Third Time's the Charm

Of course, the Bush administration's media strategy--keep it secret, deny it if it leaks, fire the diseenters--has been practiced far more than thrice. But the first two major versions of the strategy--the runup to the Iraq War and the aftermath of Katrina--occurred as tragedy. Now the gods reward us with the Dick Cheney shooting story, in which the media strategy resurfaces as farce. And, predictably, the Whte House press corps, which sat still and silent for the tragic versions, is up in arms over the farcical one.