the tip of the iceburg

So they've handed down a conviction to Scooter Libby. While it's likely he'll end up in jail for this, as so many of his corrupt brethren have in the past few years, Libby is not the real problem here. He is being used in this scandal, as others have been used in the Abu Gharaib, wiretapping, Walter Reed, Katrina, etc. scandals, as the fall guy for the incredible ineptness and corrupt nature of this administration. There can be little doubt that Cheney is involved in this, but equally little doubt that it will ever matter. Just as no one above the lowest levels of army officials or middling political staff has ever taken responsibility for anything that has gone wrong over the past 6 years, no one above Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, will ever take a hit for this. Maybe I will be wrong. Maybe eventually lawsuits and political pressure will catch up to Cheney, just as public and military pressure finally did in Rumsfield. But it seems unlikely. In addition to the five major political disasters listed above, there has also been the very fact of Iraq itself, and still Bush's cabinet remains intact and his agenda unchanged. Despite plummeting approval ratings, a Democratic sweep in November, and a pathetic list of Republican candidates for 2008, it seems that nothing short of impeachment will keep this president from doing whatever he damn well pleases and Republican supporters from talking the most disgusting brand of bullshit imaginable to keep the lies afloat. While this may feel like a victory, it's more like a step in the right direction, and there are a hell of a lot more of them to go before we can pull American politics out of the gutter.