The Heretik: ELIOT NESS 2005

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October 29, 2005

ELIOT NESS 2005

YOU HEAR A LOT about the letdown yesterday of “just Libby” and non “substantive” charges in the what is now the PlameOut prosecution. Oh, and the White Knight of Democrat and Liberal Hopes Patrick Fitzgerald pulled up short of the dark castle. No Niger documents, no connection of some WHIG conspiracy, nothing to attach this prosecution to an “illegal war?” Wasn’t Patrick Fitzgerald supposed to be some Twenty first Century Eliot Ness come to take down the White House mob with guns ablazing? [Jason Zengerle/TNR]
Maybe Fitzgerald just has a very impressive poker face, but it sure seemed from his press conference that none of those things is now going to happen. Even the talk, earlier in the day, that Rove was now in an excruciating legal limbo seems like it was overblown. The five indictments against Libby appear to be the only indictments Fitzgerald is going to bring. It seems there's a good chance Rove is off the hook and an even better chance that everyone else is, as well. And since Fitzgerald's such a stickler for rules, it's doubtful we're ever going to get much of an accounting of what else, besides the charges he's laid out against Libby, he learned about the Bush administration's shenanigans in the course of this investigation. In other words, the whole notion that the Fitzgerald investigation was going to reveal how the Bush administration led us into Iraq now seems to have been completely wrong. Democrats wanted their own Ken Starr--a prosecutor who let his investigation metastasize and whose operation leaked like a sieve. Instead, they got Elliot Ness.

WE GOT ELIOT NESS Some guns blaze more quietly than a tommy gun, but are just as deadly. For all the desire for blood to go to ground and a full on gang war now, perhaps people forget Eliot Ness’s greatest victory came not in a headline grabbing shoot out, though the television show with a Winchell voice over would have you believe it. Eliot Ness took down Al Capone with an income evasion conviction, something not much substantive nor connective to murder and mayhem the mob made happen.

MORE MAY HAPPEN than just the prosecution of Libby in these months to come and the White House breathes easier for this weekend at least. But who can doubt the White House looks the better now than it did when all these lies first were sprung? Libby isn’t going to go away and the dark story within the story within the story won’t either. As has been noted before, the White House so confident when controlling the narrative no longer has rein on all good word. And as each day passes, the sky grows no lighter and more hard rain will fall.

RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL READING
HOW TO TURN NESS'S BULLET TO BLANKS [Talk Left] If Libby doesn’t go to trial, few facts beyond those alleged in the indictment may enter the public record. If the true story comes out only in conversations with reporters, the administration will blame a liberal press and could succeed in containing much of the damage that full, public exposure of the facts would bring.

THE HERETIK AGREES such a course could work. Whether it will is another matter.

October 29, 2005 at 11:53 AM in FILED UNDER UNBELIEVABLE | Permalink

Comments

I think it's hiliarious that so many people on the right are celebrating the fact that yesterday wasn't as bad as it could have been. They are in for a very big disappointment, one that will be revealed over a very long amount of time.

Posted by: Matt | October 29, 2005 at 01:23 PM

I'm with Matt but I hope it doesn't take too long. Americans lose interest quickly.

Posted by: eRobin | October 29, 2005 at 01:30 PM

I hope there's more to come. I'm still feeling like a kid after all the presents are opened and I didn't get what I wanted. A lot will depend on how the media plays it.

Posted by: libby | October 29, 2005 at 02:58 PM

This story won't go away and if the WH thinks they got off easy, they need to find new spin. The new story will be a) the continuing investigation by Fitzgerald and how Rove intends to slime his way out of an indictment. Fitz is known for squeezing his targets and using them against each other to get at the big fish and I think it's pretty clear that that is exactly what happened with 'Official A' (Rove).

The witness list at this trial will be pretty impressive. And it is the admnistration's worst nightmare. Just think Dick Cheney, Libby, Ari Fleisher, Karl Rove, Judith Miller, Tim Russert, Robert Novak, Condi Rice (?), Joe Wilson, and possibly Valerie Plame herself- all under oath? My lawyer's instinct tells me that part of the reason Fitz impaneled a new grand jury and extended the investigation, is because this parade of ethically-challanged characters including Rove, may lie and are still in legal jeopardy (or will be, if they aren't already).

Posted by: Stacy B | October 29, 2005 at 03:18 PM

Well said, SB. The public spectacle of all this has not really been considered. The depths some of those in the heights must come down to should prove interesting. No Cheney and Bush let's testify together so we keep our stories straight scenarios allowed. Oy.

Posted by: The Heretik | October 29, 2005 at 03:35 PM

It`s not exactly all socks and underwear, but it`s not a pony or a bike either. Fitzgerald is homing in on the Dark Lord.

Posted by: blogenfreude | October 29, 2005 at 04:54 PM

I agree with Matt, above. Take a look at the Watergate timeline -- it took years to reach Nixon. The point is, it did reach him, and the fire will reach Bush. We just have a smoldering fire in Fitz, instead of a raging fire.

Posted by: CE Petro | October 29, 2005 at 06:17 PM

Thanks kids. Good points. You cheer me up more than James Moore did.

Posted by: libby | October 29, 2005 at 06:24 PM

The chimp looked purty glum on Friday when he said adieu to Scooter. And Fitzgerald's paid the chimp's own lawyer a visit, too, it seems. Synchronicity?

Posted by: No Blood for Hubris | October 30, 2005 at 10:45 AM

If Fitzgerald had indicted Rove we'd all be talking about the ways this hurts the President, exclusively. We'd also be dealing with fiercer allegations that the investigation was all about "criminalizing politics."

By indicting only Libby the conversation has included more detailed discussions of the actual crimes that were committed. Fitzgerald appears to be a brilliant strategist, and part of that for a prosecutor means controlling the part of the investigation and trial that takes place outside the courtroom.

He knows he needs to win the battle for public opinion as well as get his indictments and convictions.

That TNR piece is a bizarre. The writer doesn't claim any inside information. His reason for claiming Fitzgerald is all done seems to be based entirely on his hope that he is. And he seems to hope for it not because he's a fan of Rove but because he wants to be able to say I told you so to people who were a little too enthusiastic about Fitzmas.

As the Heretik, Matt, and StacyB all emphasize, there's going to be a trial that is not in the White House's best interests and so obviously Fitzgerald is far from done. And he's a go where the facts lead him kind of prosecutor. We can already see which woods those facts are leading into. This isn't good for Bush or Rove.

Excellent Photoshopping job, Heretik, and thanks for all the great links.

Posted by: Lance Mannion | October 31, 2005 at 05:08 AM