It’s been more than a week since the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal each ran an article describing in detail a program launched by the Bush administration to monitor the international banking transactions of alleged terrorists within the United States. It’s been almost exactly one week since President Bush denounced the newspapers that ran the story, saying, “…and the disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America.”
First, if you haven’t read the article or seen the aftermath … consider yourself lucky. Then, go read it anyway:
The right side of the blogosphere went apoplectic, calling
for everything from an apology to prosecution of the papers’ editors.
A typical screed: 
National Security Be Damned
Anyone who knows me knows that I always tend to side with the press (and, in my view, the First Amendment) in all matters of Press v. Government. In addition, I believe there have been very few administrations as absolutely and resolutely anti-press as this one. From the Armstrong Williams case to the wrist-slappings for illegal propagandizing, the Bush White House has done nothing but spit on the free press since taking office.
In addition, I’m completely fed up with Republicans on television, the radio and the Internet whining about “liberal bias.” Hey, fellas – you control the Congress, the executive branch and the Supreme Court (seven of the nine justices were appointed during Republican administrations). You control everything. So is it the press that has made health care reform, Social Secuirty reform and immigration reform stall, or are you all complete incompetents?
And yet, I’m just not sure I can back the Times et al this time out. I don’t see the news hook here. The president has said all along that we would be watching money transfers. There (supposedly) has been oversight in Congress. Members of Congress (including Rep. John Murtha, who has not exactly been BFF with Bush recently) even urged the Times to consider not running the story. I think Bill Keller, the Times Editor-in-Chief, made the wrong move.
That being said, it is not worthy of prosecution. I don’t believe it has materially helped “the terrorists” (substitute “the boogeymen,” if you will). I think that would also be almost impossible to prove. But outrage sells, so the usual idiots on the right (as opposed to the usual idiots on the left) will yell and cry, hoping that maybe – just maybe – you’ll ignore the fact that this administration has done nearly NOTHING domestically in five-plus years.
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