John Brennan’s had enough. He isn’t weak, and he’s not a liberal pansy. He was employed by the “tough” Bush administration and very much played a role in the now illegal “enhanced interrogations” liberals complain so much about. I won’t go so far as to say he agreed with everything Bush and Cheney set in motion, but he’s a tough guy and had no problem doing dirty work to keep the country safe.

CBS News reports on John’s recent appearances on Sunday television and a nasty USA Today op-ed piece wherein he lashes out at GOP for the constant bashing of everything the Obama administration does on terror. Well, he’s mostly right. The criticism is over handling that essentially has not changed since Bush was in office. Is Obama soft on terror? Probably. Is John? Not for a minute.

John is a credible asset to this and any other administration and to call for his firing, only serves to bad mouth the Bush administration the GOP loved so much. After all, Bush hired him when an imminent terrorist attack was a guarantee, not a possibility. The GOP would be well advised to do a better job of distinguishing between the joke that is Secretary Napolitano, and Mr. Brennan.

Having said that, it is wholly inappropriate to accuse the GOP of “helping Al Qaeda”. Brennan’s been in government long enough to know that no one has any friends, everything is political, and the minute you play for the opposing team, you pick up enemies. John needs to thicken his skin a little and appreciate that none of the criticism is personal. If he played for the “right team”, the GOP would be rushing to his defense, and John knows it.

There comes a time, however, when you’re just making a thinly disguised political statement. The GOP needs to get a grip and cater a bit less to the Sarah Palin crowd. We did get intelligence from the attempted bomber…was it comprehensive? I don’t know. These intelligence guys aren’t Jack Bauer, no one is. The undergarment bomber (no I refuse to try and type his name) is clearly the D-string of the once amazing Al Qaeda team. Let’s face facts and drop politics for just a moment. GOP shills are acting like this punk kid from Nigeria is some top brass in a real army.

We have sacrificed enough freedom for security in this country since 9-11, and Republicans would do well with many independents to drop the security charade and get back to economics.