Imagine that President Hillary Clinton had agreed to release a partisan Democratic intelligence memo over the objections of Republicans in Congress and her own top F.B.I. officials that disclosure could harm national security.

Would conservative pundits and politicians:

(a) Praise President Clinton for abandoning her old habits of secrecy and standing strong on the side of transparency in government?

(b) Call for her impeachment on grounds that she had compromised national security for shamelessly self-serving political reasons?