this is outrageous!

from the New York Observer, by Joe Conason:

Circled in a bristling perimeter around the White House, the friends and allies of Mr. Rove can soon be expected to fire their rhetorical mortars at Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor investigating the White House exposure of C.I.A. operative Valerie Wilson. Indeed, the preparations for that assault began months ago in the editorial columns of The Wall Street Journal, which has tarred Mr. Fitzgerald as a “loose cannon” and an “unguided missile.”

Evidently Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, will lead the next foray against the special prosecutor. This week the Senator’s press office announced his plan to hold hearings on the Fitzgerald probe. That means interfering with an “ongoing investigation,” as the White House press secretary might say, but such considerations won’t deter the highly partisan Kansan.
...
There is no partisan issue here. Mr. Fitzgerald is a Republican appointee, named by a Republican Justice Department to investigate alleged misconduct in a Republican administration, at the urging of a Republican President and his C.I.A. director.
...
If only they were candid, the Rove Republicans would say that was then, this is now—and ethical consistency is strictly for losers.

The article also makes some great comparisons between the Starr-Clinton investigation and this one. Let's see...matters of national security vs. bad investments...which one should Congress authorize millions for investigating...which one should they fight for, all the way to the bitter Truth...which one matters to the American people?

There's nothing new about "Rove Republicans" going after someone who dares argue with them or offer a differing account of reality. When the target is one of their own, however, it's even more sad and outrageous.