The Truffle

Yes, after flinging Muppet Man under the bus, the preznit has decided to scrape him off the tarmac and flick the pebbles off his suit, lest Scoots have to trade the suit in for a bright orange prison uniform. Otherwise, the man with the dumbest name in political history might reveal certain ugly facts about the administration. At this point, the president should just pose in front of an American flag with both middle fingers extended upward. New political slogan: "If you're not outraged, you're probably just waiting for January 20, 2009."

Scooter's headed for the slammer. "People who occupy these types of positions, where they have the welfare and security of nation in their hands, have a special obligation to not do anything that might create a problem," Judge Walton said to Libby as he was sentencing him to 30 months in a federal prison and fining him $250,000. Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald had asked for a sentence like this, and this morning he told Judge Walton that a tough term was needed for Libby because "the truth matters ever so much." The federal probation office had suggested a sentence in the 15-to-30 month range and Libby's lawyers had famously begged for leniency and asked for probation. No dice, said the judge: You do the crime, you do the time, especially when you should have known better and done better. "Overwhelming evidence" of guilt, Judge Walton declared.

That's what I realized as I was following Bushco Scandals 55 and 78.2. Bush and his cronies hate Muppets even more than they hate liberals, Democrats, Iraqis, French people, the troops, other Republicans, and the 65 percent of the American population who's decided they suck. Don't believe me? There's a word/image association going on in Camp Repuke to sour the public image of the Muppets by associating them with the Bush camp's cast of idiots. First, there's Scooter. At first it seemed weird that a grown man could still carry a nickname like Scooter. Okay, maybe he has a boyish, playful side underneath that law-breaking, amoral exterior. But then I noted people giving our (soon-to-be ex?) Attorney General the nickname Gonzo. And no, I don't think anyone means to invoke the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson. (Does anyone on Team Bush know who Hunter S. Thompson is? C'mon!) It's bad enough that these guys have to trash war veterans, loyal Americans, a...

How do you suppose his fellow convicts will treat a guy named "Scooter"?