Realistically, What do You Expect Will be the Outcome of the Leak Scandal?

[Stevendsmith]

There’s a lot of salivating going on here. Visions of Watergate II abound. I tempted too, but:

Will this thing have any traction beyond this week’s news cycle?

Will Arnold's likely ascension to the governorship of California cut the legs off of this story?

BushCo gets away with everything. What makes this any different?

As I stated earlier, we’ll likely have to wait until election time to see this administration defeated. The leak is just another strike against Bush—ableit a big one.

I too want resignations, handcuffs, etc., but I’m not holding my breath.

[Classical_Liberal]

1. This is such a bad scandel I will be extremely confused

if it doesn't have wings.

[West Coast Democrat]

2. It will hurt Rove

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=142693

[Cocoa]

5. It will put the focus on Rove for a while

It is very bad for Bush to have stories about Rove, or especially worse photos and footage of Rove, out there.

Many people have never heard of or seen Rove, that's the way Bush likes it. A lot of people will say "who is that guy."

[Romulus]

3. jack $%(T

Just like the whole "yellowcake" and "16 words" out-ings, people will merely yawn and go on worshiping Rove & Co.

Anyone who brings it up will be branded "treasonous libruls."

[Classical_Liberal]

8. actually all those scandals have pared Bushes support

down to a 49% approval rating from a 78% approval rating.

[Uzybone]

33. right on! n/t

n/t

[Racenut20]

4. Total Whitewash

[wryter2000]

6. It isn't going away any time soon

If Bush identifies the culprits and fires them, it may go away. However, there should be criminal trials, and that might keep it in the news for a while. However, how big it is after that largely depends on who's caught. If they're no-ones, not much effect. If they're Rove or someone, it'll be bigger. Personally, I'm hoping to get rid of Rove before he can think up more dirty tricks for the 2004 election.

If Bush stonewalls, it'll be bigger than Watergate, imho.

[blackcat77]

7. All in all it's just another brick in the wall

There is a pattern of lies and wicked behaviour on the part of the Bush administration. As a commentator said on MSNBC's web page today, the main thing this story might do is to lend credibility to all the other stuff that's come out about him since he took office.

[revcarol]

13. Yup, totally agree.

If it has legs, great.

But drip, drip, drip...hey that will work too.

Someone who catches a "speech" of Bush on "national security" might just say, "Hmmmm. Didn't one of his people out an American spy who was protecting us?" Just getting people to ask themselves the right questions among all the media spin and hype, that's a plus.

[Redneck Socialist]

9. not much

At best a couple of low level bushies get the ax. At worst bush DELIBERATELY lets a couple of his underlings hang and gets props for being decisive and firm.

[bif]

10. Nothing

Bush and his pals will get off scott free. Just like his daddy and Reagan before him. "Do the dirty deeds, just tell me about it so I can't get nailed."

[Feanorcurufinwe]

11. I expect another coverup.

but there is a limit to how many coverups you can get away with.

Drip... drip... drip...


But yes, I agree, we still have to wait 477 more days for what we want.

[MoonRiver]

12. Nothing will happen to *ushCo unless computerized voting machines

are reined in. I'm very fearful that, even with all the evidence of possible corruption and fraud presented by Bev Harris and others, the scums controlling our country will cram their latest and greatest coup tool down our collective throat. IF so, *'s low numbers and all the investigations under the sun won't make a bit of difference. The FIX will definitely be in (if it isn't already). My husband gets mad about my pessimism, but he doesn't read all the stuff I do on the Internet. He thinks it is totally illogical that Americans would put up with any more * outrages. Sorry, honey, but yeah right! :eyes:

I am so sad for my country. :cry:

[Aleesha]

14. 10 weeks to destroy records....

That's the bottom line! Bush knew about this, Rove knew, Card knew, and they had 10 weeks to destroy records, but I'm not sure if phone records can be tampered with. This is huge, and puts another question mark behind Bush.
Bush knew for 10 weeks there was a leaker in the WH, did nothing, so how could anyone trust him to handle national security?
The Dems need to keep a hot fire under this.
Won't this scandal sound great in a debate with Bush?
He's fucked and he knows it. To sit and say he knew nothing about this leak, is yet, another lie.
I'm sure the Freepers are very proud of their lieing prick in the WH.

[skip fox]

15. I think we'll have two resignations by week's end.

But then I'm rarely right.

[AliceWonderland]

16. I wish

I could be more optimistic, but hey, I'm a jaded cynic so why bother? If this bunch of megalomaniac buffoons survived stealing an election, reaming the economy, someone somewhere doing something that was LIHOP at the least, sinking a rational investigation into 9-11, launching a phony war on terror, devastating an already devastated country to international accolades, changing a philosophy of causus belli developed for centuries among nations, blatantly lying about reasons for a war, not to mention war-mongering pork barreling in the extreme… well, paint me red and call me a herring but I don’t think this is anything more that theatre that won’t end up going much of anywhere. Niger was supposed to be the scandal. A million different intel lies were supposed to be the scandal. At this point, there is too much apathy about the political process and too little genuine journalism for this to be nearly as big a scandal as it should be. (And personally, I think there are dimensions of the scandal that no one is talking about at all.)

Plus, all they need do is shriek “national security” and every Bushist can get on talk radio and assume the self-righteous pose of the patriot.

I would love nothing more than to be wrong, of course. I'd love to see every lying SOB do the perp walk, baby.

[bookman]

17. It's too complicated..

..for the average American. Sex they understand. This they don't. While many news junkies might know about it, it doesn't fair well in the comedy circut.

[LanternWaste]

18. Nothing more than an additional 5-10% drop in the polls

An additional 5-10% drop in the polls over the next three weeks. God knows I want to see more come of this. God knows I think, by law it should come to more than this, but after everything is said and done some low level WH staffer will fall on the sword and * will shrug it off with a minor polling dip.

[RedEarth]

19. Not a lot

As stated by previous posters, I also think this scandal will add doubt to the bush admin. However, I don't think it will be a major issue like watergate. Actually, I think the Dems were wise not to have a briefing today with Wilson. Right now it seems best to let the CIA and FBI do their investigations and at the same time fan the flames just enough to keep it in the public eye.

I think the economy and the Iraq invasion and its aftermath are the issues that need to be focused on. These two issues have less partisian attachment since they affect the majority of the population.

[izzie]

20. Dem will love it and Rep will think we are picking on Bush

What can I say?

[BiggJawn]

21. Waiting on a shark....

This will drop off soon. The Murkan Sheeple aren't known for having more than an 58:30 attention span anyway, and with News, it's more like 90 seconds.

It shouldn't go away so quickly, but to get an idea of what's going on in the WH damage control-wise right now, watch the "Number ten Gasket! Number ten Gasket!" scene from "Das Boot"

[leftofthedial]

22. it will fade

in a few weeks anyone bringing this up will be told to get over it.

We live in a dysfunctional country that is no longer a democracy. There are no checks and balances. There is no independent media. This will be an ugly insider war between the ascendant neoconservatives and a few unruly curmudgeons in the CIA. There may be some added attendant nastiness, maybe a few bodies swept under a rug somewhere, or a few careers sacrificed, but it won't persist as a "scandal."

[GinaMaria]

23. still waiting for

poppy bush to weigh in. How much leverage does he still have at the CIA? It's a horrible thing to have happened. I still feel sick over it, but nothing seems to stick to this admin. With California and everything else they've pulled, maybe they got bold and slipped up.

[skip fox]

24. It will either linger and fester thru 2004 or

two will be offered up as sacrifical victims.

The administration does NOT want this to go to a special prosecutor! So they wil try to out the leakers (or fall people).

If they can't get anyone to fess up, then it will linger. It won't die any time soon.

The special prosecutor is the only weapon in the arsenal.

[West Coast Democrat]

25. Check Out This Poll; Can't Be Good!

http://www.pollingreport.com/bush.htm

[knowledgeispower]

27. Wow

Seems like the sheeple are taking this one pretty seriously. It will only build over the next few days, providing some more information keeps coming out. The whole White House email thing should tide it over for a while at least, then something else will pop up. Rove fucked with the wrong people too many times.

[Snellius]

26. Bush can't win

Why this is different from Clinton's scandals is that everyone agrees a serious felony has been committed. Clinton was a culprit in search of a crime. Bush is a crime in search of a culprit. Either (1)the WH finds a suspect, or fall guy willing to face 10 years in prison. Let's imagine the chain reaction set off by that scenario. Or (2) they don't find anyone and are accused of covering up and harboring a traitor. Let's follow this scenario: conflict of interests, calls for special investigation, a never-ending whodunnit. There is no way out of this for Bush. It's devilishing simple and the more it sinks in how inescapable it is, the more withdrawn Bush will be. Suspicious. Paranoid. Snippy. Kiss that smirk good-bye, George. Now comes the really hard part.

[srubick]

28. the obvious

The fact that no one has as yet been called out or come forward to accept responsibility indicates that the cover up is already operational. This will result in the question "when did he know and what did he do?" being asked over and over untill the obvious lies emerge from the slime.

[DemVet]

29. We've ALL missed the point here...

..I think. At this point in time, the majority of the American public (face it, we're not the majority) can't name more than one Democratic candidate for President. This whole deal is nothing more than a cheap ploy to take media attention away from the candidates and cloud the issues. It also takes some emphasis of what's going on in Iraq.

I also find it suspicious that the CIA supposedly gets around 50 reports a year of these types of leaks. None evidently lead anywhere, with almost a 0% conviction rate for these crimes.

Democrats of all leanings need to wakeup and keep their eyes on the prize. I'm not saying we should drop this altogether, but I don't see it doing much except distracting the American public. :)

[mlawson]

30. This is where the 'public' finally GETS IT!!

And 'B.F.T. on that! Combined with all the rest of the shit that has gone down (and been mostly ingored) since 12/12/2000, THIS will finally show the masses that we have been dealing with a criminal, brutal regime. The gratuitous viciousness of outing Ms Plame will resonate with them. This is something that anyone intelligent enough to walk into a voting booth can understand.

Rove will probably be sacrificed. But I don't think Dumbo will have to resign over this, and we shouldn't want him to; for is he did, then McCain and Frist would jump into the race next year, and they would be TOUGH to beat! Better to have a fatally damaged Dumbo running.

[Unknown Known]

31. Don't know, but right now I'm enjoying the ride!!

Pass the Popcorn!! Things are heating up:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[Sparky McGruff]

32. Two significant differences

It's debatable whether the easily distracted media will move on, but there's two differences between this and other potential scandals that were swept under the rug:

1. The CIA most certainly KNOWS who leaked the info. They certainly ran an investigation to see who leaked what to whom, and what damage was done. If Bush distracts, delays, or throws out the wrong people, there will be a whole lot of intelligence agents who will do what they can to keep the fire burning.

2. There are at least SIX JOURNALISTS out there who know the answer as well. They've likely discussed this with other journalists in their circles as well. Again, if Bush weasels, they'll know it. They may not come out with the info, but they may tell their colleagues what questions to ask of whom.

With any luck, the bright light will stay on the weasels for some time.

A guy can hope, at least, right?

[Beetwasher]

34. The best Bush could hope for is only a slight drop in polls

That is the absolute BEST Bush could hope for at this point.

Realistically, I can't even predict, the situation is waaaay to fluid, but I suspect we can expect at least a high level resignation at this point...