Honestly, you know what the biggest deal in all this is?

[WilliamPitt]

For me at least?

This is what I'm hanging my hat on in the event Fitz and the Grand Jury no-bill these guys. This is my break-glass-in-event-of-disappointment line of thinking. That may be a downer, but I do think its a big deal.

What, exactly, is that big deal?

Simply this: They have been made afraid.

For days, even weeks now, these cretins who believed themselves above the law in every way have known true fear. For the very first time.

I know it was you, Fredo. You break my heart.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Planning for the worst (no indictements)

but hoping for the best... and the feelings of giddiness have been tempered with the multiple times of nothing a happening

[ClassWarrior]

2. Yup. We still win. We've already had a major victory.

NGU.

[itzamirakul]

3. Regardless of the outcome of the investigation...

so many possible witnesses have been identified as possibley complicit in treachery that it will be impossible to be kept secret in the days, weeks, months, years to come. They can sit on it, but like mud, it will squish out around their butts. Someone will squeal. Someone will be greedy enough to write a book. Someone's mother, wife, daughter, lover will tell....BUT IT WILL COME OUT IN THE END.

Expect indictments? I won't be disappointed if they don't come because this IS the teflon administration, after all.

But hubris, ego, greed, envy will tell the truth eventually.

[Loonman]

4. You gotta work with what you have

At the very least, a hell of a scare has been thrown into these folks. No more free rides.

[Walt Starr]

5. Yep, one man terrified this bunch of thugs.

It reminds me of the episodes on The Sopranos when they KNEW somebody was ratting them out, but couldn't put their finger on who it was.

[mopaul]

6. to me the biggest deal is that so many have suffered & died needlessly

for profit

[ClassWarrior]

7. Yup. That about sums it up.

NGU.

[King Coal]

11. What, MoPaul, is more evil than that?

That is what I keep asking. How could you live with having other peoples' kids killed so you could make money?

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. That doesn't bother them and they'd do it again in a heartbeat.

If they thought that they could get away with it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. They've seen people turn on them

Some members of the MSM have *gasp* actually questioned them. They've been watching poll numbers drop which implies the masses have even begun to lose their blind faith in them.

They've been living with the fear of being prosecuted for their lies for quite a while now. That can't have been good for their digestive tracts.

Yep, they've felt fear and if nothing else, that was a good thing.

[tatertop]

9. If there are no indictments they will become bolder

If we can't get justice now we never will.
They know that. That fear will shake itself
off in a few weeks and they will be back
with a vengeance.

[ClassWarrior]

12. We're stronger and more righteous. We will...

Never Give Up.

[tatertop]

17. We won't give up. But failure here will make it more difficult.

We have them dead to rights and we have (what seems to be)
an honest prosecutor working for the truth.

The backlash from a failed prosecution is bound
to be unbelievably brutal.
They won't make this mistake again.
You can almost certainly count on the next prosecutor, if ever there is one, being a hand-picked bush boy.

[Loonman]

10. Pray(bad pun, I know) Mitt Romney gets the Repub nod in '08

The Evangelicals and hardcore Christians will sit this one out.

[yodermon]

13. What worries me

is the public reaction. The press has NOT been covering this in the way that the public has come to expect for a scandal. The Clenis coverage was saturation-level for months and months on end, and when impeachment came, everyone was expecting it.

Now, look at the headlines of your local paper over the last week. CNN does not have a word about this on their home page. The Post has "Bush and Bono have lunch". If Fitzgerald indicts 22 members of the Cheney/Bush administration, no one will believe it. I can only hope that one effect of this will be for Joe Public to develop an deep and pervasive contempt for the corporate media cartel, saying "Why the f*ck didn't you warn us about this? You mean you didn't know? How could you not know? Where was the non-stop coverage in the lead-up to indictments? Why should we ever believe a single thing that you ever even say again??"

Prepare for massive cognitive dissonace. No one I talk to knows a damn thing about this.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. That line brought to mind a different movie.

The military intelligence guy turns away from the brain-sucking bug and says "It is afraid."

Starship Troopers.

Terrible, fascistic movie based on a somewhat better book, but it's still one of my guilty pleasures.

[wiggs]

15. They've already pulled off their scheme

They should be afraid.

The only thing standing between them and total victory is legal conviction in a court of law and jailtime.

Bad ratings, GOP losing 2006 and 2008 elections, bad press, future disgrace, losing issues debates like SS,...all that still matters to us greatly, but not to the small group of neocons at the helm of this administration and not to their corporate beneficiaries.

They've already succeeded, wildly, in their major goals and will remain heroes among their biggest (corporate and fundie) fans for decades. They've enriched their friends with ungodly amounts of money that will never find its way back home where it belongs. And they are still standing.

I imagine they anticipated second term investigations, bad press, attacks by the opposition party,maybe even indictment of some in their group, and maybe even impeachment. I imagine they believed that the goal was worth the risks. I imagine that, every morning, they are amazed they've managed to stay in office one more day, and are encouraged to continue their assault on honesty, truth, transparency, democracy, and civility because it has worked so well.

They should be afraid and I'd like to think they are, but that is not nearly enough for me. There can't be restitution or repair for many of their misdeeds...so there has to be punishment.