Demagogue

As Karl Rove and the White House face steady attacks by Dems and (occasionally) tough questions from the media, what's their best hope for weathering the storm over the CIA disclosure? According to the Los Angeles Times, it's the SCOTUS vacancy:

In public, even as Bush and his aides have refused to comment on the issue, many of their allies have rallied in defense.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who once worked for Rove, declared: "The fact is, Karl Rove did not leak classified information." Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) called it "a nonstory."

Frist's comment reflected the main hope of Republicans on Capitol Hill, as well as in the White House: that the leak investigation was sufficiently tangled and obscure that it would fail to capture much public attention — or would be supplanted by other news.

"As soon as there's a Supreme Court nomination, this will be knocked off the front pages," predicted Kenneth M. Duberstein, a former chief of staff to President Reagan.

If not "knocked off" the front page completely, it will certainly be a far smaller story than it has been over the past week. Only serious, new revelations will keep the Rove-CIA story going once the president announces his SCOTUS nomination to replace O'Connor.