Just a few quick thoughts before I hit the sack.
I just saw the Bush’s approval rating is at 28%. I can’t help but think that his approval rating was still around 50% when this whole process started, when Libby made the decision to risk a jury rather than settling rather than flipping on Cheney. When they made that decision, they didn’t calculate the damage that revealing a lot of what is about to be revealed to the public would do to a president with a sub-30% approval rating, they really thought they could be studly men and there would be no downside of a jury trial.
And I really do think we’re talking revelation. Will Cheney go to jail? No. But in the last several weeks it became clear that Novak is still active, that his name will come up at this trial a lot more than expected. And I’m increasingly convinced (though I seem even lonelier arguing this in the media room than I do here on this blog) that Cheney ordered Libby to out Plame–the media room still doesn’t get why Libby might not want to introduce David Sanger’s notes. But I think that, at the least, I’ll have even more evidence to make the case than I do now.
I’ve been constantly aware of the two processes going on–the legal one and the PR one. So far, Fitzgerald has lost–miserably–the PR battle. And I gotta tell you, Barbara Comstock is all over the courtroom trying to keep it that way. But there will be a lot that is revealed. And the question is, will it make a difference. Will the press finally figure out that they no longer have to celebrate a President with job approval of 28%.
And I’m surprised, looking back the description of the jury. Sure, all those who are convinced BushCo lied us into war got bounced long ago. As did almost all the PhDs. But this is an open-minded jury, for the most part. It will be an interesting process to see what 12 open-minded people (and the four alternates, who don’t know they’re alternates) think of the evidence they’re about to see.
We shall see.