Soprano Republicans

For some time, we've argued that the most significant deficit George W. Bush has overseen is his own credibility gap. The American people seem to be recognizing it as well: A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 54 percent of respondents believe Bush either lied or deliberately exaggerated evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.

And there's increasing evidence that the corruption of Bush and the Republican leadership goes beyond lying, to general thuggishness. Exhibit A: the Valerie Plame case. After Administration officials outed Plame, a CIA officer (whose job was to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction), apparently to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson--a White House critic--no steps were taken to identify and punish the culprits. News reports indicate that US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has been interviewing past and present Bush aides--including Karl Rove, Scott McClellan, Mary Matalin, Ari Fleischer, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Dan Bartlett--before a grand jury. And a source told the Post that the questioning has been very aggressive.

The FBI investigators also seem to be examining White House involvement in the overall smear campaign waged against Wilson after he criticized the Administration last summer for its use of the false charge that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger. These are good signs, perhaps an indication that the inquiry might reveal the ugly tactics used by the Bush gang when its policies are challenged.

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