Scooter's indictment

I've not read it nor all the commentary leading up to it, and I'm not sure this is THE lie, but if Libby lied about the fact that Cheney told him about Plame early on (as his notes seem to indicate) then he was covering for his boss. Which, it turns out, he didn't need to do because she hadn't been covert for the requisite number of years.

While lying to a grand jury is a serious matter, his motives were at least selfless (cf Martha Stewart).

Query: Is the loss of Libby all that big of a deal to the White House?

Query two: Don't the facts that (1) the indictment is about only (!) lying to the grand jury, and (2) Rove was not indicted make this a rather tepid tempest in the proverbial teapot? And to query further, doesn't this take the wind out of the Left's sails AND with the upcoming strong nomination for SCOTUS, put The White House in the best position it's been in for weeks?