From a reader:

David Corn applies a “cat out of the bag” analysis with respect to responsibility for Plame’s alleged “covert” status. Novak hinted at it first, he argues, so David Corn and his source (presumably Wilson) are blameless. No harm, no foul. But, how can David Corn possibly get away with applying such a standard in his own case, and still keep harping on about Rove and Libby when it was Armitage who let the cat of the bag about everything else?
It doesn’t work. And that’s even putting aside the fact that the Answer to Corn’s question (“Does the CIA employ non-secret ‘operatives’?”) is “Yes.”