Senator Kit Bond of Missouri has called for the resignation of Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan after the publication of a USA Today op-ed in which Brennan smeared Republican critics of the President as “serv[ing] the goals of al-Qaeda.” It was the second time he had made such a claim — back in January, Brennan said that Republicans critics of the administration were “playing into Al Qaeda’s strategic effort.”

The White House responded to the call for Brennan’s resignation by issuing a statement yesterday calling Bond “pathetic”:

Through his pathetic attack on a counter-terrorism professional like John Brennan who has spent his lifetime protecting this country under multiple Administrations, Senator Bond sinks to new depths in his efforts to put politics over our national security.

In other words, the White House is not only standing by Brennan, but doubling down on his tactics (by claiming Bond is “put[ting] politics over our national security”). I hold no brief for Bond, who has engaged in equally disreputable smears of Obama, but I’m still waiting for the Democrats who were offended by the Bush administration’s tactics to speak up against Brennan and his boss.