What We Already Know

Kevin Drum hits the nail on the head when he takes a look at the new conservative conventional wisdom on the outing of Valerie Plame. You should read the whole thing, but this especially bears repeating.

Until Patrick Fitzgerald finishes his investigation, we won't know everything that really happened here. In fact, we still might not know even then. But we've learned one thing already: when presented with even a hint of evidence that someone on their team has treated national security with cavalier disdain, conservative concern with national security gets thrown overboard without a second thought. Dealing with Plamegate as a factual matter — did someone in the White House expose Valerie Plame's identity to reporters? — is no longer acceptable, because, after all, when facts are involved, there's a chance they can turn against you.

Instead, for most conservatives, Plamegate has now turned into the public relations task of convincing the public that even if Rove did out Plame, outing a covert CIA agent is a perfectly acceptable thing for a White House aide to do.

My personal feeling is that no indictments will be handed down regarding the outing itself, due to the relatively high standard that the law imposes for criminality. But crime or not, Drum is right that the wingnuts have already made the fact of their response to this case of wrongdoing obvious for all to see. And what a sad fact it is.