Appointing Cronies to CIA May Be Another Bush Fiasco

The more I learn, the more the resignation of CIA Director Porter Goss gets curiouser and curiouser. It should be remembered that Porter Goss was appointed primarily because he is a through-and-through Republican loyalist, not because he was the best man for the job. The CIA is famous (or infamous depending on the perspective) for its clandestine operations but its primary purpose has been to make sure our president gets the unvarnished facts on what is going on in the world. But President Bush lives in an ideological universe and prefers to hear his own version of the facts. But appointing cronies can create problems and it may turn out that Goss has been creating more than one problem for the White House. Naturally, the White House would prefer to finger the problem that creates the least scandal. Here's a post from Firedoglake on various developments related to the director's resignation:

Color me confused. Everyone on TV seems to be buying the line that the Goss resignation has been planned for weeks. No natural curiosity about the fact that it takes effect immediately, or that there is no replacement, or that he had a meeting scheduled this afternoon he didn’t show up for. Not to mention the fact that as Professor Foland pointed out in the comments, the White House would’ve probably sacrificed its collective left nut to avoid stepping on a drunk Kennedy story.

But has the entire press corps turned into such a pile of humorless prudes that they can’t connect the dots in the Brent Wilkes hooker scandal?

Here's a less colorful earlier post from Firedoglake concerning Tim Russert:

Russert reporting that conversations with Goss began several weeks ago with John Negroponte, with the full knowledge of the WH. Goss began changes previously, but that there needed to be a new person to oversee those changes so that there could be "healing" within the CIA after those changes.

Russert says Negroponte will be deciding on the person to be appointed to the Director of the CIA job, recommend that person to the President and that Bush will then appoint. Remind me again, who is in charge of this government? The CEO model of governance continues. Heckuva job, Bushie.

Oh my, the spin is a bit heavy-handed today. But maybe the White House is telling the truth for once, slanted though it may be. Maybe they've been getting inside information on the Cunningham/Wade/Wilkes scandal, after all. Today they made their move, but they didn't expect a Friday afternoon firestorm.