The Turd Baron of the Bushwaffe gets fitted for his parachute

AP has the dance:

Bush said in June 2004 that he would fire anyone in his administration shown to have leaked information that exposed the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. On Monday, however, he added the qualifier that it would have be shown that a crime was committed.

Asked at a June 10, 2004, news conference if he stood by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked Plame's name, Bush answered, "Yes. And that's up to the U.S. attorney to find the facts."

"...It's best people wait until the investigation is complete before you jump to conclusions. I don't know all the facts. I want to know all the facts," Bush said Monday. "I would like this to end as quickly as possible. If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

I'd say "unbelieveable," but was there really any doubt we'd soon see the groundwork for giving the Blossom an out? Hopefully the press corps still has some spine left over from last week, but it certainly wasn't apparent judging by the way they gave Dubs a pass on his equivocating. At least the AP was on the stick and pointed out the backpedaling. The "straight shooter" rep, so carefully cultivated during the '04 con-game campaign, takes yet another hit.