Bill Keller, boy dectective, paralyzes critics with bizarre interpretation of "freedom of the press"

It's been four days since Bill Keller briefed our enemies as to our anti-terrorism program to track their spending. If that wasn't a bold enough tactic to demonstrate his contempt for the average American, now he's successfully stopped his critics in their tracks by rewording the first ammendment:

A deeper error is Keller's characterization of freedom of the press as an institutional privilege, an error that is a manifestation of the hubris that has marked the NYT of late. Keller writes: "It's an unusual and powerful thing, this freedom that our founders gave to the press. . . . The power that has been given us is not something to be taken lightly."

The founders gave freedom of the press to the people, they didn't give freedom to the press.[...]

Characterizing the freedom this way, of course, makes much of Keller's piece look like, well, just what it is -- arrogant and self-justificatory posturing. To quote Keller: "Forgive me, I know this is pretty elementary stuff — but it's the kind of elementary context that sometimes gets lost in the heat of strong disagreements."

Or institutional self-importance.

Arrogance may not be a crime. But it is at the heart of this particular crime.