governmentality

WikiWorld

So WikiLeaks is a Hostage Stand-Off Now?

So, Julian Assange is now threatening that if anything happens to him or the WikiLeaks website, he's going to release a "deluge" of secret documents.

Julian Assange will release a "poison pill" that contains a "deluge" of secret information if he is killed, arrested or his website is permanently shut down, Daily Mail reports.

"Due to recent attacks on our infrastructure, we've decided to make sure everyone can reach our content. As part of this process we're releasing archived copy of all files we ever released," WikiLeaks said in a message on its site.

As crazy as Julian Assange may be (and I'm sure this high-pressured situation is only making him crazier), WikiLeaks either has or had the potential to play a really important media role. And as an investigative journalist, I appreciate his role in authenticating documents.

But!

With this last bit, he's really lost some credibility among those who would have supported him. Instead of being in a position of power, he just looks weak, feeble and backed into a corner with this last threat. And that's what it looks like--a last (read: final) threat.

It also looks like a bluff. If he had another 250,000 documents as he's claiming, why hasn't he released them, or at least mentioned them until now?

Or, maybe he was predicting this exact moment and had always planned on using them in this hostage negotiation. And if that's the case, had he never planned on releasing them? And why would the negotiators trust him?

Sunday Talk Shows: 12/5/10

Lots happening on the Sunday talk shows this week, but ABC's This Week is stacked with more guests than I've seen in a long time. Looks like a staged fight on Afghanistan with a twist of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

As for the rest? Plenty of lame duck session talk with some justification of obstruction.

ABC’s This Week: General Wesley Clark, Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander; R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of the Log Cabin Republicans; Tammy Schultz, Director of National Security and Joint Warfare at the Marine Corps War College; Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis (Ret.), Senior Fellow of the Family Research Council; Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness; Zalmay Khalilzad, Former Ambassador to the United Nations and Afghanistan; Zbigniew Brzezinski, Former National Security Adviser; Sakena Yacoobi, Afghan institute of Learning; George Will, ABC News

NBC’s Meet the Press: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Sen. John Kerry (D-MA); David Brooks, New York Times; Tom Friedman, New York Times; Katty Kay, BBC World News America; Mike Murphy,Republican Strategist

CBS’ Face the Nation: Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois); Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona); Nancy Cordes, CBS News Capitol Hill Correspondent; Jim VandeHei, Executive Editor of POLITICO

CNN's GPS with Fareed Zakaria: HBO's Bill Maher; Niall Ferguson of Harvard and the Hoover Institution; Richard Haass of the Council On Foreign Relations; Gillian Tett of the Financial Times

Fox News Sunday: Sen. Kent Conrad, (D-ND); Jeb Hensarling, (R-TX); Newt Gingrich, AEI Senior Fellow, Former Speaker of the House and Fox News Contributor

CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT); Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR); Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN); Jon Wiener, author, “Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files”

CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz: Torie Clarke, former Pentagon spokesperson; David Rohde, author, “A Rope and a Prayer”; Kristen Mulvihill, author, “A Rope and a Prayer”; Erica Hill of CBS News

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal: John Harwood of CNBC and The New York Times; Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times; Yochi Dreazen of National Journal

Bloomberg’s Political Capital with Al Hunt: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal

NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show: Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic; John Heilemann, New York Magazine; Susan Davis, National Journal

Washington Watch with Roland Martin: Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Magic and Cookie Johnson

Sunday Talk Shows: 4/25/10

On tap this week:

NBC's Meet the Press: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), New York Times' David Brooks, CNBC's Erin Burnett, NPR's Michele Norris, Newsweek's Evan Thomas.

CBS' Face the Nation: Larry Summers, Director, National Economic Council; Thomas Friedman, New York Times; Michael Lewis, Vanity Fair and author of The Big Short.

ABC's This Week: White House Economic Adviser Austan Goolsbee, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). Roundtable with ABC News' George Will, NYT's Paul Krugman, AJC's Cynthia Tucker and Alexis Glick, Former VP of Fox Business News.

Catch the full line-up at FishbowlDC.

Mark Fiore Says Thanks for His Pulitzer

Sunday Talk Shows: 4/11/10

On tap this week:

NBC's Meet the Press: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Queen Noor of Jordan, NYT's David Brooks, Fmr. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN), Kathleen Parker, NYT's David Sanger, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

CBS' Face the Nation: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and CBS' Jan Crawford.

ABC's This Week: Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State; Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense; Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Roundtable with HuffPo's Arianna Huffington, ABC News' Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson and George Will.

Catch the full line-up at FishbowlDC.

Sunday Talk Shows: 4/4/10

On tap this week:

NBC's Meet the Press: Dr. Christina Romer, Chair, White House Council of Economic Advisers; Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.)Homeland Security Committee; Michael Chertoff, Former Secretary of Homeland Security; Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)Chairman, Homeland Security Committee; David Remnick, Editor, The New Yorker, Author, "The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama"; Rick Stengel, Editor, Time magazine, Author, "Mandela's Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage"

CBS' Face the Nation: Nancy Cordes, CBS News Congressional Correspondent; Jan Crawford, CBS News Chief Legal Correspondent; Michael Eric Dyson Georgetown University; Bob Orr, CBS News Justice Correspondent; David Sanger, New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent

ABC's This Week: Larry Summers and Former Fed. Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Roundtable: George Will, Matthew Dowd, Karen Finney and Robert Reich

Catch the full ine-up at FishbowlDC.

Un-Gay

Sunday Talk Shows: 3/28/10

On tap this week:

NBC's Meet the Press: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY); Doris Kearns Goodwin, Presidential Historian; Jon Meacham, Editor, Newsweek; Mike Murphy, Republican Strategist; Bob Shrum, Democratic Strategist

CBS' Face the Nation: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), DNC Chairman Tim Kaine

ABC's This Week: Valerie Jarrett, White House Senior Advisor; Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA); Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS); ABC's George Will; Donna Brazile, Democratic Strategist; NYT's Paul Krugman; WSJ's Peggy Noonan

Catch the full line-up at FishbowlDC.

Sunday Talk Shows: 3/21/10

On tap this week:

NBC's Meet the Press: Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Fmr. Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Former White House Comm. Director Anita Dunn, Republican State Leadership Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, PBS's Tavis Smiley and NBC's Chuck Todd 

CBS' Face the Nation: Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)

ABC's This Week: House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Karl Rove, David Plouffe and a roundtable with Trent Lott, Tom Daschle and ABC's Sam Donaldson and George Will

Catch the full line-up at FishbowlDC.