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I'll confess, I don't seem to have the same outrage that many on the right have about the N.Y. Times continuing to expose classified programs designed to gather intelligence on Al Qaida and other terrorist organizations.  What I feel is more of a weary recognition that the Times and others in the media simply don't understand the consequences of their actions. 

Patterico points this out quite clearly as he deconstructs the Times' latest attempt (registration required) at explaining why they committed treason (Patterico's comments in italic, quotes from the NYT editorial double-indented, emphasis Patterico's):

Finally, the fun part of the editorial, in which the editors write something so patently laughable that you can appreciate it even without my bitter mocking:

It is certainly unlikely that anyone who wanted to hurt the Bush administration politically would try to do so by writing about the government’s extensive efforts to make it difficult for terrorists to wire large sums of money.

From our side of the news-opinion wall, the Swift story looks like part of an alarming pattern. Ever since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has taken the necessity of heightened vigilance against terrorism and turned it into a rationale for an extraordinarily powerful executive branch, exempt from the normal checks and balances of our system of government. It has created powerful new tools of surveillance and refused, almost as a matter of principle, to use normal procedures that would acknowledge that either Congress or the courts have an oversight role.

Let me translate the bolded sentences for you:

Nobody could possibly think we’re trying to get the Bush Administration by revealing the Swift program. After all, the Swift program shows Bush is fighting terrorists, so it’s not as though the Swift program reflects badly on the Bush Administration.

But Good Lord, the Swift program sure does reflect badly on the Bush Administration!

This is the funniest thing I have read in the New York Times in, like, ever. You guys crack me up!

The funniest part is that you’re really trying to be serious.

Yes, the editors of the New York Times really do appear to be that stupid.

(Hat tip:  Power Line)