Of going to a full court press.

With a GOP Congress refusing to investigate Bush’s illegal wiretaps and other illegal or questionable actions, and allies from Bill Kristol to Glenn Reynolds seeing a strong likelihood that Democrats could take control of the House in November, where impeachment trials originate, the Bush administration is going after the press, whistleblowers and citizen sponsored legal filings to try and block every possible method American citizens have of getting at the truth.

Will he also try to shutdown the Fitzgerald investigation into the treasonous activities of his inner circle on the eve of Karl Rove’s likely indictment? Will he try to silence the 2 or 3 members of his own party that actually want him to return to lawful behavior?

I wouldn’t bet against him doing just that, claiming national security will be compromised if the next tiniest fragment of truth comes out. (Update: Glenn Greenwald explains how solid this ‘wall of secrecy’ can be.)

Though the Senate will lack enough Democrats to get a two-thirds vote to convict Bush, once the House impeaches him, the full investigation would reveal too much evidence for Senate Republicans to ignore without facing a citizen’s revolt.

Bush’s current last ditch efforts are understandable and predictable, really. He’s run out of any easier options. During the Watergate investigation, Nixon put our entire military on full alert as he desperately tried to divert the nation’s attention to the possibility of a pending attack. Bush will use the Terror Alert card during these final stages of his failed presidency, to try and rally support for himself. And unfortunately, there’s a strong potential that he has a too willing accomplice in America’s Most Wanted Terrorist.

The greatest recruitment success Al Qaida’s had has been caused by Bush’s decision to attack Iraq and his subsequent mismanagement of that fight. The best way Osama Bin Laden and al Zarqawi can grow their organizations is to keep George Bush in power through 2008. And the best way to achieve their goal is to launch another major terror attack on America in the final month before the November elections.

So blocking the truth by every means possible, using treasonous means to intimidate intelligence insiders, jailing journalists and using the courts to block all legal investigations and oversight attempts, Bush is trying to keep the lid on the facts that will certainly send him back to Crawford if he fails. And coupled with the diversion of his coming terrorist alert(s), he’s actually creating the ripest opening for a very real second major terror attack.

But let’s not overlook the bottom line of exactly what that means: Bush has and will continue to use every trick in the book to preserve and protect his own behind, while sacrificing the real security of the nation in that process.

That would be the biggest and potentially deadliest blunder in US history, if it happens that way. How many US citizens is he willing to sacrifice to maintain his hold on power? All the available evidence to date suggests he’s willing to sacrifice as many as it takes.

Which means he’s not just a failed president. While proclaiming himself as God’s chosen Superpatriot, he may yet prove to be America’s Worst - and deadliest - Enemy.