John Dean and ___________ ? Original flipper John Dean looks at the state of the special prosecution:

An unidentified government official, The New York Times reports, says that Fitzgerald was "not expected to take any action in the case this week." With his grand jury expiring on October 28, 2005, he is down to only a few options:

First, he could close down his Washington office; return to his work in Chicago, where he serves as the U.S. Attorney; and simply issue a statement that his investigation has ended. (He has no authority to write a report, for the information he has obtained is subject to Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and thus is secret).

Second, he could extend the grand jury for whatever time he needs to complete his investigation. And third, he could issue one or more indictments.

Or third, Bush could fire his ass, as Nixon did to Archibald Cox in 1973's Saturday Night Massacre.

(Future notorious Non-Supreme Court Justice Robert Bork was the designated hatchet man -- an act that did not go down well in Washington and played a part in his being rejected for the high court for partisan reasons, which put us all on the road we find ourselves today with the nomination of Bush crony Harriet Miers, which has added only more problems to the troubled presidency of W. Oh the circular ironies of Beltway living!)

So has someone flipped in the White House, like Dean did on national television? Dean himself seems to think we indeed may have another case of All the President's Men ... and perhaps the president himself:

Something is going to happen, and, I think, fairly soon. It has been many years since my conversations with well placed friends in Washington have reflected the sort of inside-the-Beltway tension that is now mounting. This tension was not matched during the Whitewater/Lewinsky investigation, nor during Iran-Contra. But it is very reminiscent of the wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in Nixon v. United States - the decision that famously forced Nixon to turn over his secretly recorded taped conversations -- and ended his presidency.

The similarity is, of course, because there is the real potential that this investigation and prosecution could reach right into the top of the Bush White House. How high is the source in question? Could it be George Bush himself? Dick Cheney? Karl Rove? Scooter Libby? My guess is that, in different ways, all four likely were involved in the exposure of Plame's covert identity.

Guesswork, yes. But even if Bush is culpable, what can be done? Constitutional issues stand in the way:

First, there is the Constitutional language that appears to make impeachment and removal the only solution for presidential misconduct. There is also the point that conduct bad enough to constitute a serious crime, is likely also bad enough for impeachment -- and that, after impeachment removal, of course, an ex-president can be indicted.

On a more practical level, a president can remove any federal prosecutor who might indict him, for they all serve at his pleasure.

...In other words, Fitzgerald could be Coxed if he pushes too hard.

As for Cheney, Dean points out that if Cheney is indeed impeached by the House, he would Constitutionally preside over his own trial in the Senate.

Alas, in the end, John Dean doesn't expect too much to come of all this excitement:

In short, I cannot imagine any of them being indicted, unless they were acting for reasons other than national security. Because national security is such a gray area of the law, come next week, I can see this entire investigation coming to a remarkable anti-climax, as Fitzgerald closes down his Washington Office and returns to Chicago.

And yet the damage is done. David Gergen says "the wheels are coming off" the Bush administration. Poll numbers are way in the tank. Conservatives are squabbling. Reporters are scrambling to cover it -- or dodge it.

The only problem is that we're stuck with these guys. And only sweeping victories for Democrats in the election next year offer any reasonable chance to change this situation. --But even then, it's questionable that they could stick together for an impeachment vote. After all, it seems half of them vote Republican half the time already.

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