I wake up on yet another Friday and find that Karl Rove isn't indicted yet. As I've said before, I admire Rove, since he's got the best job perk imaginable. He can wake up in the morning, pour a glass of scotch, kick back and flip on I Love Lucy reruns, safe in the knowledge that anything bad that happens to the left will be blamed on him by the end of the day. He's Satan's own scapegoat.

(The latest lefty jibe for Rove is to call him porcine, but let's face it: the Democrats haven't been doing much to force him up off the couch and get the blood pumping recently. [1])

I'm hoping that Rove's getting a particular kick from the misery of his abusers. After Truthout.org "leaked" (note: good leak) a story of his upcoming indictment, they've watched their credibility ooze out the door. First the indictment was coming in three days, then three "business" days, then soon, then . . . Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin announces that Fitzgerald has no plans for indictment. The kicker? According to many of the "Plameologists" (and Truthout's latest defense), this may be their Dan Rather moment! Luskin may be lying about a letter from Fitzgerald!

Really, I'm not making this up.

Even those who don't believe it (including, for instance, Jane Hamsher) seem unwilling to call a spade a spade:

For those who are tempted to believe Luskin is lying about the letter he received from Fitzgerald � don�t. I know that irresponsible types will try to exploit people�s natural mistrust of Gold Bars and his willing to limbo around the truth, but lying about this goes well past what I think his limits are. I believed him when he said Rove had not been indicted, and I believe him now . . . .

(emphasis mine) What hogwash. This has nothing to do with limits. Let us assume for the moment that Luskin is the most amoral slime ever to crawl from the primordial ooze without a moral compass. (He's certainly not, and a seemingly reasonable fellow.) Standing in front of cameras and announcing you have communication from an investigator that doesn't exist is simply stupid. It's a good way to get disbarred if not indicted, and all the evidence to prove that you're lying is right in your opponent's hands. To buy Truthout's line, you have to feel Luskin lacks brains, not ruth.

This, however, stand's as Truthout's last defense for not "burning" its confidential sources (as they promised) if it turns out they weren't . . . well, "outing" the "truth." The jury's still out on the stupidity of Marc Ash, it seems.

[1]: Yes, things are bad for the Republicans, and we very well may get trounced in the next election. But almost every Republican wound is self-inflicted. It's like Mike Tyson getting into the ring with me and then, in an act of desperation, biting his own ear off.