It's always a double standard, Bill. That's how the human ego works. What's okay for one's "friends" to do is NEVER okay for one's "enemies" to do... ;-)

Why? Well, because one's friends are "good" people, and therefore the things they do must be good! And one's enemies are "evil" people, therefore what they do must be evil, and they must be stopped!

Even if it's the very same thing... ;-)

You can see this in international politics too, not just in domestic politics. It IS one of the most common diseases of the human condition.