Boys' night out: "The Politico guys," Rove's top disciple and how our press corps works

By Glenn Greenwald

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"Tim Griffin has long been one of Karl Rove's closest "protégés" and has been at the epicenter of many of the most significant episodes of Republican sleaze over the last decade -- in particular, he has been a vital tool in the naked politicization of our justice system. Lately, Griffin's relationship with Politico and its McCain campaign reporter, Jonathan Martin, has grown in numerous ways, and the benefits for both are becoming increasingly apparent, in the standard tawdry ways that typify how our press corps functions.
...

A mere five hours after Griffin posted that, Martin went to Politico and dutifully trumpeted Griffin's call for a Special Prosecutor as though it were some serious and newsworthy event: "Griffin urges McCain to call for special prosecutor." Martin described Griffin's proposal without a word of critical comment -- "Griffin contends McCain could appeal to both the GOP base and swing voters, both of whom are taking major hits in the market right now" -- and then proceeded to quote large parts of Griffin's post. Three hours later, Griffin proudly noted: "Politico's Jonathan Martin Picks Up Post on Special Prosecutor."

Martin and Griffin seem to be really good friends, and that's nice. Spending your nights socializing with the most vicious GOP operatives or your weekends cooking with John McCain and giving flowers to his wife won't have any impact at all on your ability to cover what they're doing or investigating and skeptically scrutinizing their claims."
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http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/12/griffin/index.html