Nixon Author Hears Echoes of 1972 in Post‘s Op-Ed ChoiceOur item yesterday on White House speechwriter/Iraq war salesman Michael Gerson landing an op-ed gig with the Washington Post stirred up some memories for Arthur Woodstone, author of the 1972 book, “Inside Nixon’s Head.” He writes:
The Washington Post‘s hiring of Michael Gerson recalls 1972, when the New York Times also recruited a hired gun away from a Republican White House.
When Bill Safire, in charge of putting words in Spiro Agnew’s mouth, was handed a column in the Times, ranking members of the Times editorial staff were outraged. A flack with virtually no experience as a journalist was being handed precious column inches on their editorial pages.
The revered columnist, Harrison Salisbury, shared a belief with other high-ranking Times staffers that Punch Sulzberger, publisher of the Times, had hired the flack who had authored “nattering nabobs of negativism,” only to placate Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell who, at that moment in history, were threatening the very existence of the New York Times.
While the threats may have been largely empty, it seems they frightened Sulzberger just the same. While Safire turned out to be a pretty fair reporter, that did not alter the ethically impoverished motive behind his hiring.
Sound familiar?
Currently, the White House is campaigning to curtail the freedom of major outlets to report news that displeases Bush and his own bully boys. Is that what drives the Post‘s decision-makers to give another flack for right-wing thought precious editorial space in their newspaper?
