caused such an uproar.” Wheeler declined to directly discuss the question of his security, saying that it was something they don’t discuss as a rule. But she said: “Did it affect the Secretary’s schedule in any way? No. Does it affect in any way how he does his business? No.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Secret Service spokesperson told Sargent the same thing about Cheney.<\/p>\n

I’m sure the conservatives who turned this harmless Travel-section piece into a rallying cry will promptly apologize for their profound misjudgment. We’re waiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just to put a period on yesterday’s item about the right’s apoplectic reaction to an NYT puff-piece about Cheney and Rumsfeld owning weekend homes in [tag]St. Michaels[\/tag], Md., Greg Sargent dug a little deeper and debunked the right’s complaints completely. A spokesperson for the [tag]Secret Service[\/tag] has told me that the New York Times article […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}