So I leave my computer for twelve hours, and this happens:
Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, is expected to be indicted today for making false statements to the grand jury in the C.I.A. leak case, lawyers in the case said Thursday.
Karl Rove, President Bush’s senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, will not be charged today, but will remain under investigation, people briefed officially about the case said. As a result, they said, the special counsel in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, was likely to extend the term of the federal grand jury beyond its scheduled expiration today.
First of all, it’s hard not to be a little disappointed. For though I may be a moral and just and fair man, there was a part of me – actually a big part – that just wanted to see Rove get nailed. Which is “moral” and “just” I suppose, but not entirely “fair.” So I feel kind of let down, now that he’s a while from getting his comeuppance, or (heaven forbid) going to get off.
With that said, there’s still a bit of fun to be had. For one, this means another few weeks for the White House to sit with its thumb up its ass, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Which means Bush can’t use the new SCOTUS nominee to distract from the indictments; or maybe he will wait that long, but the Miers story will be long out of steam before then.
Plus it’s just kind of nice to see the administration sweat.
But I am now much less convinced that justice will ultimately be done. Scooter Libby is going down, of course, but there’s a lot of people who are going to end up untouched by this scandal, and that’s just unforgivable.