Demagogue

Yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press," discussion focused around the Bush administration's NSA eavesdropping program. One of the show's guests, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), contended that the House Intelligence Committee should assume greater oversight over the NSA program and its compatibility with FISA.

When Russert followed up by referring to a Dick Cheney remark, Harman recognized -- and pounced on -- a people-in-glass-houses moment. Here is the exchange:

TIM RUSSERT: The vice president said Congress would leak like a sieve. You couldn’t possibly brief that many people.

REP. HARMAN: I — I find that ironic, Tim, since one, these leaks came from the administration, nobody in Congress knew. Two, the White House declassifies the information it chooses to declassify, and there’s material in the newspapers that the vice president may have authorized his then-chief of staff Scooter Libby to talk about classified portions of the national intelligence program.