Incoming Wounded!

Brace yourselves, folks, because it looks like we may be entering the final phase of the "criminalization of politics" -- specifically, the fact that so many Republicans are getting exposed as criminals.

First up, we have this tantalizing quote from MSNBC reporter David Shuster:

SHUSTER: Well, Karl Rove’s legal team has told me that they expect that a decision will come sometime in the next two weeks. And I am convinced that Karl Rove will, in fact, be indicted.

And there are a couple of reasons why. First of all, you don’t put somebody in front of a grand jury at the end of an investigation or for the fifth time, as Karl Rove testified a couple, a week and a half ago, unless you feel that’s your only chance of avoiding indictment. So in other words, the burden starts with Karl Rove to stop the charges.

Secondly, it’s now been 13 days since Rove testified. After testifying for three and a half hours, prosecutors refused to give him any indication that he was clear. He has not gotten any indication since then. And the lawyers that I’ve spoken with outside of this case say that if Rove had gotten himself out of the jam, he would have heard something by now.

And then the third issue is something we’ve talked about before. And that is, in the Scooter Libby indictment, Karl Rove was identified as ‘Official A.’ It’s the term that prosecutors use when they try to get around restrictions on naming somebody in an indictment. We’ve looked through the records of Patrick Fitzgerald from when he was prosecuting cases in New York and from when he’s been US attorney in Chicago. And in every single investigation, whenever Fitzgerald has identified somebody as Official A, that person eventually gets indicted themselves, in every single investigation. Will Karl Rove defy history in this particular case? I suppose anything is possible when you are dealing with a White House official. But the lawyers that I’ve been speaking with who know this stuff say, don’t bet on Karl Rove getting out of this.

If that's not enough schadenfreude for you, Josh Marshall has an interesting tease about the investigation into the Dukestir:

Says Rick Gwin, regional head of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, "In my opinion, he has not been cooperative and I have not gotten any information from him to further develop other targets. I was hoping that from a jail cell, he might become more cooperative, but we just don't have the cooperation that I think we should have."

And then Gwin says this:"This is much bigger and wider than just Randy 'Duke' Cunningham. All that has just not come out yet, but it won't be much longer and then you will know just how widespread this is."

I, of course, eagerly await to hear an explanation for how all this is the fault of the media. And, to be sure, gay Islamofascist Mexican illegal immigrants.