NO SCANDAL IN PLAME'S REAL OUTER.(Main)

Byline: David Brooks

Perhaps, dear reader, you are perplexed. Perhaps you remember the scandal surrounding the outing of the CIA agent Valerie Plame, a crime so heinous that her husband was forced to endure repeated magazine photo-shoots. Perhaps you remember Karl Rove's face on the covers of magazines and newspapers, along with hundreds of stories and driveway stakeouts.

Perhaps you remember the left-wing bloggers so foaming at the thought of Rove's coming imprisonment that they looked like little Chia Pets of glee. Perhaps you remember a city of TV bookers periodically canceling their lunch plans because of rumors that the Rove indictment was imminent, …