They shoot ponies, don't they?

Since he's now not at risk of indictment, apparently, Rove can get back to doing what he does best.

WASHINGTON — A rule designed by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep groundwater clean near oil drilling sites and other construction zones was loosened after White House officials rejected it amid complaints by energy companies that it was too restrictive and after a well-connected Texas oil executive appealed to White House senior advisor Karl Rove.

The new rule, which took effect Monday, came after years of intense industry pressure, including court battles and behind-the-scenes agency lobbying. But environmentalists vowed Monday that the fight was not over, distributing internal White House documents that they said portrayed the new rule as a political payoff to an industry long aligned with the Republican Party and President Bush.

In 2002, a Texas oilman and longtime Republican activist, Ernest Angelo, wrote a letter to Rove complaining that an early version of the rule was causing many in the oil industry to "openly express doubt as to the merit of electing Republicans when we wind up with this type of stupidity."

Rove responded by forwarding the letter to top White House environmental advisors and scrawling a handwritten note directing an aide to talk to those advisors and "get a response ASAP."

Rove later wrote to Angelo, assuring him that there was a "keen awareness" within the administration of addressing not only environmental issues but also the "economic, energy and small business impacts" of the rule.

Keep your friends close and your enemies under your heel.

As Dan Froomkin writes, does it take a criminal indictment for anyone to get in trouble around here? And with the indictment gone, will the Washington press start investigating what Rove really did with respect to the uncovering of a CIA operative?

We know that Rove was the second of two sources for syndicated columnist Robert Novak 's column, in which Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was outed as a CIA operative. We know Rove confirmed that to investigators, although he testified that all he did was say something like "I heard that, too" after Novak asked him about it.

We also know Rove was one of Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper's sources, for his story mentioning Plame's CIA status. Rove eventually confirmed that to investigators after insisting that he had previously forgotten about the conversation.

Apparently, none of this rises to the level of a slam-dunk criminal case, according to Fitzgerald.

But consider that Rove, his lawyers and the White House repeatedly denied to the public that Rove was involved in the leak at all.

As ABC News's The Note reported on Sept. 29, 2003, ABC News producer Andrea Owen and a cameraman approached Rove that morning as he walked toward his car.

Owen: "Did you have any knowledge or did you leak the name of the CIA agent to the press?"

Rove: "No."

Then on August 31, 2004, Rove spoke to CNN's John King .

King: "Did someone in the White House leak the name of the CIA operative? What is your assessment of the status of the investigation, and can you tell us that you had nothing to do with. . . . "

Rove: "Well, I'll repeat what I said to ABC News when this whole thing broke some number of months ago. I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name."

Here is press secretary Scott McClellan in a Sept. 16, 2003 briefing:

"Q Now, this is apparently a federal offense, to burn the cover a CIA operative. . . . Did Karl Rove do it?

"MR. McCLELLAN: I said, it's totally ridiculous."

Here's McClellan on Sept. 29, 2003 :

"Q All right. Let me just follow up. You said this morning, 'The President knows' that Karl Rove wasn't involved. How does he know that?

"MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I've made it very clear that it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place. . . . So, I mean, it's public knowledge. I've said that it's not true. And I have spoken with Karl Rove."

On Sept. 30, 2003 , Bush himself was asked if Rove had a role in the CIA leak.

"Listen, I know of nobody -- I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information," he said. "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action. And this investigation is a good thing."

Meanwhile, Rove headed up to New Hampshire evidently to kick off "Dirty Tricks Tour '06."

MANCHESTER, N.H. --Presidential adviser Karl Rove is the keynote speaker Monday night at the state Republican Party's annual dinner -- which Democrats say is to raise money to help the party pay legal fees in a phone jamming case.

State Party Chairman Wayne Semprini acknowledged Friday he would like to raise enough money so the suit "represents a very small portion of our budget."

But he said the case has nothing to do with Rove's appearance.

"He won't say boo about phone jamming," Semprini said. "There's absolutely no connection between his being here and phone jamming. Period. This is our annual dinner."

With each passing day, taking power back from these creeps gets more and more vital. As evidence, Digby quotes the phone jammer himself.

In his first interview about the case, Raymond said he doesn't know anything that would suggest the White House was involved in the plan to tie up Democrats' phone lines and thereby block their get-out-the-vote effort. But he said the scheme reflects a broader culture in the Republican Party that is focused on dividing voters to win primaries and general elections. He said examples range from some recent efforts to use border-security concerns to foster anger toward immigrants to his own role arranging phone calls designed to polarize primary voters over abortion in a 2002 New Jersey Senate race.

``A lot of people look at politics and see it as the guy who wins is the guy who unifies the most people," he said. ``I would disagree. I would say the candidate who wins is the candidate who polarizes the right bloc of voters. You always want to polarize somebody."

Karl has taught him well.

Nixon's political operatives at least tried to hide what they were doing. Today's Republicans commit their dirty tricks and political vedettas nakedly. And the Washington press do little more than look on admiringly, offer a subtle shake of the head, and say, "Damn, they've got brass ones, don't they?"