Surprise surprise, the leak that illegally exposed a CIA agent came from the top all along.  I’m shocked, shocked!  When a warped sense of loyalty has become more important than honor, safety of our operatives, and even the law, it calls into question the moral judgment of our leadership.  This is so revolting I’ll even put in a plug for the MoveOn PAC petition to fire Rove.

But the bigger picture is even more disturbing in the long run, it’s just a small piece of a pattern of punishment that makes the Conservative power structure so alarming.  Punishing Ambassador Wilson for having more loyalty to the truth than to Bush’s agenda, punishing schools for failing to live up to standards, punishing Iraq for the appearance of seeking WMD.  The preoccupation with punishment seems to have pushed aside essential qualities like fairness and mercy.  The act of punishment seems more important than making sure the punishment is well deserved.  Well, OK, we give up already!  Punish away!  Just please — start with Rove.