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Leaving aside for a moment the questionable wisdom of keeping all covert agent identities secret...
Covert:
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cov·ert
adj.
Not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in, accumulated, or shown
UPDATE: Brad DeLong has a must read for Shafer and others.
excerpt:
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There were at least six people--prominent people--in the elite press corps who have known the whole story since before July 14. The fact that they thought that keeping their Karl Rove brownie points was more important than informing the citizens of the Republic that among Bush's closest White House aides are those who give aid and comfort to our enemies, et cetera--the fact that they thought keeping their Karl Rove brownie points was more important sheds a very interesting light on the flaws in our current press corps. But Shafer is completely wrong in implying that the press corps was flat-footed, or that it had to learn anything from weblogs.
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Think about this. The entire White House staff has known for eleven weeks that in their midst are people whom George H.W. Bush would call traitors, and there has been no attempt to evict them. Karl Rove has been telling reporters that it is all Valerie Plame Wilson's fault for having Joe Wilson as her husband and that "Joe Wilson's wife is fair game." This is an administration that fires Larry Lindsey exceedingly gracelessly for giving an accurate estimate of the cost of the war of Iraq. And yet it hugs to its bosom those who really do give aid and comfort to our enemies, et cetera.
Indeed.