The left and the media, however, is already in spin mode on this. I first noted it earlier today on Grand Forks radio personality Dakota Huseby's blog and then noticed the meme making an appearance again in this AFP wire story.
Here's what it is going to be: The investigation into who leaked this information to the Times will be played off as "axe grinding" for the Bush administration. The leakers themselves will be cast as "truth tellers" who were violating the law "for the greater good of the country" while the investigators who look into the matter will be painted as Bush administration thugs out for revenge.
Its total bunk. This leak is a serious matter. There are channels in place for dealing with Presidents who abuse their power that do not include illegally leaking confidential national security information to the media. Despite the posing by Congressional Democrats, they knew what the President was up to and had the power to raise concerns and/or put a stop to it. They didn't, though they are using the occassion of this trumped up controversy to score a few cheap political points.
The bottom line is this: We cannot let the media push the investigation of this leak onto the backburner. A lot of them, the New York Times especially, are going to be wishing that they hadn't been so vocal in calling for an investigation into the Plame leak. Thus their coverage isn't going to be nearly as extensive as it was during Plame. That shouldn't matter. This is our national security we're talking about, not the identity of some CIA desk jockey who hadn't worked in the field this millenium.