The Evolving Republican Party

They suddenly don't think perjury is a crime:

On Meet the Press, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson picks up where Bill Kristol left off:

I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn’t indict on the crime so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation were not a waste of time and dollars.

Perjury is just a little technicality punishable by up to five years in prison.

I know that when a Republican is being charged, all those legal books get thrown out the window, but are you serious? After two terms worth of "rule of law" and "he lied to the American people" in the Clinton years, you're honestly going to throw out this kind of bullshit and hope the public eats it up like candy? You simply don't grab at these kind of straws unless you know what's coming down the pike. And if this is the best defense they've got, Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby had better go orange-jumpsuit shopping.

By the way, it looks like as early as Tuesday.

Fitzgerald is expected to give final notice to officials facing charges as early as Monday and may convene the grand jury on Tuesday, a day earlier than usual, to deliver a summary of the case and ask for approval of the possible indictments, legal sources said. The grand jury is to expire on Friday unless Fitzgerald extends it.

Fitzgerald could still determine that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges, but the lawyers said that appeared increasingly unlikely.