Over the weekend I was trying to figure out why Fitzgerald only indicted Libby even though after reading the indictment it is very clear that this was an organized administration effort to discredit Wilson by outing Valarie Plame.
What I have come to is this. I think Fitzgerald is pitching the first inning by charging only Libby. But, he played it straight to convince Bush that this is all he's got. Bush who is now making his own decisions because he doesn't know who to trust in his own cabinet - was tricked into blowing his cover too early (read: supreme court nomination, scary bird flu speech).
Bush's solution was kind of like a baseball manager bringing in his closer to get out of a first inning jam. It might get you to the second inning without too much damage but later in the game it is going to be a problem.
Fitzgerald now just has to wait a week or so then announce the next indictment. Bush will have no ready made distractions at that point because of today's scary speech and yesterday's premature nomination.
The added bonus is that all of the right wing journalists and pundits also took the bait. So smug with their - no indictments for the original crime - statements. I can't wait until they have to eat those words. Fitz your plan is working perfectly.
And just today, Harry Reid turned the page back to the Iraq phony intelligence issue by forcing the Senate into a closed session, and promising to do so every day until
ReplyDeletethe Republicans agree to a congressional investigation.
ReplyDeleteOops! Fixed the link!