[Dilangos]

And once again, changing the argument to suit your needs. No one has said they have to come from the CIA. What is being said is that someone who was in the House or Senate Intelligence Committee would have worked as well (Hell, I even mentioned Feinstein). Or someone who studied it intently. Someone who knows about intelligence prior to actually taking the job.

Robert Reich had a lot of experience in labor issues.

[ssupermegatone]

Yes, because nothing I've seen indicates that he has studied it. Like I said, it seems like a panic move because the blogosphere blew up Brennan and so the Obama team went super anti-torture route. I'm really hoping he's a caretaker.

And as Lonestar pointed out, Panetta was the guy who prevented the President from meeting his DCI, so he doesn't have the best rep already.

[freevideom]

Obama is saying he deliberately chose an outsider because the old group got caught up in telling politicians what they wanted to hear instead of simply saying what the evidence said. Obama also pointed out Penetta had lots of senior management experience. I can understand his thinking though I would feel better if the guy had some experience in the intelligence field still Obama's picks in the other senior appointments look strong and experienced. If Panetta is the most iffy pick of the whole administration then we're still doing pretty good.

[fotodemujerahldesnugdo]

If Panetta is the most iffy pick of the whole administration then we're still doing pretty good.


Richardson was obviously a more iffy pick than Panetta. Emanuel might be, as well.

[aburva.org]

One wonders if it was reversed and it was Bill O'Reilly calling out Senate Republicans for being against an unqualified CIA nom what your reaction would be

[tipokotap]

If Panetta is the most iffy pick of the whole administration then we're still doing pretty good.

Richardson was obviously a more iffy pick than Panetta. Emanuel might be, as well. I don't believe Richardson was iffy. I mean there isn't a single senior politician in the country who hasn't taken campaign contributions from companies which do business with the state. That dog won't hunt just like all the leftists pointing out how much Haliburton's donations bought them special favors. It just doesn't hunt. It honestly seems like Richardson just didn't want to be in the big times and found an easy way out.

[RozzyLiu]

I would like to note that the CIA has been extremely screwed up over the last 8 years so maybe an outsider is needed rather then someone who was hip deep in the screw ups. I'd still prefer someone with experience but how do you do that? I mean all the current senior staff were involved in torture, faked (or at least cherry picked) stuff for the Iraq war, illegal wire taping, extraordinary redentions, and Gitmo. Clearly those people can't be trusted so the only other option for an experienced person would be to pull someone out of retirement from the Clinton or Carter administrations. I'm not sure an old man would be best for that job. There are just not a lot of clean well qualified candidates out there.

[immoceefe]

Being called names by you is a mark of honor. God help the poor sap who actually agrees with you.

[AndreasLV]

It honestly seems like Richardson just didn't want to be in the big times and found an easy way out.

Yeah, because when he was outwardly schilling for SecState, he didn't think that would be "in the big times"



Honestly...

you might have noticed the "I'm not sure I agree with her" part Right before the "interesting points" part. I'm betting with an O'Reilly you wouldn't even acknowledge the point.

[TeapseTic]

And there is NOTHING that indicates that Panetta was professional at his job as CoS/Manager, not when he was continuing the practice of blocking the sitting DCI from meeting the President for suspect reasons.

I've been looking for an account of this. Link?

[TeemFilla]

Richard Clarke, who presumably would know, disagrees.

Leon was in all of the important national security meetings for years, both as [Office of Management and Budget] director and as chief of staff. He made substantive contributions well outside of his job description. And as OMB director, he was one of a very few people who knew about all of the covert and special-access programs.

Ok guys, that's it, thread over, nothing to see here.



(No, I'm not being sarcastic.)

[Lån-Penge]

Didn't realize that being the OMB directory meant that you knew the indepth information about intelligence... then again, you can say that by being OMB, you knew about everything (because it overseas the budget of everything).

I'm guessing that means Josh Bolton (current CoS to the Bush White House and prior to that, Director of OMB) would be a good CIA Director to y'all as well . At least Bolton's father was in the CIA .

[dolaBeetCeage]

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Didn't realize that being the OMB directory meant that you knew the indepth information about intelligence... then again, you can say that by being OMB, you knew about everything (because it overseas the budget of everything).

I'm guessing that means Josh Bolton (current CoS to the Bush White House and prior to that, Director of OMB) would be a good CIA Director to y'all as well . At least Bolton's father was in the CIA . Given that some of us give a damn about a little thing called policy, not really.

But if you're going to pick someone from top of the current Bush Admin as DCI, Bolten's a reasonable pick (assuming Gates is still unavailable). BTW, the demonstrated competence of the person matters too. I'd trust Bolten, for example, more than Card.

[krek-sikUp]

Does anyone agree with this nomination besides Obama, Ramo and Boris?

Neither Ramo nor I voiced agreement with the choice.

[xgnuwdd]

I'm not sure I agree with this clip but it does raise some interesting questions and answers.

Interesting in what way? It seems to be an incredibly simple minded analysis designed to support her idol's idiotic choice. God damn man it isn't as if the Clinton admin (who his admin seems to be raiding for appointments) was bereft of people who actually dealt with intelligence. But appointing someone who lacks any meaningful experience in the matters his agency will deal with (and I'm sorry Ramo but merely looking at the budget of the CIA doesn't count) simply because you wanna stick it to the Bush admin is beyond stupid. It offends me that anyone would find such drek interesting.

Not because I think he's a good choice, but because I'm enough of a realist to expect that 99.99% of his day-to-day responsibilities will actually be handled by substantive geek underlings and merely rubber-stamped by him, as is the case with the top tiers of any bureaucracy where career politicians just sit and flaunt their egos for a living.

Why not appoint the night janitor to lead Treasury, FBI, etc. as well then?

[enrisaabsotte]

Why not appoint the night janitor to lead Treasury, FBI, etc. as well then?

It wouldn't bother me. At least he wouldn't be stupid enough to stick his nose into things he mostly pretends to know anything about.

[PyncGyncliacy]

But appointing someone who lacks any meaningful experience in the matters his agency will deal with (and I'm sorry Ramo but merely looking at the budget of the CIA doesn't count) Nice cherry-picking...
Leon was in all of the important national security meetings for years, both as [Office of Management and Budget] director and as chief of staff. He made substantive contributions well outside of his job description.