Why isn't Karl Rove heading for prison?

Newsweek magazine reports that "White House anxiety is mounting ..." as it should be over the possibility that deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and counselor Dan Bartlett may be forced to testify in the perjury and obstruction trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The administration's anxiety should be high for a number of reasons -- complete loss of confidence by the American public, eroding confidence among Congressional Republicans, and a Congress now under the control of the Democrats.

Scooter Libby's trial provides a glimpse into why the public has no faith in the executive branch.

In October 2003, then-press secretary Scott McClellan said that no one at the White House was in any way involved in the leak of Plame's identity. We now know that to be false. Newsweek reports that:

[Ari] Fleischer has said that Libby told him over a White House lunch on July 7, 2003, that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and made a point of describing this information as "hush and hush."

Libby is charged with lying about his role in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Libby's attorney is now claiming that Libby was merely a "scapegoat" to protect Rove. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that Rove's fingerprints were all over this incident. What will be fun is to have the opportunity to watch Rove squirm, should he be forced to testify.

Does he tell the truth and risk going to prison himself, or does he continue to lie?

It would seem that as this house of cards begins to fold, it would be in Rove's best interest to just fess up to his role in this illegal act.

Of the 43 administrations to date, history will reveal the Bush administration to be the most corrupt ever.