I have an almost superstitious fear of getting too caught up in the unfolding story of Karl Rove’s possible involvement in outing a CIA agent, and/or lying about it. In the Abramoff-Reed-Norquist Indian Casino Shakedown Scandal, we’re already being richly treated to a Morality Play of epic proportions, wherein in which the extraordinary arrogance, hypocrisy and greed of key players in the current conservative Ascendancy have led them steadily to sordid acts of self-destruction.But ah, could it be possible that the man who has raised dirty tricks, poltical intimidation, and character assassination to the highest levels of geopolitical strategy could be laid low by a cheap act of personal spite aimed at an obscure former diplomat who threw a minor monkey wrench into the run-up to the war in Iraq? Could the top operative in a leak-proof White House be brought down by a leak? Is the Boy Genius capable of such stupidity? If so, and Rove falls from power, it will be another sign that the legendary discipline and self-confidence of the Bush administration during W.’s first term represented little more than an unusual ability to ignore the consequences of their irresponsible acts. You can’t do that perpetually, of course, and that’s why the air now seems filled with the squawking of so many chickens coming home to roost.