The End Game for PlameGate seems pretty obvious to me given the known tendencies of the the players in charge in DC these days. Does anyone here really think that W won't pardon those tangled in this web, PROVIDED THEY FALL ON THEIR SWORDS AND DON'T CAUSE FURTHER DAMAGE?
Rest assured that this is one area in which Shrub will follow the example of 41. Don't you think Libby, Rove et. al. know this without having to be told or to have it signaled to them? Given that, when is the best time to do
the pardon and what should the actions of the indicted be? Let's examine this. Libby seems to be royally nailed and Fitz seems to be working on him to climb further up the food chain to Rove and even Chaney, as if he were prosecuting a Mafia enterprise. If Libby goes to trial, he's got little chance of winning, it will be expensive and regardless, all sorts of seamy dealings by administration players will be exposed, both by flipped underlings and mainstream reporters. The WMD lies will get frontpage coverage as never before. A trial, win or lose, is the last thing the WH wants. Politically, Bush can't do the pardons anytime soon for reasons of preserving his agenda on the Supreme Court and because it would kill the slim chances of many Repub. office seekers in 2006. He just might be supidly arrogant enough to do it now, but I doubt it. It seems to me that the day after the 2008 elections would be safest for W and all of Wingnuttia, but that gives Libby the prospect of a fairly long streach of showering with soap-on-a-rope, so what to do?
Here's how I think it will play out. Libby, and any others indicted, know they'll be pardoned without it being said as long as they take the rap alone. They and everyone else with a pulse know that a trial is a total loser for the WH regardless of the out come. This cannot be allowed. Libby
faces at least 2 years in the hole if the trial takes place within a year and he is convicted. Like a chess game coming to a conclusion the moves are few and obvious. Libby, and any others indicted, stall for time. Look for negotiations of plea bargains, hints of giving up higher-ups, legal motions, hospital stays and anything else which will push the trial date as far into the future as
possible so as to extend Libby's freedom and to get closer to the Nov. 2008 Get Out Of Jail Free card. When he (they) can stall no more, they play the Agnew Card, aka, Nolo Contendere. Admit nothing, reveal nothing, cause no damage to the administration in the full knowledge that before
Thanksgiving 2008 he'll be free to rejoin the Evil Empire and reap the rewards that the Right Wing bestows on stand up guys.
That's it. Bleak, unfulfilling and, I fear, inevitable. Please convince me that I'm wrong.