I remember back in 2006 having the distinct impression that people in the Bush administration were looking to discredit their critics, including the new army of citizen-journalists and opinion writers in the blogosphere who were just destroying them over the war in Iraq. I often wondered how far they were willing to go and how far down the food-chain they were willing to reach. I figured I was too small-fry to merit attention, but I could never be sure, especially with former intel-guys like Larry Johnson and Pat Lang contributing to the site. Now it is confirmed that the administration used the CIA to gather dirt on Juan Cole. But that’s just the one case we know about. Should we assume they didn’t seek dirt on Markos or Atrios? I wouldn’t.
