WILL WE FIND THE SOILED DRESS IN ROVE'S LAUNDRY?

Libby: the views from Left and Right are as far apart as the earth is from the sun. The Right says that Libby is accused of lying about a crime that was never committed; the Left says that Libby is just the first in a chain of liars who lied to the country about Iraq, lies that go all the way to the top

Consider the spokespeople on the Left: we are waging nuclear war in Iraq (Cindy Sheehan), that there was cannibalism in New Orleans (Randall Robinson), that George Bush and Dick Cheney should be shot (the novelist Jane Smiley) or executed (Al Franken). If you think I'm cherry picking, try Durbin and Kennedy who slander American soldiers as akin to either Saddam’s torturers or even Nazis and Stalinists. The Left has allied itself with Arab kleptocracies and the corrupt Europeans and leave no stone unturned in order to be "right" on Iraq. Oliver Willis sums up in six points the Left view of Bush and the Libby indictment:

1. They ignore warning signs about terrorist attacks
2. They leak classified information to the media
3. They lie under oath and obstruct justice in an investigation about national security violations
4. They send our country into war without an exit strategy and without a good reason
5. They create massive deficits while only cutting spending on vital social programs and veteran benefits
6. They fill vital government positions with political cronies, leading to death and disaster

That about sums up most of the Left.

Consider the Right: here it gets very dicey because the MSM would have us all believe that the "extreme" Right is all the neo Nazis, the apocalypic Christian groups, and the "Patriot Movement," those armed anti-government groups who talk only to themselves. The actual Right seems to be celebrating the Miers demise while searching for a reality about the Libby case. Libby has a lifetime record of honesty and clarity of purpose. "Why did he lie, if he lied." is the cry right now because it doesn't make sense. There may be no instant Right Wing view of the case right now other than wonder.

The good liberals, ones that actually think? Today's Washington Post editorializes as follows:

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby should be the final proof that the system of "special prosecutors" is bankrupt and ought to be abandoned.

Fitzgerald, a highly respected federal prosecutor from Chicago, was given the task of investigating whether Bush administration officials had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by "leaking" the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame.

It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters. Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished. Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai, once the sword is drawn it must taste blood.

Which is sort of what I said yesterday and let me say it again: no more special prosecutors for anything unless it's for a specific crime and nothing else, and before they go on their kamikazi run at underlings and secretaries the subject of the "probe" must be limited and authorized by two thirds of both houses of congress. The only thing left is for Fitzie is to find a soiled dress in Rove's laundry.