New Surveillance Whistleblower: The NSA Violates the Constitution - TheAtlantic

[gratuitous]

7. Messenger attack mode . . . ON!

You know, if all these reporters weren't such poopyheads and their sources weren't a bunch of insider turncoats, people could rouse themselves to care about these abuses. What we need is a reporter beyond reproach with a sterling track record whose source has the highest credentials and spotless employment history. Well, until the reporter starts reporting on the shortcomings of the intelligence community, at which point he's totally reproachable, and the source turns on his faultless intelligence agency, at which point he's all disgruntled and stuff, and did you know he once had a library book overdue for nearly two weeks?

It's too bad, too. Because it really sounds like there are some bad things happening, but we can't really concentrate on any of them because the people bringing these incidents to our attention are such flawed vessels (and if they're flawless, we can invent a few).