Of course President Obama gave credit to everyone involved in taking out bin Laden.

Republicans are going back to their favorite page in the 2004 playbook: trying to turn the opponent's strengths into weaknesses. In Sen. John Kerry's case, that meant attacking his military career. Now, they're going after President Barack Obama's national security strengths. In other words, they're trying to turn the killing of Osama bin Laden into a weakness.

The "Special Operations Opsec Education Fund," naturally a 501(c)(4) that doesn't have to disclose the names of its donors, has produced a video assailing national security leaks. By the Obama administration. When the group includes these guys:



Rustmann, who had supervised Plame during her early years at the CIA, argued on Fox that disclosing Plame’s name was not a significant breach of national security. He discussed details of her training, her career and her cover. “It isn't a big deal,” he said about the illegal disclosure of the covert officer’s name. “It was a light, nonofficial cover.” Scott Taylor, chairman of OPSEC, is a former Navy SEAL. An unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress in Virginia in 2010, he sat down with NBC News last summer for a documentary titled “Secrets of Seal Team Six.” The film said the military had urged former SEALs not to talk.

In an effort to portray Mr. Obama as a braggart taking credit for the accomplishments of special forces and intelligence operatives, the video omits some of his remarks in announcing Bin Laden’s killing. In that late-night televised address, Mr. Obama credited 10 years of “tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals,” but that is edited out.

Also in the group is a former spokesman for the director of national intelligence under George W. Bush. Yet he's claiming to be outraged about leaks. But of course none of this is about leaks. It's about, as always, turning an opponent's strength into a weakness and generally making him look like a dick:As the video at top shows, that's quite a lot of thanks to edit out. But it's what the Karl Rove playbook says to do, and the Republican operatives and former Republican candidates in "Opsec" are intent on following the playbook to the letter.