WHITE HOUSE RAPID RESPONSE PROPAGANDA SQUAD

WHILE HE KNEW there was no chance of skiing with Scooter in Aspen this winter and that Harriet Miers would forever be the President’s girl, White House Propaganda Chief Fred Waldman contented himself with the certainty of a fat bonus for this year’s work.  And there was much more to be done.

WALDMAN KNEW brick by brick he had built a wall that could hold, at least for awhile.  Before his sigh was even a whisper on the wind, Waldman was called suddenly.  Cheney’s huge ass had to be extricated from a large hole it had fallen into.  Before he could get to the hole where there was much howling, he would have to leap over the eggshells. Eggshells were everywhere. 

AND IN RELATED NEWS
WORST WEEK EVER/BEST WEEK EVER? [Kevin Aylward/Wizbang] Earlier this week the mainstream press was awash with stories of this being President Bush's "worst week ever." We'll forgive them their hyperbole since their evidence was pretty strong: looming indictments in the Plame case; the faltering Miers nomination; and the 2000th military death in Iraq.

Magically just a few days later the sun is shining brightly on the White House again. How so? 

THE HERETIK ASKS how so indeed?  Nominee withdrawn, White House player indicted?  The right sees no fallout with Libby, but a few more bombs yet may blast.  Where Powerline and others see vindication in Fitzgerald's seeming distance of the Libby case from the prosecution of the war in Iraq, The Heretik sees a confident man who can convict Libby on narrow but pointed facts.  As for the connection to the war connections, others may then draw conclusions from convictions or plea bargains gained from such 'narrow' facts.  On such facts Fitzgerald coyly leaves it to partisans to take their hacks.

THE HERETIK KNOWS Fitzgerald may be silent on the war connection, but Libby fairly screams. Whatever attaches to Libby inevitably must string Cheney.

SUGGESTED READING
THE SHAPE SHIFTERS [Glenn Kessler/WaPo] The indictment and resignation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby ends the partnership between two men -- Libby and Vice President Cheney -- who have shaped and often dominated policymaking throughout the Bush presidency, especially toward Iraq.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Comments

[Sheik Yerhariboudi]

It would be a gross underestimation of Fitzgerald's ability and shrewdness to assume that he's completed his assault upon Mordor.

The main reason he's isolated Libby is to make Scooter feel like the lonely fall guy. Fitz has so far the stickiest, steepest charges and he can paste at least ten years' worth of jail time on Scoot.

Scoot feels alone, abandoned. He flips. Investigation continues and Scooter doesn't go to the Crowbar Hotel for a stretch of protracted rape and humiliation.

Let's not even mention DISBARRMENT.

Fitz is betting that Scooter would rather see Dick in an orange jumpsuit and face the humiliation of remaining free by peaching on his betters. Fitz has just so much ammo at this moment, and is looking for more, but needs help in getting it firmly in his hands. Fitz knows what it is, who has it and how to get it completely loaded into his gun.

He's just picking his targets at this moment, not overreaching: not expecting to take down a grizzly with a .38 special.

[The Heretik]

Agreed, Yerhariboudi. As much as you see defenders of Mordor citing the language in the indictment as limiting the damage, the document is also intriguing for what it does not say. The limited sense Fitzgerald discussed Libby's specific problems does not mean there will not be more general problems in Mordor later.