July 3, 2005 -- HOLLYWOOD (apj.us) -- Strap in and remove any loose dentures, boys and girls -- this is gonna be a bumpy spin.

How bumpy?

It could even throw Sandra Day O'Conner off the front page. Maybe even drive Natalie Holloway off of FOX News Channel. (Well, O'Conner, perhaps. Holloway? Not on Greta's life. But everywhere else, it'll be in caps...)

KARL ROVE WAS A BAD BOY!

The Lords of Loud will have to be at their best, but it just may not be good enough. Sean Hannity can recite his tireless litany of rude truisms the evil Democrats have pinned on the President's war lies, mistakes and bungles all he wants -- he still won't be able to speak over the din of righteous indignation. Rush can quip that it's "politics as usual," elite media tricks and Chuck Hagel liberals to his heart's content, but the truth will be difficult to fend off even by ditto-blinded. And no matter how many protocols Scotty McClellan laments were in place, or how much he attempts to fetch "Steve" to block, Saint Helen Thomas won't let him off the hook on this one. They'll all try -- but no amount of raised terror alerts, flag-burning amendments or 9/11 references can distract from this reality.

For all intent and purposes, the man in President's pilot seat is a traitor -- a traitor to his county and to those who put their lives on the line for his country. And while the Lords of Loud, who have so often turned to this resplendent saboteur and king-sans-le-clothes-maker for the very points that placed them forefront in the propaganda-for-profit biz, will attempt to place the betrayal's responsibility on the usual suspects on the left, this wrong is too egregious to deflect no matter what the defense. For this time, no matter how much lipstick they try to put on this pig, he is still a swine.

It's time to put a fork in Karl Rove.

He's done.

You know the story: former ambassador Joseph Wilson was sent to investigate reports that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium from the African country of Niger. When he returned he had the audacity to bring back a "there ain't no story" story. Not happy with the Lords of Loud's demonization of Wilson for telling the truth, "someone" in the Bush administration felt it would be politics as usual to leak the news to certain journalists that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The leaker didn't seem concerned at all that he not only compromised an undercover CIA agent but placed in danger those she worked with, especially those based overseas.

Rove's lawyer has already started to dance, a whole lot better than the insipid mouthpiece who runs the daily White House press briefings. He's already saying that while his client might have spoken to reporters concerning the "leak," he didn't do anything illegal.

'Course, with this White House, sending 140,000 troops into harm's way and thousands to their death based a horrific roster of "mistakes" isn't considered illegal. Then again, since this is also a President who never admits a mistake, how could it be considered anything other than illegal?

Even so, there is the question of the American public's willingness to grant yet another pass to this White House. Bad intelligence combined with that damn John Kerry's lack of heroism in volunteering for war allowed for 2004's electoral rationalization. Inasmuch as no one has ever accused Rove of bad intelligence, nor for serving in Vietnam when he had the chance, this may be just the straw the public needs to prop its eyes open to the truth. The liberal media never really followed up when Rove called MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews and told him that Wilson's wife was "fair game." President Bush put off the easily acquiesced media with his ripple of concern: "If there's a leak in my administration," said the President, "I want to know who it is. And that person would be taken care of."

With this administration, that means awarding yet another Medal of Freedom.

This coming week as the Lords of Loud attempt to blame the messenger, Newsweek will reveal Rove to be the mad leaker. Puffy McMoonface (thanks and a tip of the ole pseudonym hat to Lordess of Loud Stephanie Miller and toyboys Jim and Chris) will blame Newsweek for some deadly Middle East riot and Tom DeLay will thank God that there is something worth distracting from his troubles.

Since I'm guessing that Newsweek will go far beyond the two-source confirmation, you can expect that even the Drudge Report might have to conclude this story is a keeper.

And as Sean Hannity sets up his live broadcast outside the hospice maintaining Rove's political career on life support, the question on Helen Thomas's sumptuous lips will be, "Did the President know?" And if he did, "When?" This time no longer will anyone be able to look to the Brain for the answer.

Steve Young is the author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" (www.greatfailure.com), can be heard on L.A.'s KTLK AM1150 (Sat 1-4PM) and read every Sunday in the L.A. Daily News Op-Ed page (right next to Bill O'Reilly).

Commentary:
Considering the number of lies (mistakes) and crimes committed by the Bush Administration it's somewhat odd that this one has gotten the media bent out of shape this much. Is it because one of their own, Judith Miller is in jail? Probably. The Bush White House has lied to us so many times this lie and scandal seems insignificant.

Of course this scandal puts more time and energy on the Iraq war scandal, a war fought for no reason. Clearly Iraq is 1000 times more important than Rove, but it appears the American people and the media want someone to pay.

Bush's poll numbers are dropping like a bomb, his trust numbers are bottoming-out and his entire presidency is hanging by a thread. The public is abandoning him and his conservative ideology. Whatever happens over this incident his presidency is over. Once trust is lost it can never be regained.

There's only one thing that bothers me about this whole thing. Why hasn't Rehnquist resigned from the Court yet? Clearly the man is dying so why would he spend the last days of your life working? I think the answer lies in his other duties as a president of the senate during impeachment proceedings against the president and vice president. It's highly likely Rehnquist has seen what the special prosecutor is doing and see's the writing on the wall.

Is it time to break out the champaign yet? It's not over till the "fat lady" sings. She's warming up, on stage, the music is playing . . .