"West Wing" leak investigation versus real life...

Hunter makes a very good point in this frontpage entry: that, once Libby's five indictments were announced Friday, Bush and/or Cheney should have immediately fired him.

What's that you say? Libby resigned first? So frickin' what.

Let's look at how a similar situation was handled in my favorite make-believe parallel universe, "the West Wing," shall we?

If you haven't been watching, last season on "The West Wing" someone leaked classified information (the existence of a classified military space shuttle) to a reporter, who wrote about the shuttle - and was then arrested when he refused to reveal his source. The scandal has cast a dark shadow on the short remainder of Jed Bartlet's presidency, not to mention the campaign of Democratic nominee for president Matt Santos.

Last week, White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler came forward and acknowledged that he was the source of the leak. (Something which regular viewers pretty much already knew.) In his final meeting with President Bartlet, Toby handed him a resignation letter.

Bartlet ordered him to tear it up - so that he could fire Toby instead.

And this is what Cheney, and/or Bush, should have done. Not only is it the right thing to do (and yes, I know - whether or not something is ethically "right" is irrelevant to this administration), but it sure would make Blinky and The Dark One look a lot better, look a lot more, dare I say, "presidential."

So, anyone out there think the story arc on "the West Wing" is purely a coincidence? ;-)