MORE CONSERVATIVE REACTION….Since I ripped into conservative reaction to the Plame scandal last night, it’s only fair to note that there are some conservatives who get it:

  • RealClear Politics: I do think this is a serious matter that requires urgent attention from the White House. If the charges are true then the guillotine needs to come out quickly – even if the head that eventually rolls out the front door of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is an indispensable asset to the administration like Karl Rove.

    ….So my advice to the administration is this: get to the bottom of it quickly and get on with business. If the charges are true, take your medicine and put an end to the matter as a political issue. There’s a political silver lining in taking swift action.

  • Dan Drezner: As I’ve said previously, what I would like to see is a strong denunciation by President Bush about what took place….Let me repeat — this is a serious allegation, and I want to see the President address it directly and publicly.

  • Tacitus: Whatever else this ends up being, it will certainly be a test of the politicization of the Executive branch at the Cabinet level and below. And if someone did purposefully blow Valerie Plame’s cover, that person richly deserves jailing. Whomever he may be.

    And this: ….as for the subject of the press conference in question: it just gives me a bad feeling. I don’t see this ending well. Best possible case for the Administration now is that there’s a public furor, at least in some quarters, and months of nagging questions, strange manuverings, and accusations. And that’s not a very good best case at all. Unfortunately, if there was nothing to this, I can’t help but believe that the White House would have quashed it already.

Holding your own people to account isn’t easy for any of us, either liberal or conservative. These folks have shown they’re willing to do it, so kudos to them.

To everyone else: Waiting for all the facts to come out is fine (although some of us are waiting a little more, um, aggressively than others….) However, minimal decency requires at least a simple agreement that this episode, if true, is deeply wrong and should be dealt with harshly.

UPDATE: John Brothers feels the same way.

Jay Caruso too, who also thinks I should back off my criticism of conservatives over this. Just to make this clear: my criticism is reserved for those who are desperately trying to minimize the importance of leaks like this. Anyone who agrees that this is important but is just waiting for more facts is off the hook. (Off my hook, anyway.)