A Year Too Late

Conservatives who complain that Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Scooter Libby is unfair, that what happened was little more than rough politics and that this should be left be to the realm of the public arena, know they don't have to worry about "being careful about what you wish for."

For while the public might get a chance a to evaluate all of the evidence in this case and then in the future make a decision on who they want to be their leaders, unfortunately for America this information release has come one year too late.

Fitzgerald's almost two year quest to investigate who exposed and wasted a CIA resource started in plenty of time to investigate and inform the public prior to the 2004 elections. The GOP knew this would be bad for their chances and so they had to drag out the investigation past November 2004, and they succeeded.

If the information that the White House went after someone who disproved their reasons for going to war in Iraq had been released in 2004 then John Kerry would be president today. Instead they ran the clock and Bush narrowly won the 2004 election. All it would have taken was for approximately 60,000 of the 2.85 million (about 2%) Ohioans who voted for Bush to vote for Kerry.

For anyone who doubts this scenario one only has to look at a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll that today by a 55-39 vote people would vote for the Democratic candidate if Bush were again running.

Instead the public only got a half a story to base their vote and the result was a tiny victory. Perhaps rather than indictments last year the White House could have just told the truth. Right.