These guys are burnt toast and they know it. Here's my Dad, a guy who usually brings no shortage of rational discourse. Here he goes for the sympathy play:
I don't know who did what to whom in the Plame/Rove situation. I think that's up to the grand jury to determine; and I do believe that if Karl Rove did violate any law with his actions, the President will dump him. I also believe that liberal Democrats are acting consistently in their efforts to discredit the President at a time when there is one helluva a lot more important stuff going on in the country and the world. It is all very predictable.
He's right. Why are we wasting time with this nonsense? We're fiddling while Rome burns. We could let Bush rule, erm, govern, but no. Obstructionist meanies!
I have fun with my father:
I'm sorry to be a dick, but I have zero sympathy for anyone, and I mean anyone, in your party as it pertains to this mess. Does the phrase "hoisted on your own petard" mean anything to you? Your flacks and hacks and assassins have gone around for the last two or three years and painted anybody who opposed the President's policies as sissy apologists and even treasonists. I mean, here are just a few links.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=8793
http://slate.msn.com/id/2091666/
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=6003
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/siriano/040816
It's unprecedented. No other administration has ever waged such a slanderous PR war to consolidate power and silence dissent. It's as if they expected the left to roll over and die in the corner with a "Hates America" banner over their heads, and the CIA to deliver the information they're told to deliver -- which of course they're not going to do. The hubris! So in the end it boils down to what's more treasonous -- openly and vocally opposing the President's policies, or leaking Top Secret intelligence information in the name of a political vendetta? No one's buying answer #1. The WH is screwed hard.
Hey, man, it's like McCain said the other day on Meet The Press -- politics is tough business. Live by the sword, die by the sword, get pardoned by the guy who appointed you soon thereafter.
You're right, though -- if Rove is indicted, Bush doesn't have a choice but to let him go. He probably should have already yanked his security clearance. But it's looking more likely that Fleischer, Libby and maybe even Ashcroft are on a hotter seat. Gonzales and Card, potentially, too, for the 12 hour shred-em-if-you-got-em warning. Remember, it's not the crime that gets you, it's the cover-up.
I don't expect a rejoinder.
I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning.