Can't Get off the Rollercoaster

The fun never seems to stop in the White House these days. Dubya must feel like a guy strapped into a loop-de-loop rollercoaster who's unable to unbuckle himself and keeps going around for another ride: "Whoo-whee! Hey Guys, that was great, but I need to get off now! Guys?" The latest bump for the Bushies is the NYTime article that puts Cheney in the middle of the CIA leak / Plamegate scandal. It's now come out that Dick passed on Valerie Plame's identity to his chief-of-staff, Scooter. This is bad news to come out for Scooter (and for Dick), since Scooter seems to have lied to Special Investigator Fitzgerald about where he heard about Plame. That would be a federal crime (felony, I believe), punishable by a jail term - lying to the Feds is a No-No, as Martha found out only too well. Looks like, at at minimum, Scooter's going to Federal PYITA Prison.

Now, Scooter appears to doing the loyal soldier routine, falling on his sword for his commander, so that Slippery Dick can slide out of the line of fire. It may not work, however, as it's more than the liberals who are baying for his blood. If Dick was orchestrating the conspiracy (to use Fitzgerald's wording) to impugn Ambassador Wilson and out his undercover CIA wife, then that could find the media and even some on the right to come after him as well. Doesn't it strike you as unpatriotic, nay, even treasonous, to reveal an undercover CIA operative's identity for purely short-term political motivations, with no thought to the impact that action may have upon that operative or their contacts/network? If you blow someone's cover when they're out in the field, their contacts can be blown, which is dangerous, to say the least. Dick, Dick, Dick, you shoulda known better.

What's Bush's response to this Perfect Storm - stay the course. Don't change horses in midstream. According to WashPost, his big response will be to say we had to go into Iraq to stop terrorists attacking us again. Ummm, we heard that one already, and I don't think it'll sound too convincing Yet Again. Next on W's agenda: push for conservative-flavored tax reform. Huh? And that will help... how? You gotta give it to him for tenacity / obstinacy.

Rainy day, which must fit the mood of Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, the Veep and the rest of the fellas caught in the sites of Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald. All the papers and blogosphere are a-twitter over the focus of the Plame investigation & what it'll mean to the Bushies. This much is true, if the rest of 43's 2nd term are anything approximate to the past cpl of weeks, 43 will see his transformation into Nixon right before our very eyes. It's the Perfect Storm (Katrina fuckup, Iraq quagmire, Harriet "Yes, there's no one more qualified" Miers, Plamegate, DeLay in handcuffs, McCain's investigation into the GOP lobbyist Abramhoff, and on and on).

Bush must be saying "Why Me?" I think part of the answer lies in the absence of Rove, obviously. I got to think that the Miers intro wouldn't have been fumbled so badly had Bush's "Boy Genius" been around to steer the process. (Note: just where/how did Bush come up with his other nickname for Rove: "Turd Blossom"?) Rove's been out of the White House, out to "spend more time with his family" - which is the euphemism for "kicked out" that gets trotted out anytime some bigwig is given the boot or caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Rove's supposedly been out with his wife, driving their kid around to "visit colleges." Hmmm. Karl's been told to stay at arm's length, lest he besmirch Bush when/if the indictments come down.

But the problem is, that Bush - apparently - absolutely has Gotta Have Rove. He crumbles like a soggy Chip-ahoy when Karl's not around to steer him. In fact, there's even whispers that Bush has begun to hit the bottle again. Not that this didn't cross many people's mind, my own included, after the infamous pretzel-choking incident (see this photo, if that was on Laura, everyone'd be saying she'd "walked into a door"). However, without a shred of evidence, best to leave the gossip about if he's on/off the wagon alone, I think. There's enough implosion going on. These Bushies are like the Minnesota Vikings and their infamous pleasure cruise, they're doing all the worst damage to themselves. Since we're less than 1 year into the 2nd term, I'm fascinated to see where this will all go - it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.