With a name like "Scooter," he was bound to be indicted.

As any casual reader of these pages can see, I am a conservative; therefore, it seems an appropriate time to comment on the recent indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff.

I am neither surprised nor demoralized. First, I tend to believe that the facts of the case will clearly show that no crime was committed in the release of Valerie Plame's intelligence identity to the press. Indeed, I think the release tends to undermine Joe Wilson's credibility on the Niger issue altogether. But more on that, perhaps, later.

Second, I have very little patience for the obsession in Washington for cover-ups. As I read through Fitzgerald's accusations against Libby, I think I see a clear pattern emerging: Libby wanted to get the Plame story out there, tried to do it in a way that was carefully crafted not to get him in trouble (this already displays some consciousness of guilt), then lied about it when he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. This, of course, is not the time to trust your ability to deceive.

Third, I feel these are serious charges (you won't hear either the "there's no underlying crime" or the "perjury is a technicality" arguments here), and I think Fitzgerald has investigated fairly. Libby was right to resign, and Bush was right to accept said resignation.

Here are some things I don't believe:

• Joe Wilson is a hero. Dear God, there are some people out there who believe this. I heard Barbara Boxer on Larry King Live last night spewing some sort of nonsense about "If only we'd listened to Ambassador Wilson, we wouldn't be in this quagmire." The Niger/uranium issue is a complicated one, and I think Wilson's own words, from his now-famous New York Times editorial, suggest how seriously his conclusions should be considered:

  "I spent the next eight days drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people…It did not take long to conclude that it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had taken place."

• This is the worst scandal since Watergate. No, this is politics as usual. The wrinkle here is that the person who put partisan hack Wilson's name forward for the Niger job was his wife, and she was a CIA employee. If she'd been, for instance, a UN employee, there would not be any scandal at all. Sure, elements in the administration wanted Wilson's conclusions subjected to serious scrutiny, and the fact that his wife thought he was qualified for this job is relevant. And don't kid yourselves: any Democratic administration would have done the same thing. Perhaps this is the problem.
  
• Rove is next. Well, maybe. But I find it hard to believe that, after Fitzgerald's deep investigation, the "smoking gun" that will nail Rove is going to be found. Perhaps he was simply not the mover here--remember that Wilson's grudge against the administration centered around Cheney, not Bush. Is it really hard to believe that, say, a reporter who had heard a whisper of something from Libby, or floating around elsewhere, would call Rove to confirm, and that he might just say "everyone seems to be asking that question"?
  
• This is worse than Clinton's perjury. As I recall, the Democratic talking heads were all about "there was no underlying crime" back in the Lewinsky days; now, they seem to be singing a different tune and justifying it with the old "Clinton lied, but nobody died" lyrics. This is not an issue of national security, since we can assume that Fitzgerald would have charged Rove and/or Libby under the terms of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 if he had the evidence. This assumes (and, to be fair, I'll be waiting for the final reports on the case to make a final determination) that Plame was not covert or had not been on overseas assignment for the five years prior to the "unmasking" act.
  

I'm content to let the investigation proceed, and for those found guilty to pay the prescribed penalties.

Tags: Libby, Rove, Plame, Karl Rove, PlameGate