RISEN V. ROSEN.

With all the talk about reporter James Rosen's persecution, particularly in rightblogger world, you might find yourself mixing the name up with that of reporter James Risen, also persecuted -- in fact his persecution stretches from the Bush through the Obama Administrations. You may be wondering why, while some liberal outfits have been trumpeting Risen's case, conservatives haven't been doing the same. The reason is simple: If they did, someone might look up what they were writing about Risen back in the day.

Here are some examples from National Review:

If you’re one of those who think that everyone in the Bush administration reflexively lies about everything, then James Risen is a patriot who has exposed the worst abuse of presidential power since Watergate. If you’re more inclined to give the President the benefit of the doubt when it comes to covert operations designed to prevent terrorist attacks, then James Risen’s reporting did an untold amount of damage to what was for all we know an effective way to monitor communications between terrorists abroad and their cells in the United States.

From the sound and fury of the last few days from politicians and pundits, you would think this is a development as scandalous as Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s authorization to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr. But the legality of the acts can be demonstrated with a look through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). For example, check out section 1802, “Electronic Surveillance Authorization Without Court Order.” It is most instructive. There you will learn that “Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year” (emphasis mine)...

James Risen has been part of several intelligence breaches that have hurt the security of the United States. He was the New York Times reporter who broke the story on the NSA’s eavesdropping program and its ability to track terrorist finances. Risen is now involved in the trial of ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling... The Department of Justice is appealing an earlier ruling that Risen would not be forced to testify in depth regarding his sources; hopefully, the appeal will be successful...

That last one, by Stephen Spruill and headlined "The New York Times and Espionage (Again)," is from 2011.

If you want some extra fun, go read Andrew C. McCarthy from 2005: "So sure, let's talk until we're blue in the face about the abstruse legalities of warrantless wiretapping... But the exhaustion of these questions, in the self-conscious pomp of serious discussion, mustn't obscure what is really going on here. This, plain and simple, is a political game of 'Gotcha!' Played with our national security — played with the lives of the innocent..."

I don't like the White House spying on reporters, either, and I've known for quite some time that on civil liberties this White House is no good. But I am also aware that these guys are as full of shit on freedom of the press as they are on everything else, and during the current festival of fake outrage that strikes me as a useful piece of intelligence to keep in mind.