Wilfred Brimley had the Right Idea

Betsy Newmark blogged In pondering the series of leaks to the media about issues relating to national security, Doc Weasel remembers one of the all-time great scenes in movie history: Wilfred Brimley's takedown of Sally Fields in Absence of Malice. Brimley plays a U.S. attorney investigating a leak a federal agent gave the reporter played by Sally Fields that implied that Paul Newman, the son of a gangster, was also involved in crime. As Brimley's character says then to the reporter and newspaper editor,

“You know and I know we can’t tell you what to print or what not to. We hope you people in the press’ll act responsibly, but when you don’t there ain’t a hell of a lot anybody can do about it. But we can’t have people go around leaking stuff for their own reasons. It ain’t legal. And worse than that, by God it ain’t right. I can’t stop you, but I can damn well stop them.”

And wouldn't you like to see Porter Goss say something like this as he investigates all the leaks coming out of the CIA in the past few years?

You had a leak? You call what's goin' on around here a leak? Boy, the last time there was a leak like this, Noah built hisself a boat.

Ah, that was a great scene - the whole movie is worth it for that scene alone. Check out Doc Weasel's post for some more trenchant observations.

I had forgotten that movie, even though I saw it several times, but Doc and Betsy are right, it is very appropriate to what is going on right now.