Yes, This is Worth Breaking My Embargo of HuffPo

The invaluable Dan Froomkin looks at Patrick Fitzgerald's record as a prosecutor, and concludes that he went out of his way to avoid a serious investigation of the people at the top of the pyramid:

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s prosecution of former CIA officer John Kiriakou for talking to journalists about the Bush/Cheney torture program has at least one thing in common with his conviction of I. Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby in 2007.

In both cases, Fitzgerald went for the little fish. But the big fish got away. (See related story on the Kiriakou case.)

In the Plame case, Fitzgerald prosecuted Libby, then-vice president Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, for perjury and obstruction of justice related to the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a covert CIA operative. But he stopped short of charging Cheney or top presidential adviser Karl Rove -- both of whom had been targets of his investigation.

It appears that FBI investigators thought that they had Rove completely nailed, and that Cheney was at significant risk of indictment, but that Fitzgerald backed off.

Well, he was appointed by a Republican president on the recommendation of a Republican senator.