Flip flop?

Is it possible that the White House kept some of those prop flip flops handed out at the Republican National Convention in 2004?

The White House on Friday rejected suggestions that President Bush contradicted himself by repeatedly railing against leaks of classified information even though he had approved the release of classified information to bolster the U.S. case for the Iraq war in 2003.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan argued Friday that the president staunchly opposes releasing classified information that could affect U.S. security. And he pointed out that the president reserves the right to declassify material.

Looking at the specific 2003 case, McClellan said, "Because of the public debate that was going on and some of the wild accusations that were flying around at the time, we felt it was very much in the public interest that what information could be declassified be declassified, and that's exactly what we did."

Boy, there sure were some "wild accusations" flying around about Iraq's WMD program at the time, huh?

"There is a difference between providing declassified information to the public when it's in the public interest and leaking classified information that involved sensitive national intelligence regarding our security," McClellan said.

And, of course, George Bush is the judge of what's in the public interest and what's a threat to national security. He thought Americans didn't need to know that the government is monitoring their phone calls and Internet activity.

To judge whether Bush contradicted himself, it would be useful to examine his previous statements on leaks. Fortunately, there's a short list of them right here. Add this September 2003 quote to that list: "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take appropriate action."