Today's op-ed by Paul Krugman is not optimisitic that Karl Rove will pay any piper. It's his America; we're all just living in it. Look for this one to top MEL very soon.

Krugman has clearly watched all this unfold with a heavy heart. What should be a cut-and-dried case of wrongdoing is being defended, spun and respun by the stalwarts of the right into yet another instance of Republican straight-shooting over puny left-wing lies: "[T]here are now few, if any, limits to what conservative politicians can get away with: the faithful will follow the twists and turns of the party line with a loyalty that would have pleased the Comintern."

Rove, he says, understands that the truth is less important than the message; and besides, with enough voices echoing behind you, it sounds a lot like truth.

Krugman's column is a good backdrop for the daily revelations about this case, which I jump on every day, and which is probably the intention. Today's well-timed revelation that NOVAK told ROVE about Plame? Just another version of the truth, another herring on a path literally strewn with them, red or otherwise (ew. Smelly path). Stonewall the press, starve them for information and they'll jump on the scraps you throw out little by little. Keep 'em busy, right? Wow. The real truth of the article: Rove is very, very good.

In the meantime, "Fantasia" images never get old. No. I'm not talking about "American Idol."

Karl Rove's America [NYT]

Update: It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out, but nonetheless we were right: Krugman's at number one on MEL, at least until the next gay-themed scientific study comes out.