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Goosed Porter
Eschaton — Given DiFi's little temper tantrum over Panetta, I was curious how she reacted to the appointment of the buffoon Porter Goss to the top CIA post. "After much thought and a careful review of the record, I voted today to confirm the nomination of Representative Porter Goss to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DCI). But I do have some serious concerns - especially about the impact of this nomination on intelligence reform and his record of partisanship in Congress. I believe the President should have the prerogative to appoint who he wants ...

re: Panetta
The Corner on National Review Online — [image] [image] NRO BLOG ROW | THE CORNER | ARCHIVES SEARCH E-MAIL PRINT RSS [image] Tuesday, January 06, 2009 [image] re: Panetta [ Kathryn Jean Lopez ] Josh Marshall is suspicious. 01/06 07:23 AM [image] [image] [image] © National Review Online 2009. All Rights Reserved. Home | Search | NR / Digital | Donate | Media Kit | Contact Us

Early Morning Swim: Special Muckraker of the Day Edition
Firedoglake — ... Israel continues to run up the score on Gaza. Meet the new head of CIA. No one told DiFi or Rockefeller. Josh Marshall is baffled. So is Dreyfuss. Meet the new junior senator from Minnesota. Gotta give him credit, he's not backing down. Nate's taking a poll. And here's another one that looks bad for Caroline. RNC chair race: who loves Raygun the most? Stoller takes it to the House.

Pushback against Panetta
Political Animal — ... when you're dealing with the CIA and the national security administration on a daily basis. He has about three years of experience dealing with the heads of agencies, with crises, and with national and foreign policy issues. I think he does bring a knowledge of the CIA and good national security experience from both his time on the Hill and the Iraq study group...and as chief of staff to the president where you're immersed in it on an hourly basis." And a career intel professional told Josh Marshall there's reason for optimism: "Panetta is a skilled operator, he knows how to ...

The Opposition To Panetta
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — Josh is onto something: I'm not certain what I think about this appointment yet. But on first blush, the nature of the opposition makes me more inclined to support it. That strikes me as exactly right. Feinstein and Rockefeller sense a real individual with real clout at the agency, whom they cannot control. There may have been a lack of foreisght here in not phoning Feinstein ahead of time. But it is also indisputable that many leading intelligence Democrats were deeply complicit in the Bush torture program and his illegal wire-tapping. It ...

Few More Thoughts on Panetta/Feinstein
Talking Points Memo — ... As I wrote last night, my very preliminary impression is that the people whose opinions I respect most seem open to or in favor of the pick, whereas those opposing it strike me as more motivated by turf and power struggles. But that's only a very preliminary impression and we're looking for more data points, more reactions to put together a fuller picture. ...

Mike's Blog Roundup
Crooks and Liars — Some thoughts on Obama's latest appointments The Rude Pundit: Advice to Senate Democrats: Just seat Burris The Brad Blog: The U.S. Election Commission's continued delay in providing guidance for states is a violation of Federal Law. David E’s Fablog: Rick Warren - Aids Pimp After Downing Street: How did a Democratic challenger defeat a Republican incumbent in an enormous rural district in southern Virginia? Eye On Miami: Worst predictions of 2008 ...

Leon Panetta
Comments from Left Field — ... One of Josh Marshall’s intelligence contacts thinks Feinstein et al. want someone they can control: ...

How Intelligence Professionals See Panetta
The Stump — Josh Marshall posts an interesting take from a reader who's a veteran intelligence professional: The issue is not intell guy or non-intell guy. The big issue for Blair and Panetta is strategic or tactical orientation. We are fighting two wars and the warfighter always screams they don't have enough intel or enough of anything for that matter. The dice are so loaded for support to the warfighter that critical strategic intelligence for the President and other senior leaders goes wanting due to time constraints on collection ...

Ravages of time
The Sideshow — Josh Marshall thinks Panetta is a good choice for CIA, but has suspicions about the negative noises coming off of the Hill. He quotes "a career intel professional" on why Panetta is the better choice. Josh thinks there could be a ...

Panetta? Why not?
The Reaction — By Michael J.W. Stickings Like Josh Marshall, Andrew Sullivan, and Creature -- three of my favourite bloggers -- I'm not sure what to make of Obama's surprise selection of Leon Panetta to be CIA director. His extensive White House (CoS to Clinton) and Congressional experience should serve him well in a position that is, like it or not, political, but I think the intelligence community is right to be concerned. The question is, after all, just how political is he, just how close to ...

Panetta, the CIA and the Villagers
Newshoggers.com — ... By Cernig The brewing resistance to Obama's appointee Leon Panetta as head of the CIA among senior Democratic leaders and CIA brass appears to have some ugly motivations. There's some good commentary out there on what the naysayers are carefully not saying. Josh Marshall has an email from a career intelligence professional: I think there is a lot more here than is being said. I believe that Feinstein did not want someone like Panetta who has a large and independent power base and network. If you get a career guy they are a ...

Panetta, Papa Bush and JFK
Preemptive Karma — ... . I've kind of vacillated in my opinion of it as I've read the comments on Carla's post at Blue Oregon. But my initial reaction was to echo the concern expressed by such diverse individuals as Senator Diane Feinstein and Pat Buchanan - what qualifies Panetta for such a job? But then I read a comment citing a TPM post which quotes an email from a long-time veteran of the CIA expressing approval of the Panetta pick. Which got me to thinking that Papa Bush (aka George H. W. Bush, Bush 41, etc.) was appointed by President Ford to head the CIA without any obvious intel experience ...

Warning Off Panetta: Whose Water is the Wall Street Journal Carrying?
Firedoglake — ... to the mattresses" declaration from someone. So, the question is: intel professionals? If so, this is awfully ham-handed and obvious. Higher ups at DOD and CIA? Or Dick Cheney's media planting CYA squad? Again, this is a bit obvious for folks that experienced in lowering the payback boom. Congressional staffers for particularly vulnerable members on these issues? Or all of the above? The more I read pushback on the Panetta nomination, the more I think Josh's intel reader had it right on the money. My gut tells me that if this much of ...

Reviving the Rule of Law After a Lawless "War on Terror"
The Reaction — ... Respected blogger, Josh Marshall concludes with an insightful piece on the so-called inexperience controversy. He headlines at Talking Points Memo: "Really a mystery*"(1/5/09). : ...