You Say 'Apple', I Say 'Orange'

I saw that the DoJ is conducting an investigation into leaks that brought Bush's illegal warrantless wiretaps to light.  I'm wicked busy today, but thought I'd briefly point out the silliness of all this--turns out I don't have to:

Bush circumvented the law with warrantless searches, but it's the whistleblower who's facing a criminal investigation.

Inevitably, the right's talking points will tell us that the administration's critics are hypocrites. We wanted the Justice Department to probe the Plame leak, they'll say, but not the "snoopgate" leak. But if Bush's political allies can't see the difference between exposing official wrongdoing and exposing a CIA agent to help cover up bogus pre-war claims, there's just no hope for them.

Thanks, Steve.  You said pretty much what I was going to say.

I'll just make an additional observation: Judy Miller was an alleged hero for going to prison on contempt charges as she refused to tell us who her sources were in the Plame leak.  A "First Amendment Martyr", that Judy, taking a "principled" stand and making sure that there would be no "chilling effect" that would prevent sources from talking to reporters.  We who decried that position argued that this was a case of protecting people who had broken the law and endangered national security--the protections and justifications that she relied on should be reserved for whistleblowers, not criminals.

This domestic spying thing is a case in point: the Bush administration violated the law (again) and somebody blew the whistle.  In other words, we have been consistent on the issue of leaks from the start, while wingers like Michelle Malkin and her ilk are equivocating.

ntodd