So it's official: blowing Valerie Plame's cover was authorized by Bush himself. Who here didn't already think that? Only those who believe W. is told
just enough so he'll think he's in charge, that's who.
So what will the fallout be? Presumably, whatever the administration is angling for with this stunt -- unless the media, and all of America wise up and don't take the bait.
I confess, I liked Fred Dalton Thompson, the actor, I really did. But I liked those old "Go, O.J. Go!" Hertz commercials, too. And yet, in The Hunt for Red October, Thompson summed up Libby's 'revelation' best:
"Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan."
Scooter Libby let Judy Miller sit in jail for -- how long? -- and then said, "Oh. Sorry. I didn't know you were waiting
me to waive confidentiality."
Like hell. Libby waited until a plan was hatched, set, and ready to go. His statements yesterday came during a slow news cycle, and enflamed a cold story. Why?
Why? Why? Why?
Well, I suspect to focus everyone's attention on the legalities, and the ethics, and the implications. Did Bush commit a crime? Is this an impeachable offense? Will Joe Wilson's head explode?
Presidents don't get tried for their crimes because all Presidents commit a crime or two. If the meanest, most bitter, Bush-hating Democrat were elected POTUS on Monday, he'd pardon Bush on Tuesday, and Cheney, Rice, Rove, Fleishcer, and Libby at 4:59 PM on Friday.
Bush will not be impeached. He has a free pass until at least January, 2007. Should the Democrats regain any legislative power in '06, the margin is not likely to be large enough to initiate a speedy impeachment. And as 2007 winds down, the 2008 elections will take center stage. On cue, the "Who Wants to Win the Greatest Race to Survivor Island: Central Greenland, and Marry Simon Cowell in the World's Greatest Inventor's Edible Snow Globe" demographic will look up from their Quarter Pounders and mutter, "Eh. He'll be gone in November anyway."
(Damn. Gave myself up with that "edible snow globe" reference)
Have you ever really stopped to think about all that George H.W. Bush has done, without getting a drop on him? Even the pretty obvious stuff is nauseating -- Iran-Contra, hiding/laundering money for Pinochet, Clinton and "PassportGate" -- not to mention the downright horrifying, and quasi-credible allegations of boy prosititutes, and playing spoiler to Carter's October surprise.
The Bush family dynasty is a breathtaking accomplishment. It is the merger of not one, but arguably the two worst political legacies in American history:
"His good looks and inoffensive personality caused him to make many friends, but he did not do what was necessary to avoid the impending [war], thus giving him his reputation as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. Wikipedia
George W. Bush's future Wikipedia entry? Nope, Franklin Pierce, Barbara Bush's third great uncle. Or, whatever. As a former British colony, we should know better. You exile people like that to France or Spain, and make your enemies put up with their noblesse oblige crap.
Look at them: the wimp, the villiage idiot, and...and...Jeb.
And yet they persist like head lice, persist because everything is part of plan, thinking four steps ahead when your opponents stop at three. Like a titan of industry or Director of Central Intelligence.
We're being set up by Scooter Libby. And it probably isn't even about this presidency: it's about the next one. This is a staged event from the people who brought you "Keep our Majority PAC," people so blinded by the need to win and control everything that they think democracy can exist with a single party.
What does the next generation of totalitarians masquerading as Republicans gain by Libby's revelation? What is the plan?
Because unless we figure that out, it will once again be this great country that gets dumped on.