The rumors are flying fast and furious now.
1. U.S. News and World Report says that the Beltway is already humming with reports that Dick Cheney might step down as VP if indicted or named as an unindicted co-conspirator, to be replaced (possibly) by Condi Rice.
2. Raw Story, which had advance word on the New York Daily News story suggesting that someone senior at the White House had flipped, now identifies that person as John Hannah, on loan from John Bolton’s old shop at State to Cheney’s office. Apparently the theory is that Hannah might have done the actual leaking, under orders from superiors, and is being squeezed for the names of those who told him to do it.
Jane cites Dana Milbank as saying that the Hannah rumor has been circulating for months. I don’t know whether that makes it more or less plausible now.
But if you’re my age, this starts to sound and smell like the summer of 1974. And the more advance buzz there is, the harder it will be for the GOP to successfully feign outrage when the indictments happen.