Some of my righty friends who have been telling me for months that Rove, Libby, et. al. will not be indicted in Affaire d’Plame have been whistling past the graveyard. As I’ve said on more than one occasion, Special Prosecutors don’t sit around for 22 months without indicting someone.

A parallel would be what went on with the Manhattan Project during World War II. The government had spent billions (back when billions actually meant lots and lots of money) developing an atomic bomb. But as the “gadget” got closer to completion, some scientists began to have second thoughts about even setting it off.

Enter Leslie Groves who had been in charge of building the Pentagon which at the time was one of the biggest construction projects in human history. Groves had a Roman Catholic’s sense toward taxpayer money – the people paid for a show and they were going to get one by hook or by crook. Groves ended up managing the mini-mutiny by placing a couple of scientists on the targeting committee and then tried convincing Harry Truman that the taxpayers would boil him in oil if the bomb wasn’t used against Japan.

This little by play has been used by revisionist historians to supposedly show that President Truman wanted to use the bomb because of the enormous cost involved that had to be justified to the American people. Anyone who has read anything about Harry Truman knows that to be a crock, as the Missourian was much more worried about facing the mothers, fathers, and wives of men who would have been lost in an invasion of Japan if he had not used the bomb. Truman was convinced if it came out after the war that he could have ended the conflict a full year earlier if he had used both “Fat Man” and Little Boy,” he would probably have been impeached.

The point being, that Fitzgerald has to have a scalp or two to hang on the wall. If he thinks he has a conspiracy to out Valerie Plame, he could cast a wide net indeed, capturing at the very least Scooter Libby and perhaps even Karl Rove, although it appears that Rove is not a target.

And then there was this curiosity about where Fitzgerald was going with the investigation:

Evidence is building that the probe conducted by Patrick Fitzgerald, special prosecutor, has extended beyond the leaking of a covert CIA agent’s name to include questioning about the administration’s handling of pre-Iraq war intelligence.

According to the Democratic National Committee, a majority of the nine members of the White House Iraq Group have been questioned by Mr Fitzgerald. The team, which included senior national security officials, was created in August 2002 to “educate the public” about the risk posed by weapons of mass destruction on Iraq.

Mr Fitzgerald, who has been applauded for conducting a leak-free inquiry, has said little publicly about his 22-month probe, other than that it is about the “potential retaliation against a whistleblower”, Joseph Wilson. After Mr Wilson, a former ambassador, went public with doubts about the evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons, the name of his wife, Valerie Plame, a CIA official, was leaked to reporters.

“According to the Democratic National Committee…??” Wha? Who? WTF? Since when has the DNC been a reliable source of news out of the Special Prosecutor’s office?

At any rate, I have no doubt he has talked to the Iraq Survey Group. That would make perfect sense if he has another candidate for the perp walk; how does an indictment of Joseph Wilson, III grab ya?

Fitzgerald may just throw up his hands, indict the lot of them (including Judith Miller) and let the courts sort it out. After all, Wilson has admitted to leaking classified information himself which may explain the interviews with the ISG. Perhaps Fitzgerald was trying to ascertain just how classified Wilson’s trip was so that he can decide if the former ambassador illegally leaked info to Nicholas Kristoff of the Times back in May – more than 2 months before his OpEd appeared in that publication.

Speaking of curious, what’s with E.J. Dionne? Is he off his meds again?

We are on the verge of an extraordinary moment in American politics. The people running our government are about to face their day—or days—in court.

Those who thought investigations were a wonderful thing when Bill Clinton was president are suddenly facing prosecutors, and they don’t like it. It seems like a hundred years ago when Clinton’s defenders were accusing his opponents of using special prosecutors, lawsuits, criminal charges and, ultimately, impeachment to overturn the will of the voters.

Clinton’s conservative enemies would have none of this. No, they said over and over, the Clinton mess was not about sex but about “perjury and the obstruction of justice” and “the rule of law.”

The old conservative talking points are now inoperative.

Huh? I have yet to hear a single Republican say a word in support of the idea that outing a CIA agent should not be punished severely be the target Rove, or Libby, or any other Administration official. Not. A. One.

So where does he get “The old conservative talking points are now inoperative…?” The fact that the Cavalcade of Comedy involving Keystone Cop Ronnie Earle down in Texas and his continuing easter egg hunt for first, a grand jury sufficiently ignorant of the facts to indict Tom Delay a second time (after the first one didn’t quite take, it not being a crime in 2003 to do what Delay did in 2002) and second, to search for a document that the bumpkin told the grand jury he had in his possesion but has since, er…vanished. If that’s history, it’s more like Mel Brooks than Richard Brookhesier.

Unlike Clinton’s wild-eyed apologists who yelped for years that selling the office of the President for first, campaign contributions and then to build the ugliest Presidential Library in America was only a venal sin (kind of like thinking impure thoughts about Mary Wilson in 8th grade but not doing anything about it), conservatives have said in no uncertain terms what would happen if Rove or Libby, or anyone else was indicted. It’s just that, being conservatives, our equanimity about waiting for the Special Prosecutor to actually charge someone – anyone – with a crime can be misinterpreted. Wait and see is a good attitude to have when the political fires are being stoked by a bunch of morons who actually believe that voting machines in Ohio were hacked to give Bush the election last November.

Predictably, the Kos kids are all aflutter with anticipation. It’s actually quite entertaining. If Fitzgerald were not to indict any of the biggies, can we imagine the meltdown over at Kos Kingdom and other lefty sites?

This diary post at Kos has some advice for those who can’t stand the suspense:

10. Put down the caffeine: For the next 48 hours, cleanse your body of java, aspartame, splenda, and whatever other shit you’ve been putting in your system. Your body will be producing more adrenaline during Fitzmas than it did when you were a hormone-crazed teenager, so don’t fuel the fire.

1. Enjoy the moment: Take a DEEP breath, and savor the fact that you’re witnessing history being made. The outing of Plame was a vicious act, but nothing will be as sweet as watching justice being served.

Whatever the outcome, I can’t see the Kos kids being very happy. After all, Bushitler is there for three more years – plenty of time for them to have more apoplectic fits over Bush successes in Iraq and other spheres.

UPDATE

John Cole is actually worried about the mental health of the moonbats if Fitzgerald doesn’t indict anyone. I would say, for the reasons annunciated above, not to worry John. But it’s a pity that those lefties don’t appreciate you for your concern, John. Tomorrow, they’ll just be back to blasting you.