CIA Director Porter Goss has resigned, President Bush said Friday.
Bush called Goss’ tenure one of transition.
“He has led ably,” Bush said from the Oval Office.
Goss, a former member of Congress, has “helped make this country a safer place,” Bush said. “We’ve got to win the war on terror.”
Said Goss: “I would like to report to you that the agency (CIA) is back on a very even keel and sailing well.”
The CIA has come in for harsh criticism in recent years, not only for questionable prewar intelligence on Iraq but also in connection with the failure of it and a host of other federal agencies to coordinate information closely in connection with the terrorist threat.
Questions about the CIA’s performance in connection with Iraq involved mostly George Tenet, Goss’s predecessor.
Instant analysis at In From the Cold, which seems to echo a Time story published earlier today [excerpt beneath the fold], highlighted at Hot Air:
Liberal pundits are already spinning Goss’s resignation as a sign of serious problems at Langley. In reality, the former Congressman is more a victim of bureaucratic wars. Goss was confirmed as CIA director at about the same time that Ambassador John Negroponte became the nation’s first Director of National Intelligence (DNI). That represented a watershed in the history of the nation’s intelligence community. For the first time, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) was no longer America’s top-ranking intelligence officer; instead, he became just another agency director, on the same level as the Directors of the National Security Agency (NSA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA).
The distinction is important. No longer is the CIA Director the president’s primary intelligence advisor–that responsibility now belongs to John Negroponte. Additionally, the responsibility for preparing the president’s daily briefing falls on the DNI, not the CIA.
What disturbs me about the Goss resignation is the possibility that internal battles may have worn down the director, and eventually convinced him to throw in the towel. It’s no secret that Goss has been fighting pitched battles against staffers who oppose Bush Administration policies, and the new management team at the CIA. Goss recently fired CIA officer Mary McCarthy for unauthorized contacts with the press, and there are hints that other agency staffers may be implicated as well. But earlier this week, the CIA launched an investigation of the agency’s #3 official–a Goss appointee—in connection with the bribery scandal that sent former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham to federal prison. Given the timing–and announcement–of the inquiry, there was some belief that the probe was something of a “counter-attack” by agency’s anti-administration cabal.
Today’s announcement clearly caught the White House by surprise. Consequently, the director’s position may remain vacant for a while, and that could derail the reform campaign at Langley. To avoid that, President Bush should consider the appointment of an experienced intelligence manager who could move into the job quickly and seamlessly. IMO, one of the few men who could do that is the current Deputy Director of National Intelligence, General Mike Hayden. General Hayden isn’t a CIA veteran, but he was extremely effective as Director of NSA for more than five years. During his tenure at Ft Meade, he reformed and reshaped that agency, clearing out bureaucratic deadwood, and boosting agency morale.
Video of the announcement at Expose the Left.
Meanwhile, Glenn Reynolds weighs in:
PORTER GOSS HAS RESIGNED as CIA head. He was always a transitional figure, there to clean up the Tenet mess, but I suspect there’s more to it than that because I don’ think that mess has been cleaned up. Regardless of the reasons for Goss’s departure, I believe that Bush will continue to regret not doing a major housecleaning in late 2001/early 2002 (and not just at the CIA), when he had the political mojo to do it. More here.
Early consensus among beltway types is surprise.
But according to a White House official FOXNews’ Chris Wallace spoke to, this is part of the administration’s “shakeup.” Though why they’d want to remove Goss—who was, at first blush at least, beginning to make headway in the investigation into agency leaks.
Time will tell, I suppose. But this is quite the curious move.
Could be that there is a scandal ready to break—in which case, we’ll know soon enough. Or it could be that the Bushies are looking to completely defang the CIA by completing the transition of its major responsibilities to Negroponte’s DNI, and Goss was no longer part of the plan.
Anyone else have any thoughts?
****
update: in the comments, a fine scotch notes that a site associated with Joshua Micha-Heinz-Kerry Marshall is linking Goss to a corruption/hooker scandal (via Bob Barr, being interviewed on CNN).
How long, I wonder, before famed champion of teh gay (whether they like it or not!) John Aravosis sees JEFF GANNON’S GAY PORN COCK OF LIES crammed somewhere into this story…?
update: Well, it wasn’t Aravosis, but I guess a commenter at Balloon-Juice is the next best thing.
All roads lead back to Gannon. And his NAUGHTY COCK. My my. (h/t natesnake)
*****
From Time online:
Ever since John Negroponte was appointed Director of National Intelligence a year ago and given the task of coordinating the nation’s myriad spy agencies, he has been diluting the power and prestige of the best known of them all, the Central Intelligence Agency. From day one, he supplanted the CIA Director as the President’s principal intelligence adviser, in charge of George W. Bush’s daily briefing. Other changes followed, all originating in the law that created the DNI  and all traumatic for CIA fans. But now, in a little noticed move, Negroponte is signaling that he is moving still more responsibility from the CIA to his own office, including control over the analysis of terrorist groups and threats….
“It’s a huge thing going on. It’s a huge drama and nobody’s picking up on it,†the former CIA official said of the DNI’s realignment of CIA responsibilities. “CIA feels quite friendless right now. We’re seeing more pieces of it just keep being moved to the door.†A senior U.S. official sympathetic to the CIA warns that “if the DNI’s not careful, the Agency and what it does will be different, and maybe that’s what everybody wants. That’s OK, but maybe the Agency won’t be able to do what everybody wants.â€Â
I think they should nominate Bolton to replace him.
Could this possibly be the beginning of a complete restructuring—if not dissolution—of the CIA?
Hmmm…puzzling
If it’s a ‘scandal ready to break’would Bush have his arm round his shoulder thanking him?
Let’s hope it’s a prelude to the imminent purging of Langley
Ignore actus. That’s never far from mind.
I was against the DNI (another layer of bureaucracy is not good), BUT if we can separate the CIA from the levers of power, this is an unmitigated Good Thing.
THe DNI is still a bureaucracy and will still fail, BUT it has the benefit of descending to incompetence rather than having to kick furiously through the shit-depths to reach incompetence. Anyways, sad to see Goss go; good to see the Christians-In-Action sidelined; and hopefully the CIA will continue its meltdown into something usable for once in its ignoble life.
Let’s hope it’s a prelude to the imminent purging of Langley
God, I really hope that’s the case.
A website affiliated with Talking Points Memo is trying to link Goss to a corruption/hooker scandal.
See here and, more generally, here.
Good to know!
Moving the loyalists to a new organization under the DNI allows Negroponte to cut the tumor from the CIA. All of the hacks that were installed during Slick’s term have undermined the objectivity we need in an intelligence agency. Once again, Clinton’s slime has corrupted an organization to the detriment of our security.
Let’s hope it’s a prelude to the imminent purging of Langley
My fear – especially since Goss seems to favor such a purge – is that it’s the opposite, and that the CIA cabal that uses the Washington Post as its P.R. firm has achieved utter victory.
Maybe the best we can hope for is that important functions will increasingly be handled by Negroponte’s office and/or the Pentagon, and that the CIA will just become a ludicrously expensive, but irrelevant, boondoggle.
Well, its not quite Aravosis, but it has already come up in the comments at Balloon Juice.
I’m leaning more towards serious than humor.
Bolton’s opposition hammered him for not being “diplomatic†enough. He was seen as too hard line and difficult to work with. Come to find out, they were right. He could give a shit about hurting some feelings. He’s the absolute best person for that position.
Goss’ appointment was seen as the “diplomatic†choice. The political wrangling likely did wear him down. Screw the Kindergarten Cop bullshit. We need to clone Bolton for Goss’ replacement. Regis could cock-slap that group into shape.
Could be, butI think that the past week of seeing Senior Current and Former Intelligence Officals quoted in the ‘Valerie was the last best hope of stopping the Iranian Bomb’ story may just of hardened their resolve.
BTW the SCaFIO thing goes like this. McGovern and Johnson: “She was the key to stopping Iran and they outed her!” Langley janitor: “Well she worked in the cubicle next to the Iran guy.”
This wasn’t a White House move–a logical part of a shake-up is having a replacement ready.
We shall see.
The story of a high-ranking intelligence official being involved with defense contractors purchasing hookers began circulating about a week ago. It’s no coincidence that Goss is splitting now. He was nailing hookers at the Watergate Hotel.
Dukestir spilled the beans and Goss has no choice but to bail.
Just another corrupt Republican in D.C. Is there any other kind?
Why not reappoint George HW Bush as CIA Director? Or is he too ossified and “internationalist” as is the current crop of subversives at Langley and State?
Yeah. Probably the hookers. At least it isn’t GAY COCK, huh, Cedar, especially if said GAY COCK is GANNONIZED?
Wait, Cedar —
I thought “it was just sex” is a defense that you guys would embrace?
Or does the cock in question need to bend to the left.
The left is crying scandal and hoping that this is somehow related to Clinton-apointee Wilkes’ hookers and bribes scandal (like Wonkette that TheSuperCeder above linked). My guess is that he made too many enemies trying to clean house in the CIA, but maybe he just wants out or maybe there’s something wrong with the guy.
In any case, this is rather surprising, as the man has only been in office for 13 months.
It may have been gay cock, Vern. Who knows what sexual escapades the depraved, corrupt D.C. Republicans engage in?
It was overdue, anyway. The administration has already engaged in every other kind of scandal, it’s about time they had a good, ol’ fashioned sex scandal.
You kool aid drinkers won’t believe it, of course. You will continue to live in a constant state of denial until you have another Dem president to blame all your problems on. Good luck with that.
“He was nailing hookers at the Watergate Hotel.”
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
O.T.: Is the ace of spades server down?
I couldn’t care less if he was banging his receptionist while his neighbor’s wife made out with Monica Lewinsky in the bed next to him. I’m much more interested in that the hookers were paid for by defense contractors. Scarcely a surprise given the arm-in-arm of the Republicans and K Street. This is an administration that’s bought and paid for.
If Goss was nailing hookers, then the explanation is obvious. He’s resigning to become the new executive dirctor of the Clinton Library. The money’s not quite as good, but the fringies are way better.
Well, since you asked, I would like to demonstrate, but I’m going to need a volunteer, preferably a midget, a pitching wedge, 300 gallons of Maalox, and scuba mask, precisely seven goldfish, and a car battery.
We is getting freaky tonight.
You know there is a certain level of naivete that I just have a hard time relating to. It isn’t even fun to mock someone that friggin clueless.
You are talking about the last administration and China, right?
What is it about you lefties and sex? You would think your were puritans or something.
Oh, I think you care. I think you care quite a lot.
You care because you think it hurts Bush. And that’s all that matters in your grim little powerless world.
Your parties impotence and flaccidity has driven you nearly insane with rage and unfulfilled desires.
You’re obsessed. Not with the very real issues that face the country, but with your overpowering need to “get” Bush, or failing that, members of his administration.
There are some fascinating issues facing us as a polity, like the relationship and interaction between the elected head of state and an entrenched beauracracy at our premier foreign intelligence agency. But you’re missing all of that.
And that’s why you and your ilk will, despite the golden opportunities being presented on silver platters, fail to regain any power this fall.
Hey, if the left can try to link him to a Clinton-appointee being involved with hookers, then how’s this for a nutjob theory:
The CIA insiders behind the leaks threatened Goss’ family.
Hey, until early 2001, the left would have swarmed over that idea like ants on a half-chewed Now and Later.
Lord, I hope this isn’t because Porter has been sock-puppeting here as some dip named Carl.
Man, you guys are AWESOME! How do you keep doing it? Defending the indefensible as if it were your own family. Convincing yourself to believe in long-dispelled lies. Adorable.
You should give it up. It’s not worth it, and things are only getting worse. Spend the time helping a victim of Katrina. Spend it with a wounded soldier. Do something that helps the country for a change.
I agree, Clinton was plenty dirty. There was ample corruption during his presidency and within the Dem congress before 1994. What I don’t understand is how the fools out there who could see it under Clinton are blind to it under Bush. Regardless of ideaology – left/right, pinko/fascist, moonbat/wingnut – we should all have an interest in improving governance. And if you can’t see that this administration has been a miserable failure than you are already lost, and will never be a part of a reasonable discussion.
I love your spirit tho, boys! Keep the dream alive!
Ayah. The Pentagon runs all the really tough procurement decisions through the Director of Central Intelligence.
Any chance we can get Goss to lie about it to a grand jury so it becomes a private matter?
Heehee! Rationalizations and moral relativism. You guys have become everything you used to hate. Tell me again what the meaning of ‘is’ is?
This thread is about Goss’ resignation and speculation about the reasons for his decision. Not TSC’s fevered sexual imagination. Nor should the conversation be allowed to swerve into a discussion of TSC’s unfounded, but religiously held conviction, that BushCo is some sort of criminal conspiracy and that we’re all idiot flunkies for even considering defending the Chimperor.
In short, we should ignore the troll.
You are Super Ceder. You have got me turning left. Now just one more thing, what do the Dems stand for? Just give me one thing. Thanks
Wow, this is a remarkably childish comment area.
Lets face it. This is not part of any WH shakeup – if it were, we would have been hearing the planted rumors for the past few weeks (like Card being tired, or Snow being on the way out etc…), and they would have had some replacement possibilities to float around, if not a new guy ready to go.
No, even the inside GOP guys were shocked by this. THe notion that Josh Marshall et al is _trying_ to link this to Dukegate is also pretty silly. Its not a blogger trying anything when Goss’s #3, whom he picked out of nowhere to run procurement, is under active corruption investigation.
Anyway, the comments by others about the RW spinning seems pretty appropriate. You guys must be pretty damn dizzy by now, and you got over two and half years to go. Pace yourselves…
Goss on Plame: “…somebody sends me a blue dress and some DNA and maybe I’ll do an investigation.”
Funny line. Now maybe (just maybe) one of the Watergate-gate hookers got a little “smidge” on her dress in some limo or motel or another & maybe (just maybe) somebody at CIA who doesn’t like dear Porter all that much found out about it & did their own DNA investigation?
Just riffing here… seems to be the norm on this blog, actually… let’s all just ignore the facts and just make up what we *want* to be true.
Mmmmmmmmm…. the sky is positively GREEN today… no, scratch that… PAISLEY! And the WH planned this for weeks (yeah! That’s the ticket)… it’s just a shame Negroponte couldn’t come up w/ a replacement in all that time for this particular late-Friday announcement. Curious, that.
TSC
I feel bad for you buddy. Same old rhetoric, same old left talking points. Lou has it right, what do you Dems stand for? Beside losing elections on a consistent basis…God help you when you crash from that mushroom high…..
Right. It’s hookers all the way down. Got it. But where’s my she-males at?
The procurement stuff is the real substantive story, if he’s linked. The hookers is just a selling point for the tabloids. And Porter Goss had better hope those bloodsuckers don’t start going through his trash.
TODD – Don’t blame you for missing it, but here’s what the Dems stand for (at least, the DNC):
DNC has done a top-rate job at identifying five core values that are vital to all Americans, not just liberals and progressives:
1. Honest leadership and open government;
2. Real security (i.e. getting serious about homeland security);
3. Jobs in America that will stay in America;
4. A strong public education system;
5. A health care system that works for everyone.
Now, what does the GOP stand for?
1. Dishonest leadership and secrecy in governing;
2. Wars of choice that increase global instability and make America more unsafe;
3. Tax breaks for millionaires;
4. A good education (for nearly anybody who can pay for it);
5. A spinning out-of-control healthcare system with nothing to protect rank-and-file Americans;
6. $100 for gas this summer! Yee-haw!
Oh, and I almost forgot:
Graft, corruption, leaking for political purposes, assaults on science and education, cherry-picking intelligence to fit pre-determined decisions, ignoring natural disasters until it’s far too late, cuts in veterans benefits, feeding tubes for vegetables, domestic wiretapping w/out warrants or oversight, signing memos for laws POTUS don’t want to follow, eminent domain over Americans’ uterii…… MORE TK……
Exactly. Thanks IncandenzaH. The only thing I would add (and which the DNC needs to add) is “a healthy environment.”
So I hope that helps people who don’t think the Democrats stand for anything. But even if you were right, even if the Dems had no ideas, that would still make them preferable to the R’s.
“It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.” – Thomas Jefferson. And that’s a real American, fellas.
And TODD, I feel sorry for you too. Does that help make it better? Heh.
Look at how well France is doing with that!
Where no teacher can ever be fired. Ever.
Ladies and gentlemen, I show you the utopias in Canada, France, and England, and Cuba. Come, the Kool Aid is fresh and sweet.
The DNC just made it.
TSC
No it doesnt.
I would be on board with you guys if let’s see..
if the bullshit you just wasted 2-3 minutes spewing were true. By the way , thanks for entertainment, you guys make me laugh.
I guess this is the part where you come back with your witty rebuttal and try to paint me again as a wingnut, right?
Write on brothers….
V –
You guys and the Clenis… will the fun never end?
xoI
P.S. Running off now to walk the pug & then off to a Peacenik Gathering with Friends… enjoy the ongoing debate!
By the way, V… you’re very funny. Wish you could be coaxed over here to The Everlasting Leftness…. ever been tempted…?
You know, one thing that has puzzled me lately, the Dems told me that big oil was fucking me over, and if I supported an oil man like Bush I was just going to get fucked even worse. Then they said I was getting fucked over by Doctors and the health care industry, and I needed to support a Doctor to help get a fair shake. Can you guys explain that to me?
Oh, we linked Goss to the administration’s persistent gay thing literally moments after the story broke.
Aravosis is slow-mo, man.
1. Honest leadership and open government;
2. Real security (i.e. getting serious about homeland security);
3. Jobs in America that will stay in America;
4. A strong public education system;
5. A health care system that works for everyone
OK
1. Who is the leader that you are talking about at the DNC?
2.What is the plan or has Kerry not shared that yet?
3. Dow 11,500 and you can buy stocks for a dollar so don’t give the rich white guy line.
4. In what city? LA-NY
5. I am sure Hillary still has the notes from the last time she tried.
Try again.
IncandenzaH, I started out so far Left I eventually quantum-tunnelled to the Right. I was one of those guys that read Marx and believed. Got better.
Catch me in twenty years. I’ll be with the Leninists again; it’s just that brownshirts are so in style this year.
I hear ya, V. Best of luck in your journey (just remember that shirts of that particular shade can chafe in some double-plus un-good ways). When/if you tunnel back around, look me up, though. ‘Kay?
Oh dear. That’s all meaningless gibberish.
Why not throw in
6. the Easter Bunny delivers candy every Sunday
7. Free beer at happy hour
8 A 50 inch HD tv in every pot.
Quite pathetic. Is the troll who posted this John Kerry? Or better yet, it’s Shrummy! Hey Shrumster, good to have you with us. Are you going for what, your 8th losing Presidential candidates in 08?
Vercingetorix is pretty funny, not to mention clearly sexually deviant, which we should all respect. But hold the phone, wasn’t Vercingetorix a king of Gaul? That’s practically FRENCH! He must be a troll! (unlike me, heh)
And Jim, that is pretty much meaningless gibberish (though more cogent and coherent than anything President Dong says) unless it’s fleshed out and applied. I’d take the time to explain it all to you but I’m not going to.
Cedar,
I’m a National Guardsman. I do help wounded veterans and know a number personally. I’m about to deploy to Afghanistan for the second time. I deploed to Katrina as part of the eraly relief effor that the left and the media insisted never happened. I’m also a Democrat and always have been and I’ve been an unwavering supporter of this President since his election.
Care to try to factor that into your presbyopic wordview?
Well, France gets its name from the Franks who were a Germanic tribe, as the Gauls are more Celtic. So technically my blog persona is Irish. I think. That would also mean that the French are also German and that the Germans were just demanding a Right of Return. Which makes sense, because if you’ve ever been to France and Germany you would appreciate that only the Germans could have such poor taste to want to conquer France in the first place.
Anyways, it’s Friday. I’m off to my usual sexual deviancy. Choos, as the Polish say.
Lord, I hope this isn’t because Porter has been sock-puppeting here as some dip named Carl.
Keyboard saboteur!
Oh, and:
Colonel Mustard, in the Conservatory, with a rope.
SB: order
in da court
If it’s hookers you’re after, head to East St. Louis, IL. The Democratic Party Leadership there can set you up right out of their offices.
At least that’s what the indictment said…
Well, if this thread doesn’t personify the “progressives†out there. . .
What do we know at this point? Cunningham is in deep water and may be tied to a Hookers for Old Guys racket. The number three guy at the CIA may be linked to some part of the scandal and now Goss retires. There are interesting possibilities but nothing concrete to go on at this point. Yet the “progressives†already have their meme ready to go and nothing (NOTHING!!) will make them change their minds. We can be sure they will add this to long list of scandals that live on as myths faithfully projected as truth, even if there is nothing to the story.
We can’t even have an opened mind about the possible realities of the situation. No! We must all accept their truth or be KKKultist Bushbots.
Geeez, take it down a few notches.
TR: soviet. This thing is crazy psychic.
He admits that his post is gibberish? And he’ll explain it to me?
Dude, did you miss the part where I already explained it to you?
But go ahead, why don’t you try to give us the official John F. Kerry-Hienz plan, that’ll make all of that stuff happen.
C’mon, pretty please, whip that detailed plan out of the magic Cambodian hat. Hey maybe the Dems will promise to get unemployment below 4.7%
Keeping frothing, red-eyed moonbats out of national political power every four years more than amply qualifies.
Running,
When people start with “what do we know” they usually follow with facts. “May” is an indication that what follows is pure conjecture.
Harry Reid may have been getting drunk with Chuck Schumer and Patrick Kennedy… See how easy it is?
Fools.
Who is replacing Goss?
Mike Hayden, former director of the NSA.
Is it a mere coincidence that the next set of leakers (post Typhoid Mary) is the NYT “nearly a dozen current and former officials…” that leaked the NSA wiretapping program?
Good God man, not a pitching wedge. Use a sand iron, de-lofted, and loosen your grip.
Aren’t they all?
From what I can see sitting in the middle of the continent, all politicians are bought and paid for.
t/w: Can anyone spare me a twenty?
IncandenzaH’s list from the DNC is a fine start, and the P.S. about the environment is noted and approved. And say what you will about Kerry (I am somewhere between neutral and detest), he made a strong speech weeks ago, a “visioning” kind of thing. But “standing for something” implies/requires having some game plan for how to achieve it. It’s the gritty, detailed stuff of which business plans are made: goals, action steps, timetables, accountabilities, cost/benefit analyses, risk assessments, etc.
My issue is this (is it a commonly held one?, dunno): For as long as I can remember, the Democrats are the party of “glittering generalities”, and under the tinsel and glitter is — pretty much nothing in terms of actionable ideas. Clearly the bigger govt concept of both parties is a dead end with a cliff just beyond the streetlights.
Gingrich had a pretty good template with his Contract With America. Not saying I would agree with its content or even intent, but he put together something that had SUBSTANCE. What a radical idea. If the Democratic Party could get to that point, they have a clear path to national leadership. Will they? Doubt it. At this point, I fear a whole new coalition of responsible leaders will have to emerge in order to move on something as bold and energizing as this. And, I don’t expect that to happen either.
In other words, plain and simple, I’m pessimistic about the political future of this country. In my 60s now, I have about the same level of confidence in our two political parties getting their stuff together as I have of the Cubs winning the World Series in my lifetime.
Rove-itsu at its best.
The Evil Rovedemort, no longer encumbered with a policy portfolio, has struck his first blow by
convincing W to convince Goss to return to Florida to challenge for Ben Nelson’s Senate Seat.
Katherine Harris is floundering, Tommy Franks said ‘no thanks’, Bense is a non-starter, and Goss has high name recognition and is fairly popular with Florida voters.
Makes at least as much sense as the hooker thing.
–furious
Honestly now, aren’t all the best cocks just a little naughty?
And I wonder. . .why? Why can’t the Dems do something like this? Is it because they can’t agree on actual “stuff to do that’s really stuff?” Because they’re too stupid to think it needs to be done in the first place?
In my mind there’s a weird intersect with this phenomenon and the whole “if only the Dems could better communicate their positions, then they would sway more voters” idea. I don’t think this idea means that the Dems need to talk about “stuff to do that’s really stuff.” I think it means that the Dems think they just need a more catchy five-point plan or “one-two-three-four” rally chant.
THe DNI is still a bureaucracy and will still fail, BUT it has the benefit of descending to incompetence rather than having to kick furiously through the shit-depths to reach incompetence.
I always thought we kept the CIA around so that the “State Department” didn’t feel alone in their incompetence…
T/W: “reached”– as in, “I reached that conclusion long before 9/11.”
Robert Crawford-
Excellent metaphor!
T/W: “writing”- as in, “Maybe you should consider writing…” :o)
…and then, I blow the “comment”.
T/W: “writing”- as in, “Maybe you should consider writing more often…” :o)
New T/W: “served”– as in, “That only served as another demonstration that ‘preview is your friend’…”
tachyonshuggy —
It IS puzzling, isn’t it? I’m not a Republican or a Democrat, and I try to remain pretty objective about the shortcomings and strengths of each. I have a half-baked theory based on what I’ve seen as a consultant working with lots of different management/leadership styles.
I think it is in the DNA of what are now the 2 parties, just as corporate managements have different personae. It seems to me the Republicans generally have a command and control kind of model. Take the job, make the call, stand firm, line up the troops, and getterdun. “Ready, fire, aim.” Democrats demonstrate a different style, one that cares about whose ox is being gored en route to the desired outcome. State the intent, listen to everyone’s reaction, find a path of least resistance, cut and fit. “Ready, aim, aim, aim…” Sometimes the original intent is lost as the “process” takes over.
Neither style is optimum in organizational settings. The Democrat approach founders on execution because of its anxiety about taking care of various subgroups. Not to mention its difficulty in taking firm stands at a practical level that might not be popular with certain constituents. So we get platitudes.
I found this extra “asswipe” lying around in my word processor, so if anybody wants to use it, feel free. I buy certain words and expressions in bulk, and pass the savings on to you. Because a thread without “asswipe” is like a day without & ct.
A key point of Gingrich Contract was term limits. At the time I disagreed with this idea, but I am coming to believe it is necessary. Most recent campaign laws have done nothing so much as further entrench encumbents and empower the parties themselves, and both parties are evolving into a do nothing, blame the other side, buy votes with pork self-perpetuating cycle that is destroying the country.
B Moe, I completely agree re: term limits. I’d add 2 more related ideas: (1) Radical reform of campaign financing, and (2) an logical algorithm for determining Congressional districts that would eliminate gerrymandering.
Why am I not surprised that Goldstein started talking about monster cocks before anyone else did?
Seriously, it always comes back to cocks on this blog, yours or someone else’s, doesn’t it? Just ask Guckert/Gannon out and be done with it.
HOMOPHOBE!!!!!
I still like the idea that failure to gain a majority of votes would force another election, with none of those running the first time eligible.
All too often, our choice is between terrible and unacceptable. Carter – Reagan, regardless of your opinion of either man, was a choice.
CAT FIGHT!!!
Mark D:
When people start with “what do we know†they usually follow with facts. “May†is an indication that what follows is pure conjecture.
Harry Reid may have been getting drunk with Chuck Schumer and Patrick Kennedy… See how easy it is?
Uh, ok, but “what we know” also means “what we know.” And what we know is that those things may have happened, or they may not have happened. Either way we should wait to see what actually happened, which was the point of my post.
Got it?
B Moe and Terry Ott
If term limits would do the trick, I’d be all for it. Unfortunately, I fear what would actually happen is that the graft and corruption would merely be accelerated to fit into the specified term. It would put a premium upon the highest bidder.