Plame case saves Fitz from getting canned?

The Rascal figures that Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for Northern Illinois (including the Rockford area) would be among the federal prosecutors cashiered by the Bush administration for political reasons were it not for his involvement in the Valerie Plame case.

My thinking on this matter is as follows:

Fitzgerald, who has no qualms about going after Republican crooks (George Ryan, et al) as well as the Democratic variety, would seem to meet the administration's definition of insufficient loyalty to the GOP. But his national profile is too high in light of his appointment a few years ago as special prosecutor in the case of somebody having leaked the identity of Valerie Plame as a CIA undercover operative.

No matter the outcome of the perjury trial of Scooter Libby in the Plame case, it would be dangerous for the administration to push Fitz out the door. That would only bring more public attention to the whole campaign of ousting federal prosecutors who have shown themselves to be independent.