The Plame Affair has jumped the shark

Two things come to mind. First, Richard Armitage, not Darth Rove or the Sith Master from Halliburton, is responsible for the Valerie Plame leak. Armitage told his then-boss, Secretary of State Colin Powell within a week. Armitage told Peter Fitzgerald shortly after his appointment as Special Counsel. Powell and Armitage sat back and watched Rove and Libby twist in the wind for three years and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The whole spectacle is appalling. Second, Plame and Wilson better think real hard about pushing that suit they filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Rove, Cheney, and Libby. As far as I can tell, none of the defendants have been served and the plaintiffs changed their lead counsel about a month after the case was filed--very unusual behavior since the usual plaintiff's tactic is to file suit, serve the defendants, and proceed with discovery as rapidly as possible. This lawsuit does not read like your average civil action, instead it reads like a press release from The Daily Kos. My bet is the defendants sent a letter to plaintiff's former counsel under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. (Rule 11 deals with, among other things, sanctions for filing pleadings which lack a basis in fact or in law.) The defendants are well-represented and Libby's team has shown a penchant for playing offense. Sit back and enjoy the show.