Bill Keller, editor of the bird cage liner once known as The New York Times, is an idiot. The Times has posted Keller's form letter to people who have complained about last week's disclosure of the terrorist finance tracking program.

Some of the incoming mail quotes the angry words of conservative bloggers and TV or radio pundits who say that drawing attention to the government's anti-terror measures is unpatriotic and dangerous. (I could ask, if that's the case, why they are drawing so much attention to the story themselves by yelling about it on the airwaves and the Internet.)

Get this editor an editor, because this is the most stupid defense of your work that I can possibly imagine making. I mean, if you were 6 years old, OK, but responsible adults don't make arguments like this one. Oh, I forgot there for a second that Keller has demonstrated that he is grossly irresponsible, so I guess this is an acceptable argument to make.

Keller and his cohorts need to be prosecuted. The press needs to be responsible -- especially during wartime -- and at the very least the Times has demonstrated that it is not. Their utter contempt for the Bush administration has caused them to ally themselves with the terrorists -- they can protest all they want about this fact, but the effect is undeniable.

NPR reporter Juan Williams actually had the stupidity yesterday on "Fox News Sunday" to argue that the revelation of the program helped fight terrorism because the terrorists knew they wouldn't be able to use the international banking system to transfer money anymore. Yeah, but it also means that whatever method they use from now on we won't have access to.

Hugh Hewitt's got an excellent critique here.

*UPDATE* Wizbang summarizes Keller's letter for those of you who don't want to read the whole thing:

Dear Reader:

1) We have no reason to believe the program was illegal in any way.

2) We have every reason to believe it was effective at catching terrorists.

3) We ran the story anyway, screw you.

Bill Keller