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His talk show last Sunday was more intense; he was more tenacious and more obviously nervous. The way he ranted for over an hour made him seem like a cornered rat with shifting beady eyes. Samak lost his composure and cocksure self-confidence after four months of pressure from all around, though mostly from self-inflicted troubles.

His plight has obviously become unbearable. He manages to weather the daily crisis of confidence and other equally serious problems facing him just because this is his last chance to preserve what he still has, and that includes his freedom amidst pending criminal charges.

The embattled politician must have hoped that he would enjoy his twilight years and leave behind a legacy as prime minister. He will have one legacy: he became a self-confessed nominee - a political puppet whose master stands to face even more serious criminal prosecution.

Samak's days are numbered, surely, but don't count him out yet. He will fight tooth and nail to ensure that he won't have to spend the rest of his life in prison, with charges related to gross misconduct.

His Cabinet is crippled, with key ministers forced to quit due to scandal and criminal wrongdoing. Samak also awaits his own judgement day, which should come pretty soon, and then a few more that have the potential to be truly destructive.

One thing is for sure, while he clings to power, not only will the nation suffer from the incompetence of his scandal-plagued administration, the People Power Party also has its fate sealed, more or less. A spare party has been formed to resurrect the wreckage.

What is really worrisome is that Samak is just focused on his own survival as prime minister and as a free man and has made this his top priority. Others are secondary or lower in terms of significance. Dignity and honour are long gone after nearly two months of protest rallies, reducing his discredited administration to a heap of junk.

Eventually, Samak will go down in history as the head of a government with scandals, no credibility and the largest number of tainted ministers facing all sorts of accusations, while his administration is jeered at like a den of thieves.

He will continue to fight with all his skills and cunning. "I will not quit or dissolve the House of Representatives. We are elected by the people to serve as government," he croaked.

The high price he might finally have to pay for his misconduct would serve as a reminder for his successor that this sort of behaviour does not pay in this land.

Gone are the cosy deals that were struck when big money and the old boys' network always worked wonders, based on the belief that prisons are built only for small people, while the rich have total immunity.

What will he do now? Predictably, he will ram the budget bill through the House and Senate so that huge funds will become handy. Then he will push the proposed constitutional amendments through Parliament as well.

With the majority vote, Samak can expect the amendments to pass fairly easily. He can take it to the bank. After that, he will dissolve the House. With such an advantage, he will call a snap election paving the way back to government.

There are hitches, though. If legal obstacles and pending criminal cases cannot block his plan, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) would not allow him to go far enough to change the charter and save his master, Thaksin Shinawatra.

For PAD, the stakes are too high for the group to let Samak roam free with the government budget to regain strength and eliminate independent agencies now handling criminal cases.

Political confrontation would take place, lead to a showdown and a flare-up of violence. What comes next is so easy to predict, huh?