At the theater of the absurd, anything can happen. Indeed, it was only a matter of time before the oh-so-serious tone swirling around Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation took a turn down Mocking Lane.

From today's "Name and Faces":

If you passed by D.C. Superior Court yesterday and thought you saw three seven-foot-tall condoms, you didn't imagine it.

The three figures, plus a woman in a sheer condom bodysuit, were protesting. The spectacle -- er, demonstration -- took place as senior presidential adviser Karl Rove testified before the grand jury investigating the identity leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame . The oversize prophylactics sported photos of Rove and featured text that read, "Some things should never leak" and "Stop the leak." ...

"This was a humorous take on the issue, but it's a very serious matter," she said. Alas, Rove entered the courthouse through a side entrance and never saw his likeness.

Update: The condoms in question are the doings of "The Ruckus Society," proud sponsors of the Karl Rove NeoCondom:

The Karl Rove NeoCondom is being issued to commemorate Karl's fourth trip back to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's Grand Jury. Mr. Rove has had difficulty recollecting the role he played in exposing the identity of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA agent whose husband was critical of Karl's efforts to "get our war on" in Iraq. Karl will surely maintain his innocence while addressing some tricky issues of testimony-drift.