Cheney Gang?

Alas, we probably won't see Big Time in prison stripes, but this bombshell from the Paper-Desperately-Trying-to-Restore-its-Status-as-the-Paper-of-Record will no doubt reverberate throughout the corridors of power:

I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

The Big Time (pun intended) question seems to be whether or not Big Time did a big time bad thing: perjury. At least that's how Jane Hamsher sees it. She believes the Times is being extra careful in its reporting, given the stench emanating from their headquarters of late. And Swopa hits nothing but net from behind the arc with the following comment, re: the fallout:

"If Cheney goes down with Scooter and Karl, I'm not sure how Dubya survives -- it would be tantamount to admitting he's just an empty suit they send out to read the teleprompter while other folks run the country. Granted, they'd need the jaws of life to pry him out of the Oval Office, but Republicans in Congress might realize that he's going to drag them down with him."

As for me, I still think the Shrub administration ends not with a bang, but a whimper...and, if we can judge things from today's perspective, a Big Time whimper.