A settlement of the case could carry political implications: On Aug. 6, 2002, then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft first identified Hatfill as a "person of interest" in the anthrax mailings. By settling with Hatfill, the government would all but dispel the possibility that he might ever be charged for the deadly mailings. And -- in an election year when fear of terrorism looms as an important issue -- Hatfill's exoneration would remind voters that no suspect has been caught.
I think there's something "between the lines" in that comment. I'm just not sure what it is.
My personal opinion is that most people lost interest and stopped caring about the anthrax attacks a while ago. That might be partly because the media hasn't been talking about them too much, thanks in no small part to the fact that everyone thought they had their guy in Hatfill and turned out to be wrong.
That line in the article sounds to me like a veiled way of saying that if the government/media complex is forced to settle with Hatfill, that the media will then be bringing this issue back into the forefront full force as a campaign weapon against Bush and the Republicans.
Also, I expect that most of the left-leaning media outlets probably subscribe to the Barbara Hatch Rosenberg/Sherwood Ross conspiracy theory that the government knows who did it but it is intentionally covering it up for political reasons.