Murray Waas, an investigative reporter whose stories appear regularly in the National Journal has done yeoman’s work on the Fitzgerald investigation story. He has been consistently out in front of the parade regarding the who, what and why of Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into the leak of Valerie Wilson’s identity. Now he has a new article out today which indicates that not only is Fitz not finished with Karl Rove yet, but he still hopes to get testimony from Scooter Libby that could lead to an indictment of Rove:

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald delayed a decision on whether to seek criminal charges against Karl Rove in large part because he wants to determine whether Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, can provide information on Rove’s role in the CIA leak case, according to attorneys involved in the investigation.

Even if Fitzgerald concludes in the near future that he does not have sufficient evidence to charge Rove, the special prosecutor would not rule out bringing charges at a later date and would not finish his inquiry on Rove until he hears whatever information Libby might provide — either incriminating or exculpatory — on Rove’s role, the sources said.

Fitzgerald did not seek an indictment of Rove, opting to present any potential new evidence on the White House deputy chief of staff to a new grand jury. In recent days, Fitzgerald has reinterviewed several witnesses with knowledge of Rove’s role in the Plame leak and talked with attorneys of other potential witnesses.

The ongoing investigation means that Rove’s legal status is likely to remain up in the air until the final disposition of Libby’s case. That could be two years from now, or even longer. Rove’s predicament contradicts recent news accounts indicating that Fitzgerald will conclude his probe of Rove in the near future.

Well, we can all speculate on who might be behind those other news reports that Rove is off the hook, now can’t we? It’s not like we haven’t seen Rove and his network of media allies spin stories (and create new ones) for the benefit of President Bush, whether during the campaign, or in pursuit of the Bush agenda, foreign or domestic. The trouble for Rove this time is that he isn’t trying to prop up an inadequate President’s popularity, he’s fighting for his own professional and political life, not Bush’s. And, as we’ve seen, public opinion and media spin means absolutely nothing to Patrick Fitzgerald. He’s going to pursue his investigation as he sees fit no matter how many stories appear in WaPo quoting anonymous administration officials, or talking heads pontificate on Hardball and Fox claiming Rove’s fortunes have changed for the better, and further investigation at this point is merely vindictive.

Rove and the White House had hoped that President Bush’s most important political adviser was out of legal jeopardy when the Libby indictment was announced on October 28, and that the political fallout from the CIA leak scandal would recede with the expiration of the grand jury’s term. That no longer appears to be the case.

Friends of Rove now bemoan that he will be under a cloud for the indefinite future, even though he might ultimately be cleared. “Karl’s name has clearly been dragged through the mud,” said Republican operative Grover Norquist. “But what happens if it turns out there is no there there? No one is going to devote one-hundredth of ink to his exoneration, if there is one.”

Cry me a river, Mr. Norquist. I feel your pain, really I do. Rove is a vital piece in the Right Wing Echo Chamber, indeed the most vital piece, most people would say. Without him planning the GOP’s media strategy and providing the tactical nuances each day, you risk losing more than just political momentum. You risk losing your party’s hold on which stories dominate the news cycle. Already we have seen the results from having a crippled Rove in the Katrina public relations fiasco (a seperate issue from the disaster itself which I by no means intend to diminish) and the inability to get the Senate behind Cheney’s “don’t ban torture” pleas.

Bush’s poll numbers are in the tank, and a lot of that has to do with Rove being distracted by the Fitzgerald investigation, not to mention the fact that many Americans now believe that not only Libby, but Rove and/or Cheney were also involved in the outing of Ms. Wilson as a CIA operative. Rove needs to resurrect his own reputation, both as a political advisor to the President, but also as a visible icon of the conservative movement. This may be why we have seen him out on the hustings speaking at a Federalist Society function about “activist judges” on Thursday, for example.

He desperately needs people, particularly fellow Republicans, to believe that he’s in the clear, and that everything is back to normal as far as the White House is concerned. If Rove can give the appearance of having secured his position in the administration (and stall further talk of his resignation) they still hope to regain control over an increasingly restive Republican caucus in Congress, as well as clampping down on the Beltway punditocracy which in the past few months has shown itself more willing to go “off message” than they ever have in the past.

This explains a great deal about the rollout of the administration’s attack strategy over the past week, highlighted by President Bush’s speech today lashing out at Democrats who have taken him to task over the war in Iraq. It’s a high stakes game they are playing to win back their support among Republicans in Congress, and to change the conversation in the media. It’s why we continue to see media apologists (like Nora O’Donnell of MsNBC) claiming Bush’s downward spiral in the polls can still be reversed:

MATTHEWS: OK, you’ve covered the White House too. Big picture question. So what? The president has lousy numbers. How does it affect his ability to govern.

O’DONNELL: Listen, it’s not all that devastating. Why? Because other presidents—Carter, Reagan, Clinton—have had lower approval ratings than the current rating that the president has, so he can certainly rebound, but he has to rebound on Iraq.

And it’s why we will continue to see stories like this one, regardless upon whom Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation is currently focusing:

The architect, it seems, is back.

Hunkered down for almost all of October while a grand jury considered his fate, Karl Rove has rebounded as a visible presence at the White House over the past two weeks, according to Bush Administration officials and Republican colleagues.

The deputy chief of staff is running meetings and pursuing candidates for the 2006 elections and, associates say, devising long-term political plans that suggest he does not believe he will face legal trouble despite the CIA leak investigation in which he has been involved.

Remember: with Rove it is always about appearances, never substance. It will be interesting to see how his “smoke and mirrors” tricks do in the coming months against Fitzgerald and his rock solid approach to the prosecution of this case.