Let's have a moratorium

Glen's right, we have to demand actual accountability from the government, whether it's Republican or Democratic. Any chance we could see all the popular bloggers refuse to grant anonymity to White House officials? Any chance they'd be willing to boycott the broadcasting of off-the-record statements? Or are they scared of losing their access?

For an administration flamboyantly vowing new levels of transparency, the Obama White House continuously relies upon one of the most un-transparent political weapons: namely, disseminating to the public -- typically through sympathetic journalists -- purely pro-administration assertions while hiding behind a journalistically baseless grant of anonymity. There are numerous manipulative and distorting effects from having government officials make pronouncements while remaining anonymous, one of the most significant of which is that there is no accountability whatsoever when they make false or misleading statements.