Leaking hypocrisy

In response to the Mary McCarthy leak story, Glenn Greenwald has another must-read post on "treason by association" -- see here.

Conservatives in the news media and the blogosphere are "screeching," but: "[A]s I detailed yesterday, there is a slew of leaks of classified information from the Bush White House -- not decisions by the President to declassify information and then release it to the public, but anonymous pro-Bush disclosures by executive branch officials of information which is still classified, and which is released selectively and for plainly political ends. Leaking classified information is one of the principal tactics of the Bush White House and -- as demonstrated -- its closets political allies. Thus, if we are going to embrace a framework where not only the leaker but the leaker's political comrades and professional associates are considered suspect, there aren't many people in the Bush-loving world who will be free of suspicion."

No wonder Democrats see a double standard at work. (Besides, Ms. McCarthy has a solid reputation as a career intelligence analyst.)

This is not necessarily to excuse the leak, but the hypocrisy on the right is as blatant as ever.

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For more, see Informed Comment, Talking Points Memo, The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh at Firedoglake, and Alternate Brain.