NY Times: Rove Won't Be Indicted

According to the New York Times, the previous post just became, as Nixon White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler once said, "inoperative."

The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove.

The decision by the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, announced in a letter to Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, lifted a pall that had hung over Mr. Rove who testified on five occasions to a federal grand jury about his involvement in the disclosure of an intelligence officer's identity.

In a statement, Mr. Luskin said, "On June 12, 2006, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove."

[...]

In his statement Mr. Luskin said he would not address other legal questions surrounding Mr. Fitzgerald's decision. He added, "In deference to the pending case, we will not make any further public statements about the subject matter of the investigation. We believe that the Special Counsel's decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove's conduct."

Well, there you are.

If it is any consolation, Scooter Libby is still going on trial for his involvement in the Plame case, and that should make life a tad uncomfortable for the White House. And if Karl Rove is off the hook in terms of his legal status, it means that he will still be working in the White House, and with Tom DeLay gone, he is the most visible symbol of right-wing political manipulation and skulduggery around. It will not be hard to lay all of the mischief, miscreancy, and arrogance of the 2006 mid-term elections at his feet. And it will make our victories that much sweeter.

By the way, any bets on who will be the first right-winger to holler "Neener neener!" and claim that Mr. Rove was the innocent victim of the left-wing lib'rul MSM rush to judgement and that we all owe him a humble apology, the more humiliating the better?

Given the climate, I doubt that will happen. Dodging bullets is the newest sport in D.C., and seeing as how there weren't a whole lot of mea culpas and apologies when the Clinton impeachment failed -- if anything, it got worse -- I'm not holding my breath.