Dark Overlord Cheney Survives By Throwing Acolytes To Wolves

Ok, I grant you, this is one for the "not news" category, but I couldn't let the day go by without remarking it.

Scooter Libby was found guilty today. Poor Scooter ~ we all know that he was just following instructions from Cheney & that Rove was somehow involved, but Scooter is the only one facing possible jail time.

What did he get for his unwavering loyalty to the Dark Depths of the Neocon Cause? More than a lousy T-shirt, & maybe possibly an attractive orange jumpsuit. But the judge did note that Libby is "not a flight risk," so the orange jumpsuit will have to wait. Libby's lawyers intend to appeal, of course.

Demon Princess applauds Fitzgerald for his work ~ several people I talked to today were dismayed at all the things that didn't happen in this trial, but I think it is of historic significance that a guilty verdict was reached, considering our way-beleagured legal system under the Neocons. And in any event, litigation is the art of war & strategy in any arena, but none more high-profile & difficult than Fitz's, especially in an era of deep-blackout, bullshit & spin swallowed whole for American politics.

Fitz's accomplishment is an affirmation that some shred of the rule of law remains, & some brave lawyers have what it takes to preserve what's left of it.

We're passing through a particularly dark night where American government is concerned, & this trial came as close as anything we've yet seen in terms of exposing what's so deeply wrong & troubling at the intersection of politics, the media & an extraordinarily brutal neo-con regime.

As Andrew Cohen sums it up for the WaPo (title bar), it's the exposure of the inner workings of this White House, & particularly of Overlord Cheney's machinations that are most enlightening.

"The story here isn't that Libby was convicted after a drubbing by prosecutors. The story here is that the events which led to his troubles are standard operating procedure in the corridors and backrooms and Blackberries of power. Government officials have before in our history used their power and knowledge to try to destroy their political enemies. And they will do so again.

"Reporters before in our history have been manipulated by ambition and laziness into becoming the tribunes of this sleazy work --into becoming the instruments of the attempted first-degree reputation murder. And no doubt they will be again.
..
"...[T]he story of how the White House tried to get back at former ambassador Joseph Wilson after he went rogue on foreign policy is now familiarly embarrassing to all those who were involved, including the Vice President of the United States. Indeed, even more than Libby, who is looking at prison time, Cheney gets my vote for the biggest loser in all of this.

"Why? Before the trial, his adversaries considered him a ruthless, nasty politician who was the big-picture dark architect of the Bush Administration's most vital policies, foreign and domestic.

"After the trial, added as a layer upon that ugly perception, Cheney's friends and opponents alike now have to concede that he was also in this instance at least a meddling, petty bureaucrat who spent time at his undisclosed secure location worrying about how the White House would get back at Wilson, a penny-ante operator in the high-stakes game of politics over Iraq.

"Think Darth Vader cutting out Luke Skywalker clips with a penknife and then whining about it to his subordinates within the Evil Empire and you get a decent mental image of how much Cheney lost as a result of this trial.

"And he certainly didn't gain anything back when Libby's attorneys chose not to call Cheney to the witness stand after all their pre-trial preaching about how the Vice President would testify for his friend and former subordinate.

"Either the stench of Libby's pending defeat was too much for Cheney, in which case it appears as though he abandoned his friend, or the stench of Cheney's involvement in this tawdry matter was too much for Libby's lawyers, in which case it appears that his friend abandoned him.

"Either way, it's a terrible denouement for the man labeled the most important vice president in history."

Read on, & savor the moment. Some things are still working as they're supposed to. We've not been completely bamboozled yet.