No Frogmarch

After two years of hoping to see Karl Rove frog-marched in a perp walk, liberals got the veep's chief of staff hobbling on crutches. The New York Times had to admit: "Even after the indictment on Friday of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Mr. Bush has no immediate plans to bring in fresh faces or fire any top aides, especially if his senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, is not charged in the C.I.A. leak case."

Remember, this is the newspaper that instigated this investigation, demanded a special prosecutor and sent a reporter to jail to try to nail Karl Rove. Nope. But they have not given up trying. The summary for Frank Rich's column today reads:

"Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation is just one window into the genesis of the smoke screen that the White House used to sell the war in Iraq."

And of course, over at the Nation, Tom Englehardt:

"Think of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of the Vice President's Chief of Staff as but a judicial wade-in-the-water; and yet the charges against Libby already bring to mind the cover-up charges that unraveled the Nixon White House during the Watergate era."

No, pal. Not. Within two years and two months after the Watergate break-in, Nixon had resigned. Within a year of perjuring himself in a deposition, Clinton faced impeachment. This case is not just beginning. It is ending. Indicted on five counts, pleads on two.

WaPo's Dan Balz rightly points out that the failed Miers nomination, hurricanes, gas prices and war have taken their toll on the president. But this thing? It must be sad to see a friend depart the White House, but scandals happen. If anything, Bush emerges from this investigation with a clean bill of health. So does Rove. They faced the proctology of federal prosecution and survived.

Jo at Jo's Cafe said something I have been thinking about for a long time:

"I feel sorry for the loony left - really I do. Must be so hard to walk around with such a black, cold unfeeling heart all the time. To hate so much that you would do and say anything to win is so sick."

At some point you have to get over it. The election is over. We have a president. Move On!

Liberals are the reactionaries now. But the first public opinion poll shows only 12% believe the president did something illegal. Move On needs to do just that.

How a few others see it:

California Conservative would like to tell Scooter: "You’re not a Democrat, Scooter, you’re a Republican. We expect much more from each other."

The Unalienable Right: "Top Dems are already lying about Scootergate."

It is worse than that. As Wizbang pointed out, "None of the things that Libby has been indicted for occurred before the start of the investigation. In other words, as of right now there was apparently no crime committed in the actions that triggered the investigation."

Can we just get rid of the special prosecutors already? This case is a waste of time.

Cross posted at Don Surber.