"It may indeed have been predictable. But it still feels like a 2x4 upside the head, and a death knell."

I share Blue Meme's reaction and views. Thanks, and thanks to Glenn for nailing still another unassailable thesis on the Black Iron Fortress door.

It is all the more depressing and infuriating, as many here have observed, that this shameful, malign act will not inspire a tsunami of public outrage. That would require an enlightened, engaged, morally grounded body politic. And we ain't got one.

There have been nay-sayers all along the course of the Libby scandal, including the ancillary scandal of Plame's outing. Bob Somerby, the "Daily Howler", believes that the real story is (or was) in progressive circles mindlessly championing that shifty, self-serving (in Somerby's view) Joe Wilson and investing too much righteousness in the Wilson/Plame cause. [Somerby also dismisses as unmerited the opinion that President Unitard deliberately lied and misstated the case in the infamous 16-word phrase in the 2003 SOTU address, but that's another story.]

I don't know if Bob has offered an opinion on Libby's pardon, and don't mean to focus on him here. Somerby popped into my head as one of the gadflies who apparently found the issues which eventually resulted in Fitzgerald's indictment of Libby trivial, or at least over-inflated by Bush opponents. It just strikes me that all along there have been, well, non-Establishment voices unenthusiastic about the prospects of the ruling oligarchy being undermined by legal action. And who looked askance on Fitzgerald-- not as an overweening Inquisitor like Ken Starr, but as a diligent prosecutor determined to make the best of a meager and paltry bag of lemons.

Those who took a "So what?" approach to the Plame matter in the first place, or understood Libby's ordeal as a kind of lemonade "show trial", a formality enacted for political purposes, are disinclined to be scandalized by Libby being let off the hook.

All this to say that, complementing the actual smiles and cheers from Republic leaders and Unitard partisans, there has been an abiding knowing cynicism that responds to the news of Libby's quasi-pardon with more of a wink than a roar. And, given that I myself am a disaffected independent, never more so than in the wake of the post-election Democratic Congress deflating like a soufflé from oven to table-- I really wonder whether complaining to our elected putative representatives will accomplish much beyond venting and inspiring a ceremonial sympathetic response.

Yes, key Democrats may harrumph and deplore and perhaps eloquently denounce the Unitard's latest authoritarian stroke. And my e-mail in-box, still known to Democratic fund-raisers due to my misspent 2006 political contributions, will overflow with strident assessments and vague promises and exhortations to somehow right this egregious wrong-- by donating cash and ensuring that Their Guys and Gals get a sufficient foothold to REALLY challenge the bastards! For now... well, what can a bare majority do? You understand, of course.

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"There's an old saying in Tennessee. I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee, that says: 'Fool me once... shame on... [pause] Shame on you... [pause] If fooled, you can't get fooled again.'"

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I hope I'm proved wrong, and that I'm underestimating the public outcry. Perhaps it's only the criminal Executive Branch cabal, the complicit Congress and corporate media, and the 29% base of bedrock wingnuts, half-bright demagogues and thuggish thralls alike, now revelling that their prayer has been answered and Barabbas is free.

Pardon my presumptuousness, possibly rising to the level of self-importance, but part of a rambling comment posted earlier to Glenn Greenwald's column seems to fit in here:

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[...] It just strikes me that all along there have been, well, non-Establishment voices unenthusiastic about the prospects of the ruling oligarchy being undermined by legal action. And who looked askance on Fitzgerald-- not as an overweening Inquisitor like Ken Starr, but as a diligent prosecutor determined to make the best of a meager and paltry bag of lemons.

Those who took a "So what?" approach to the Plame matter in the first place, or understood Libby's ordeal as a kind of lemonade "show trial", a formality enacted for political purposes, are disinclined to be scandalized by Libby being let off the hook.

All this to say that, complementing the actual smiles and cheers from Republic leaders and Unitard partisans, there has been an abiding knowing cynicism that responds to the news of Libby's quasi-pardon with more of a wink than a roar. [...]

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Individuals will react individually to public events, and it's an interesting question as to why some experience events as a gentle bump or swerve in the road, while others are feeling around for their scattered teeth. Straight off the top of my gut, apart from the question of whether the illicit presidential intervention is sharply upsetting, even traumatizing, is the question of whether one is ethically "OK" with it.

I personally am emotionally ambivalent, but only because my vast reserves of cynicism dissipate my righteous outrage and contempt for these gangsters and their oily, blood-soaked exploits. Thus, I can understand people not getting too worked up over this foreseeable development. But that's different from declaring it "no big deal". I take umbrage at dismissing it out of hand as merely "par for the course", everyday and expected SOP from the corrupt oligarchs in charge.

You're not saying that you're "OK with it", I realize. I think my point is that if you've been sharply questioned on your stance, it's because low-key reactions suggest a lack of affront or disapproval. People apparently react in the moment and wonder why you're not squealing like a stuck pig, too.