Here, Have Some Secret Documents. It's Okay. I'm The President.

President Bush has long complained about leaks in the White House. He was especially critical of the leak that revealed Valerie Plame to be a CIA agent, supposedly in retribution for an article her husband, Joe Wilson, wrote for the NY Times. That article questioned the administration's claims about Iraq's attempts to build a nuclear bomb. Of that case, Bush said back in 2003, "I've constantly expressed my displeasure with leaks, particularly leaks of classified information. . . . If there's a leak out of the administration, I want to know who it is. And if a person has violated law, the person will be taken care of."

So there you have it: Leaks from the White House are bad. The President even said so himself.... Except, of course, when the President himself says its okay.

It turns out that Bush himself authorized the release of classified information in an attempt to discredit the claims in that NY Times article.

And we all now know who eventually turned out to be right about Iraq's nuke program, don't we?

Anyway, it should be noted that so far Bush himself has not been accused of ordering Plame's name to be leaked. That was a criminal act that remains under investigation. As far as the accusation that Bush ordered the release of the classified documents, well, the White House is NOT denying it. In fact, their response is that the President has the authority to release such documents at any time.

That may well be, but presumably that authority only applies to material that is no longer deemed sensitive. But ordering such material leaked for the sole purpose of silencing a vocal critic who is questioning your honesty? I'm sorry, but that's nothing more than another example of the petty politics the Bush administration has become so known for.