David, I've intentionally stayed away from a lot of the debate over the Plame case, not because of some fear of "looking bad" or that it'll be "bad for the party," but simply because the "facts" were (and continue to be) so very vague in an arena where precision of language means everything (remember the questions about what "is" means?).

I'll throw out an idea or two, and offer a few thoughts, but I think it's generally a waste of time to put much speculation into something that will be released in graphic detail as the trial comes about.

Cheney said (perhaps in CYA mode) that he didn't know and hadn't met Wilson. He didn't claim to have never heard of him. As to whether Cheney knew that Wilson was sent by his CIA-employed wife, though the implication is similar, the legal proof of "knowing" is different than his being told something by associates and affiliates.

David, right or wrong, there are two paths in politics that have been used extensively by both parties. Some things are of record and other things are discussed, known, and done "off the record." It's possible much of the "meat" of the charges (as in Clinton's case) will fall into an area where there is simply not enough legally provable documentation to return a conviction, because of the (rightfully established) high burden of proof necessary to convict under our legal system.

The article to which you link is a very slight, but significant misdirection. It essentially argues for an indictment on Cheney, in which case, if convicted, nobody (I don't think) would argue against his resignation. That's not the circumstance. The questions to which you point are essentially theoretical, making assumptions that are quite different than the grand jury's findings to date. It essentially asks why conservatives aren't condemning Cheney like they did Clinton--and the two aren't (currently) comparable.

Makes for good slight-of-hand, but poor debate.

And the fact remains that as to the charges of "outing" a covert agent for the CIA, there were no indictments returned at all, though bringing that point up is usually dismissed by the left as an attempt to "spin" the facts.

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