Am I the only one who doesn’t find this news to be very comforting?

Attorney General John Ashcroft on Tuesday recused himself from the politically sensitive investigation of who leaked the name of a CIA operative. The Justice Department quickly named a special prosecutor to take over the investigation.

The announcement was made by James Comey, the department’s new No. 2 official, at the Justice Department. The U.S. attorney in Chicago, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, will take over the investigation and report to Comey.

“He has the power and authority to make whatever prosecutorial judgment he needs,” Comey said.
. . .
“The attorney general in an abundance of caution believed that his recusal was appropriate based on the totality of the circumstances and the facts and evidence developed at this stage of the investigation,” Comey said. “I agree with that judgment.”
. . .
Investigators want to know who leaked the name of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA officer, to syndicated columnist Robert Novak in July. Plame is married to former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who has said he believes his wife’s identity was disclosed to discredit his assertions that the Bush administration exaggerated Iraq’s nuclear capabilities to build the case for war.

The leaker could be charged with a felony if identified.

The FBI has interviewed more than three dozen Bush administration officials, including political adviser Karl Rove and press secretary Scott McClellan.

Now the centrist in me wants to say “Wow! This is great news! Now that Ashcroft has recused himself, maybe we can get some real answers in this investigation!”. Unfortunately, this news has caught me on a bad day and I’m in conspiracy theorist mode.

Why did it take six months for Ashcroft to recuse himself? Shouldn’t he have figured out after a few days whether or not there might be potential conflicts of interest here? I can’t shake the image of Jeb Bush recusing himself from the Florida recount in 2000. I can’t back it up or anything, but I keep thinking this is just the Bush Administration’s way of setting us up for sweeping this whole affair under the rug.