Top Secret (see if you can guess the unnamed "senior administration official."

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: “Let me just make one editorial comment here. I’ve seen some press reporting says, ‘Cheney went in to beat up on them, threaten them.’ That’s not the way I work. I don’t know who writes that, or maybe somebody gets it from some source who doesn’t know what I’m doing, or isn’t involved in it. But the idea that I’d go in and threaten someone is an invalid misreading of the way I do business.

“I would describe my sessions both in Pakistan and Afghanistan as very productive. We’ve had notable successes in both places. I’ve often said before and I believe it’s still true that we’ve captured and killed more al Qaeda in Pakistan than anyplace else. And I think we’re making progress in Afghanistan.”

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2007/02/28/top_secret.html

ummm....Lynne Cheney? *wink*

Like Transylvania.

Yes, the proper reaction is to point and laugh.

But don't miss a larger point, which is the routine granting of anonymous status to just about anyone for the sake of getting a quote. In so many cases, quoting someone on background is done solely for the purpose of letting that person inject a mean little squirt of bile into a story without having to face repercussions. The reporters agree to it to preserve their "access" to the same government officials who are using them as message boys when they're too gutless to own their own words. It's lazy, sloppy, and irresponsible journalism that serves only the gutless officials and the toadying stenographers who copy down their dicta.