THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D . . . Oh, hell, you know the rest: Former CIA officer charged in alleged leaks.

The Justice Department on Monday charged a former CIA officer with repeatedly leaking classified information, including the identities of agency operatives involved in the capture and interrogation of alleged terrorists.

The case against John Kiriakou, who served as a senior Senate aide after ending his CIA career, extends the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on disclosures of national security secrets to journalists.

If Bush had done this, we’d have heard cries of police states and dictatorship.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I’m a fan and I read with interest the blog post angle you took in the indictment of former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer John Kiriakou, “They told me if I voted for John McCain…”

I actually think that the stronger angle for you here is different. It should be, “If the Washington Post does a major story on the indictment of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer for revealing the names of CIA operatives and other classified information, without once revealing major political party for which he worked, does that mean that he worked for the Democrats…”

Good point. Politico mentioned it. “Kiriakou worked for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as a Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigator from March 2009 to April 2011, according to Senate records.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Kevin Greene writes: “You don’t suppose there’s any linkage between the fact that a John Kerry staffer has been arrested for high treason and then the Washington Post reporting that John Kerry showed up at the White House with two black eyes and a broken nose having apparently gotten his ass kicked at a hockey game?” I wish.