WOW

Circle the wagons, folks, and fire at will.

What does it matter if Wilson has written for The Nation? What does it matter if former Republican image-crafter and PR man Clifford May thinks Wilson is credible? Whom does NRO think they're kidding?

Sorry for the strong statement here, but this is the kind of trash that makes me think that I should become a monk and never speak about politics again. Shameful. Via atrios.

MORE: NRO seems to be slow today, so here's part of the piece:

On July 11, I wrote a piece for NRO arguing that Mr. Wilson had no basis for that conclusion — and that his political leanings and associations (not disclosed by the Times and others journalists interviewing him) cast serious doubt on his objectivity.

On July 14, Robert Novak wrote a column in the Post and other newspapers naming Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative.

That wasn't news to me. I had been told that — but not by anyone working in the White House. Rather, I learned it from someone who formerly worked in the government and he mentioned it in an offhanded manner, leading me to infer it was something that insiders were well aware of.

I chose not to include it (I wrote a second NRO piece on this issue on July 18) because it didn't seem particularly relevant to the question of whether or not Mr. Wilson should be regarded as a disinterested professional who had done a thorough investigation into Saddam's alleged attempts to purchase uranium in Africa.

What did appear relevant could easily be found in what the CIA would call "open sources." For example, Mr. Wilson had long been a bitter critic of the current administration, writing in such left-wing publications as The Nation that under President Bush, "America has entered one of it periods of historical madness" and had "imperial ambitions."

Aside from the despicable argument that none of the questions about Plame matter because Wilson was a regime critic, note that Mr. May should probably reveal to the Justice Department the name of his source, per the White House's current line that journalists should pass on information related to officials who blow the cover of CIA operatives.