Editorial cloaking device

The Washington Post ran an Op Ed attacking Nancy Pelosi today.

The author, Liz Cheney.

Who is this?

The writer was deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from 2002 through 2003 and principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from 2005 to 2006.

True...But she is also the daughter of the current Vice President, Dick Cheney.

Some feel their is something insincere in not disclosing it.

No mention that her pop's the Veep. Here's why this is highly questionable, in my view. Ms. Cheney's attack on Pelosi is eerily similar to the one launched on Pelosi recently by her father. So this Op ed looks like a clear effort to help him politically, by reiterating the attack, in however limited a way it does this in actual practice. What's more, this line of attack has a larger context: It is arguably designed to weaken Pelosi at a time when the House Dems she leads are locked in a critical political battle over Iraq with her dad's administration. And the WaPo editorial page has been one of the leading backers of the Bush-Cheney Iraq war.

Finally, this is not the first, but the second, piece by Ms. Cheney in the WaPo attacking one of her dad's leading political opponents in terms similar to those used by Veep Cheney himself (she wasn't fully identified at the end of the first one, either). This is on its way to becoming a pattern. And while many D.C. types know who Liz Cheney is, there's no way of knowing whether many of the Post's readers know this. So why not err on the side of full disclosure?

So they asked the editorial page editor what was up.

Given that Vice President Dick Cheney has been one of the leading critics of Pelosi on a variety of fronts, and given that Mr. Cheney's administration is in the midst of an extremely high-stakes political battle with Pelosi over the future of Iraq, what is the justification for not identifying Ms. Cheney as the Veep's daughter?

Response:

We published Liz Cheney's piece based on her qualifications as a former high-ranking State Dept. official with oversight of Near Eastern Affairs. I don't believe qualified professional women need to be identified by their husbands or fathers, even when well-known.

That is pretty nice. Try and turn this into a defense of women. "Well, why do we have to show off just how important she is?"

Nice.

Almost makes you forget the issue...Not really.

I agree she is knowledgeable. But she is also closely tied with the people who are in opposition to Pelosi. Not just as an operative. But also blood ties. That seems like the kind of thing a responsible editor would want to...hmm, make clear to the customers?

Doesn't it? If Obama wrote a piece on Edwards, or Thompson wrote one on McCain...wouldn't it be important to make it clear that the person writing is just on the periphery of the story?

Cheney can write all she wants, but it is important to know the ties. Didn't we learn this with all the exile community intel we take from Cuba to Iraq to Iran.

It's BIASED!

DUH!