SmithAntics

Via Alterman:

You know if Bush does end up pardoning Rove—and I agree he will, if he has to; Rove and Cheney are both indispensable men. I also think he’d be smart to do so, as Bush could not pull off the impression that he is even close to being qualified to be president without these guys whispering in his ear. (Can anyone remember a single news story during the history of this administration in which either Rove or Cheney did not appear to get what either one wanted from the man?) If Bush is forced to go this route, it will be a big story for a little while, but it will disappear into the ether like everything else (including 9/11, by the way, at least as a genuine act of war against the United States, instead of a political excuse for the Republican conservatives to do whatever they wanted to do in the first place). Anyway, the Democrats have no power and the media have no collective memory; plus, nearly half of them act as if they are in the pay of the RNC, although they get paid a lot more than they would if they were, and will muddy the waters sufficiently so somehow, it will all be Hillary’s fault. In other words, it will not translate into a “Saturday Night Massacre” because if Fox, Rush, Scarborough had been around then, Nixon and Kissinger would still be in office. (Well, you know what I mean.) As for the left-wing blogger-outrage it will inspire, well, somehow I think Bush can live with that too.

The masochist in me is still holding out hope that this act of treason will achieve “gate” status — and the equivalent or more severe result of Watergate. But, of course, Alterman’s scenario is all too plausible. And we should all know by now that applying historical models or analogies to BushCo is hazardous. This is not 1974. We are in uncharted waters.