Lott: Gulag story leaked by Republicans

CNN just reported that Trent Lott is saying that the leak last week of the story about our use of Soviet-era gulags as prison camps for terror detainees was.... a Republican senator or staffer.

Yeah, that one -- the one the Repugs were angrily using to call for an investigation in order to deflect attention from Plamegate, and Torturegate, and so on.

This is what happens when a shark begins to bleed. The other sharks -- especially the ones with scars of their own -- circle and lunge, circle and lunge.

Update: Thinking about this further, it occurs to me that another important question we ought to be asking flows from the fact that the briefing at which this information was shared with Senate Republicans (and, it appears, only Republicans) a week ago. If they knew about American gulags, what did they do about it (other than leak it, of course)? Given their apparent inaction, the default assumption must be that this is yet another extra-legal human rights outrage that is just hunky dory with the majority.

So the press should be asking every Republican who was in that room how they justify the nothing they did about it.

Update #2: Commenters seem to think that the original call for investigation indicates a rift between the moderate and extreme wings of the Republican party. Perhaps, but I don't see it. (I also still don't see any moderate Republicans, but put that aside.) First, the letter was from Frist and Hastert, not Linc Chafee and Olympia Snow. Second, and more important, I just don't see how any of the Republicans can save their asses by turning in their brown shirts. If Bush and Cheney go down, the Repugs are done as a majority party, at least for a few election cycles. They know it, and I think they are going to everything they can to gum up the works.

So that's what I think. But as Michael Palin once said, "I'd like to have an argument, please."