Bush makes New York Times censor headline

What's this I hear about the United States having a free press at one time? Oh yeah. I remember that now. I think I recall sitting on the living room floor watching 'That's Incredible!' and trying to solve my Rubik's Cube when someone mentioned something about freedom of the press. These fond memories of the First Amendment are all coming back to me!

OK, seriously now. Today the Bush White House issued a formal demand ordering the New York Times to change the subheader of an article about the destruction of CIA tapes featuring terrorist suspects' interrogations. The subheader the Bush regime objected to declared, "White House Role Was Wider Than It Said."

Ever stop and think maybe the reason it said that the "White House Role Was Wider Than It Said" was that the White House role really was wider than it said? I've followed the story, and it's pretty clear the subheader was accurate. Who the hell is gonna believe the Bush thugocracy anyway, when it's put out so many lies and distortions already?

The greater issue is that who in a country with freedom of the press has ever heard of the country's leader trying to pressure a newspaper into distorting a story to meet the ruling party's warped goals?

Naturally, the New York Times caved.

Gee, it really is easy to run a dictatorship, isn't it, George?

The official White House press release that attempts to debunk the Times cites Bush's own quotes as "proof" that the Times is wrong. How's that for circular reasoning? That's like if someone writes a book that cites itself in the footnotes. (I know the words 'Bush' and 'book' don't go together too well, but oh well.)

(Source: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/white-house-asks-nyt-to-remove-sub-headline-from-cia-tape-story-2007-12-19.html)