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has kept his investigation open and seated a new grand jury? Why did he commit himself, in his Libby press conference, to finding out WHY this leak happened (because, as he said, it's a matter of great importance to national security)?
I can only imagine the levels of obstruction he is up against. But I fall more on the optimistic end of things--at least as to the grand theater that may be in the offing. The Libby indictment clearly pointed to Cheney. I don't think Rove has the stamina that Libby does for facing the threat of prison, and either Rove will break, or one of the others will that Fitzgerald has in a vise. (Libby's on a great crusade to kill Arabs and Persians, it seems to me--lots of them; whereas Rove is just sort of a whirligig of emptiness, stuck in mere dirty tricks mode, from adolescence. This is not to say that Libby isn't a sort of adolescent. He is. His hero is James Bond. Slightly more grown up than Rove. Not much. But the key is that his hero would never yield to torture, and would toss off pain with a cocktail and a smart remark. That's Libby. But Rove looks like--and IS, I think--a little, stuck, squealing pig.)
Not to say payoffs and Bush pardons aren't at work in this situation. I'm sure they are. But I think everything points to a Cheney indictment (unindicted co-conspirator--has to go to Congress), that he will resign, and that Rice will replace him as VP and be groomed to be Diebolded into office in '08. That's what it smells like. It remains to be seen whether it will work out that smoothly for the Republicans.
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