Would Bush Anti-Leak Policy Stop Jack Bauer?

If you've been following the show 24, you've noticed how Jack Bauer and his few honest cohorts within the government have been scrambling to obtain a damaging tape recording implicating the President in a nefarious plot. But why doesn't Bauer just copy and leak the tape to the media? Perhaps the policies put in place by the Bush administration to punish damaging leaks could be having a deterrent effect on even a rule-breaking agent such as Bauer. As I wrote recently at the Mojo Blog:

The Bush administration's hypocritical crackdown on intelligence leaks, if applied in the alternative reality of TV's thriller show, 24, could prevent courageous Counter-Terrorism Unit agent Jack Bauer from getting the truth out about the president's central role in a conspiracy. At first we all thought the president was just a bumbler, but it turns out he's actually a mastermind in an evil plot to drum up the fear of terrorism as a way to promote an overseas invasion aimed at seizing oil fields. Fortunately, that plot-line is so far-fetched it could never, ever happen in the real world, such as in the run-up to the Iraq war.

If Jack Bauer leaked the truth about the conspiracy orchestrated by the President, however, he'd probably be swift-boated by the likes of Anne Coulter and William Bennett.

Imagine their reaction if it emerged that Bauer leaked a story about the President's involvement with terrorists and the murder of his predecessor in the Oval Office, David Palmer.

For instance, gambling addict/moralizer William Bennett has said the winners of the Pulitzer Prize should be jailed for their reporting, not honored. As he notoriously said recently of the reporters, they "took classified information, secret information, published it in their newspapers, against the wishes of the president, against the request of the president and others, that they not release it - they not only released it, they publicized it -- they put it on the front page, and it damaged us, it hurt us." We can imagine his reaction to an investigative report of President Logan's plot:

"Against the wishes of the President, reporters ran with an irresponsible story blaming the President for conspiring with terrorists and plotting to kill David Palmer. President Logan took the actions he needed to take to protect us from further terrorist attacks, defend our country and obtain the resources we need to survive as a democracy. Instead, these reporters and their sources are the ones being hailed as heroes, when they should be prosecuted under the Espionage Act for betraying classified information. Instead, the president is being smeared."

He concludes, "I don't think what they did was worthy of an award - I think what they did was worthy of jail, and I think this investigation needs to go forward. . ." (Actually, that last quote isn't a made-up one, but what Bennett actually said about the prize-winners at The New York Times and Washington Post who reported administration security abuses.)

Anne Coulter and the right-wing Kool-Aid drinkers in the blogosphere, though, surely would echo support for the Logan Administration and smear its critics. Even his reputation as a tough guy willing to use torture wouldn't protect him if he crossed the administration and its acolytes. Coulter, recycling her columns on Ambassador Joseph Wilson and the Niger uranium forgery, would no doubt write:

"While turncoat Jack Bauer has become the plaything-de-jour of the liberal media elite, what do we really know about this traitor who criticized our President? My sources tell me that Bubblehead Bauer, as I call him, fabricated the taped voice of the president and has a history of lawbreaking, murder and theft while working at CTU. He's even an ex-heroin addict who also killed a supervisor just to make a deal with terrorists. Jack Bauer has lied and cheated to get his way before, so why should we take his charges against our President any more seriously?

"It's no surprise that the editorial-writing girlie-men at The New York Times have swooned over Jack Bauer because he serves their anti-American, anti-Logan agenda. But the rest of us shouldn't be dumb enough to buy his fabrications. He doesn't just need to be arrested, tried and executed for treason. Someone needs to drive a stake through his heart after he's been killed -- I'll do it myself if no one else has the nerve - to make sure that Bauer, and the loopy "ideals" he represents, doesn't rise from the dead."

Meanwhile, back in the real world of the Bush administration and its allies, the public burning of alleged CIA leaker Mary McCarthy is still continuing, even though she denies that she was the source for the Washington Post's stories about the overseas rendition of prisoners. (It's also possible that she was fired because she worked in the Inspector General's office that is looking into former CIA director Porter Goss's possible ties to a corrupt defense contractor who may have bribed his top aide and hosted wild parties with prostitutes.)

Still, if the administration-approved attacks on investigative reporters and dissident CIA officials are any guide, even the canny Jack Bauer couldn't maneuver his way through the minefield of a right-wing smear campaign.