krebscycle

[Greenwald writes] Speaking of “frat boy reactions,” Leon Panetta is excitingly speculating about which actors should portray him in the movie about the Hunt for bin Laden, helpfully suggesting Al Pacino. It’s been a long time since Americans felt this good and strong about themselves – nothing like putting bullets in someone’s skull and dumping their corpse into an ocean to rejuvenate that can-do American sense of optimism. http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/03/propaganda_bin_laden/index.html

Greenwald’s source is Politico – a source that he claimed was totally unreliable back in the day, but what does Politico say?

On Monday, Panetta fielded questions from 25 congressional freshmen during a long-planned and, as it turned out, well-timed tour of CIA headquarters.

Rep. Billy Long tweeted from the tour, “Panetta ‘watching it unfold live I thought- this is like watching a Harrison Ford Movie’ when asked who should play him- he said ‘Al Pacino.’”

And tracing it back to Rep. Long:

@auctnr1Billy LongPanetta ‘watching it unfold live I thought- this is like watching a Harrison Ford Movie’ when asked who should play him- he said ‘Al Pacino’

http://twitter.com/#!/auctnr1/status/65169902843068416

Gains a little something in the telling, doesn’t it?

This is a small example, but Greenwald is a tireless and effective expert with this technique of shading and stepping to produce a deceptive but strong emotionally evocative story from sources that say something superficially similar.