Saturday Plame - John Dean's take.

Found that John Dean I was looking for earlier, again figuring that he might have a unique perspective on a White House facing indictments. He does.

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.

Let me give you my read on who the highest-level targets of Fitzgerald's investigation probably are, and what will likely happen to them.....

While I may be letting the air out of some rising balloons, I think Fitzgerald's silence has fed speculation that postulates indictments way beyond the realistic potentials.

The really big fish in this case is the Vice President. And I have little doubt, based on my knowledge of the case, and of the way Cheney typically operates, that a case could be made against him. .....

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.

In short, I think the frenzy is about to end -- and it will not go any further. Unless, of course, these folks were foolish enough to give false statements, perjure themselves or suborn perjury, or commit obstruction of justice. If they were so stupid, Patrick Fitzgerald must stay and clean house.

Well worth the two minutes if you've been following this case closely.

I don't know about the validity of the defense "we broke the law because we thought it was essential to national security." How would destroying Joe Wilson's credibility, destroying his wife's career as a non-official cover WMD spy , and burning the Brewster Jennings cover benefit national security? That's a pretty big cost to pay simply to silence one critic. Was Joe Wilson really that dangerous to national security?

But Dean's the LLD, not me.

Steve Gilliard has a broader and more intelligent discussion of this here.