Again

What's good for Georgie has been, over the five years of his presidency, uniformly bad for America. But having stolen not only the seat of power but also the unwavering loyalty of the other two branches of government, he's pretty much used to ruling by decree. The whims that control him and the deeply anti-American beliefs of those who pull his strings have left the nation more battered and small than it's been since the War of 1812.

Yes - I made a War of 1812 reference. I believe it's my first, and I would also contend that you can read every news outlet on the planet today and not find any other reference to that conflict. Did you know that the first USS Enterprise beat the HMS Boxer off the coast of Maine in 1813? Hmm? What you get on this site is unique, my friends. Yessereee.

But we come here no to speak in generalities but specifics. The Junta is showing not its age but its mileage; you can't be that venal and debauched over that many years without getting arrested or thrown into rehab. Right now, Dear Leader's loyalists are facing both.

On the 'thrown into prison' side, there is the Affaire de Plame. Darth Rove and Scooter Libby (you can't re-nickname a guy named "Scooter") are staring down the barrel of the Sheriff's peacemaker as we speak. Scooter is expected to be indicted today, and Darth Rove is expected to go under soon after. It's being widely reported that Rove and his law team are trying desperately to convince Prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald that the Dark Prince didn't really mislead the Grand Jury when he kind of lied to them. Hey - isn't that a million-dollar bill behind your ear? Just kidding! No, really.

It will be interesting to see what bodies Rove will throw at Fitz to stay out of the hoosegow. A reptile like Rove would hand his own kids to John Wayne Gacy if he thought it would save his outsized posterior. "Nice clown suit Mr. Gacy. You kids behave, now. Well, bye!"

So no doubt there are some staffers getting their papers together in anticipation of being thrown to the prosecutor by the boss. When you run a government that is this mean and stupid, your staff gets the message: they will be sacrificed - gladly. The place is all about revenge. It's run by people who talk Christ and behave Lucifer.

Meanwhile, the rest of the government is going to rehab, like it or not. Harriet hit rock bottom yesterday, with the help of an Intervention from the Senate. Unqualified lawyers can't be put on the Supreme Court just because they have an unrequited passion for the prez. It's not 2002 anymore. Georgie can't rule by imperial fiat. Makes you wonder what 'Plan B' will look like.

The loss of totalitarian control really is the good news story. Enough people are dead now. Their blood has started to seep into red state brains, to the extent that although they still think Georgie's swell, they're pretty sure he's also a serious bumbling idiot.

Having taken these hits, there is only one way to go for the Junta: down fighting. In order to save face with his base, Georgie needs to find a truly stunned and backward hillbilly conservative judge to nominate. Really pick a fight with Democrats.

I mean, he'll lose. Democrats can filibuster a Scalia or a Thomas, and we have seen what happens when Georgie picks a complete mystery candidate. The Republican Senators could go nuclear on a filibuster - but that would mean crossing a line - passing an official lie to radically change Senate rules so that Georgie can get his way.

And when was the last time these guys had the sack to stand and fight? Next time will be the first time.

But there's no longer a constituency to lie and cheat and steal for him. His congressional soldiers are deserting. And if you need Dick Cheney to run down to the Senate to break a tie vote, you'll have to push past all the Special Prosecuting attorneys to get to him.

These are hard times for the Junta. Perhaps if the hard times lead to imprisonment, financial ruin, and (eventually) and painful and humiliating death, they will have tasted a small corner of what they've inflicted on others during their dictatorship.