Update: Not any more. See above.
Four weeks ago some of us got led down that road by Jason Leopold of truthout.org when he reported that Mr. Rove's indictment was a done deal. Several news organizations, including liberal publications like Salon, expressed skepticism, and after a week of hanging out there and obviously nothing of the sort coming down the road, Mr. Leopold backed off, leaving a lot of people -- including me -- more than a little peeved at having been over-eager to go with the story.
Now truthout has another story that claims an indictment labeled "Sealed vs. Sealed" on the docket of the U.S. District Court in Washington is the one and that the extra layer of secrecy (most sealed indictments are labeled "US vs. Sealed") is to really keep the lid on.
Salon's War Room does a pretty good job of picking this latest theory apart here and here.
I am all ready to do the Happy Dance should Mr. Rove be indicted for his role in the Plame case. This country doesn't need a tax-payer supported political operative working in the West Wing who has no qualms about leaking classified information to his favorite Wormtongue. The longer Mr. Rove is in the White House, the longer he has to plot his mischief; his fine hand was all over last week's orgy of gay-bashing bigotry with the Marriage Protection Amendment.
But these little flashes of tin-foil about indictments that may or may not be sealed under super-secret seal are not helping. All it does is feed the image that we who would like to see Mr. Rove remanded to custody are grasping -- and gasping -- at straws, and our only interest is in his personal destruction rather than the administration of justice.
