The media’s response (here and here) to the firing of Mary McCarthy, the CIA officer who leaked classified information to the Washington Post, is just one more indication that some leakers are better than others.
The press that is all set to hunt down the leaker of Valerie Plame’s status as a CIA agent (I’ve never been able to determine if she really was under cover at the time) is ready to lionize McCarthy.
“Within a few weeks” writes In From the Cold, “fired CIA officer Mary McCarthy will take her place in the pantheon of liberal heroes. Democratic politicians, left-leaning pundits and analysts in the drive-by media will hail her ‘courage’ in exposing secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe, and providing that information to the Washington Post. There will almost certainly be a book and movie deal; I’m sure Joe Wilson’s literary agent will be in touch, if he hasn’t called already. However, timing for those media events will probably depend on whether Ms. McCarthy spends any time in jail for her ‘disclosures.'”
And, hey, she contributes to Democrats–and helped the Post win a Pulitzer Prize this year!