Also at Daily Kos
Congratulations to Representative Jane Harman (D-CA), ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who has nailed it.
From Raw Story
“If the disclosure is true, it’s breathtaking. The President is revealed as the Leaker-in-Chief.
The rest of the quote and analysis of why I think this is brilliant below the fold.
Harman continues:
“Leaking classified information to the press when you want to get your side out or silence your critics is not appropriate.
This has been a Republican complaint [going after the secret prisons leaker and the NSA warrantless wiretapping leaker], and we’re turning it on them.
“The reason we classify things is to protect our sources – those who risk their lives to give us secrets. Who knows how many sources were burned by giving Libby this ‘license to leak’?
There has been no public release of the damage estimate, but we know that an entire CIA front company, Brewster Jennings, was blown. We also know that Plame was working on counter-proliferation — proliferation and spread of nukes being perhaps the greatest threat to our nation’s security.
“If I had leaked the information, I’d be in jail. Why should the President be above the law?
Great tie-in to the illegality of the warrantless wiretapping. The key is to establish a pattern of illegal presidential behavior. Not just of the trivial sort, but of the kind that should land a person in jail.
“The President has the legal authority to declassify information, but there are normal channels for doing so. Telling an aide to leak classified information to the New York Times is not a normal channel. A normal declassification procedure would involve going back to the originating agency, such as the CIA, and then putting out a public, declassified version of the document.
Totally blows away this lame GOP talking point before it even has a chance to emerge. Wish she had drawn more attention to the President’s bald-faced lies that he didn’t know who was the leaker. But a minor quibble, as other Dems are hammering on that point.
“I am stunned that the President won’t tell the full the Intelligence Committee about the NSA program because he’s allegedly concerned about leaks, when it turns out that he is the Leaker-in-Chief.”
Again — establishing a pattern of behavior that is not only illegal, but hurts America.
Let’s keep this issue front and center, everyone! Message discipline!!! Tie it into the aluminum tubes. Tie it into Downing Street. Bush has no response to this. He’ll only get away with it if we let him.