David Corn, of the Nation, discovers the real cost of the special counsel: dashed hopes of indictment.
Early this morning, Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's lawyer, told reporters that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald had sent him a letter stating that Rove would not be indicted in the CIA leak case. In a statement, Luskin declared, "We believe that the Special Counsel's decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove's conduct."
Once a special counsel is appointed, he has none of the limitations in time and resources that ordinary investigators have to live with. As a consequence, he pursues lines of investigation that no responsible police force would bother with. This results in enormous costs and hardships for the targets of the investigation, often without any charges. It also builds unrealistic expectations in the enemies of those targets. Of course, Corn thinks that Rove plenty guilty.
Bush administration (and Rove) advocates will spin this news as vindication for the mastermind of George W. Bush's presidential campaigns. But there is no need for baseless speculation to conclude that Rove was involved in the leak and that the White House misled the public about his participation and broke a pledge to fire anyone who had leaked information about Valerie Wilson, the CIA officer married to former ambassador Joseph Wilson, a critic of the administration.
Okay. But none of this has attracted much public interest yet, and if nothing illegal happened, what does it matter? Corn and the KOSsacks were hoping for a big, juicy indictment just before the fall elections. Now that we know that isn't going to happen, it counts as a net win for the administration. Its been the first good week for the Bush folks in more than a year, but its been a very good week.
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