The Substantial Benefit of the Chalabi Scandal for Kerry To put on my occasional political analyst cap (ok, its a propellor beanie and it looks...fabulous!!) there is a substantial benefit to Kerry of Chalabi and his cronies being tied into Iran and making the Bush Administration look like their dupes. Unlike the Abu Ghraib scandal, and other issues that impact "support for the troops", there is no such problem with arguing that the Bushies were used by Iran as their "useful idiots". Kerry can hammer on that one all damn day, as can the balance of the political leadership. Furthermore, Nancy Pelosi's slam of the Bush Administration looks pretty damn good for a playbook. This is a monstrous scandal, and it is all Bush's doing. There is no reason not to take the gloves off on this one.