"It had a better editor, man"

The powers of the Google have failed me as I have been unable to find what a younger Joe Lieberman, not yet fully-flowered into his present decrepitude, had to say about the Pentagon Papers at the time. But I'm pretty sure that now, he'll happily initiate the vibrating of his jowls to this line from Todd Gitlin of the New Republic (where else really?):

When Ellsberg published—made public—the Pentagon Papers nearly 40 years ago, he released a historical book—a more or less coherent, linear, systematic study of decision-making during the Vietnam war, commissioned by Robert S. McNamara when he was secretary of defense, and a systematic revelation of a pattern of government lies and distortions repeatedly issued to the American people.

I'm trying to decipher what the hell that means other than the Pentagon Papers had a more compact narrative, and more importantly, that it happened 40 years ago?

There's one guy who doesn't see a hell of a lot of difference and I think he'd be in a position to know:



[cross-posted at Firedoglake]