Obama names Leon Panetta for head of CIA. Supported AWB.

[Manedwolf]

California Democrat, of course. Environmental causes, all of that. And...in an old interview.

MR. PANETTA: It's not a problem because the record is there. I mean, the American debate reaxpeople know the facts. They--you can listen to both candidates talk, and, uh, obviously they have their own way of speaking to the American people. But the record is clear, and the President speaks to that record. When you--when we came into office, we were facing $300 billion deficits. We have cut the deficit by 60 percent. That's fact. When we talk about jobs, when we came in the economy was coming out of a recession, jobs, few jobs had been produced in our economy. We've got 10 ½ million jobs. When you look at crime in the streets and the ability of the President to put 100,000 cops out there and get that passed, to the assault weapons ban, the Brady Bill, uh, these are all accomplishments--

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/election/october96/debate_reax_10-7.html

MR. PANETTA: This, this whole campaign and this whole election is really about how do you affect the lives of people in this country. I think if there was a frustration for people in the Republican convention, it's that a lot of it was obviously to try to develop the definition of who Bob Dole was and what the party was, as opposed to what are the steps we're going to take in terms of moving to the future. What we wanted to do was to try to focus on the issues, and people were quoted as saying, you know, we didn't get enough about what are they going to really do about my life and about how it's going to affect my kids and my future.

What we wanted to do, on the contrary, was to show that this is about real people, it is about issues like what do you do about disability, what kind of research do we provide for the kind of problems that Christopher Reeve had, what kind of--what do we do about the gun laws in this country, and that's what Sarah and Jim Brady addressed, what do we about education, what do you about health care , what do we do about jobs, I mean, those are the fundamental issues that people really care about, and having a Christopher Reeve speak to that, what happens is the American people really tune in to that.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/election/august96/panetta_8-27.html

F___. 

[buzz_knox]

So, Obama is not only recreating the Clinton era, but he's distilling it into its worst constituent parts.  Lovely.

I wonder if Reno will be nominated for any open SCOTUS positions.

[El Tejon]

Mane, you of all people, what did you expect from The One?

[Ben]

I'm worried about this more for what it will do to our foreign intelligence infrastructure.  I may be wrong, but I don't think the CIA Director has much pull re: domestic gun laws?

[Manedwolf]

I'm worried about this more for what it will do to our foreign intelligence infrastructure.  I may be wrong, but I don't think the CIA Director has much pull re: domestic gun laws?

Unless he decides to focus the CIA more on helping the BATFE at home, ignoring foreign threats.

[Scout26]

Panetta's only background with intelligence is his lack thereof.......

He has ZERO background in intel.....

I have ZERO hope that this bozo could figure out how to work a stapler, much less prevent a terrorist attack in the US.

Time to go reload more ammo, we're gonna need it......

[Manedwolf]

Panetta's only background with intelligence is his lack thereof.......

He has ZERO background in intel.....

I have ZERO hope that this bozo could figure out how to work a stapler, much less prevent a terrorist attack in the US.

Time to go reload more ammo, we're gonna need it......

I do not want the war coming here. But if they screw up, that's precisely what will happen.

[longeyes]

The people who will suffer first and most from decisions like this will be those who live in the D.C. orbit.  Panetta is a career ultra-liberal with no background in the field.  I wouldn't want my security depending on him.

[SADShooter]

Ideology aside, Panetta is a political hack. Just what we need guiding our intelligence community in the current international climate. (Visualizing Panetta next to graphic) "You can see that due to a reduction in operational activity, our operational failure rate has decreased, once again demonstrating the effectiveness of this administration's intelligence policy."

[HankB]

"You can see that due to a reduction in operational activity, our operational failure rate has decreased . . ."

"Since we fired all our spies, we have no spy screw-ups."

"We also realize that with no doctors, there will be no medical malpractice . . . "

 

[Standing Wolf]

[sincerity] Well, yeah, but some representatives of the Democratic (sic) party have tossed wishy-washy statements of support for the Second Amendment into campaign speeches. [/sincerity]

[seeker_two]

The only choice worse than Panetta would be Norman Pinetta.....  :rolleyes:

[Waitone]

I shake my head in amazement at how O'Bama's administration is taking on the form of Jimmuh Carter's administration.  Seems to me Carter's boy was Stansfield Turner who likewise had little intel experience.  Stansfield promptly fired something like 300 (or was it 600) spooks in favor of more spending on satellites.  He and his handler, Jimmuh, was promptly faced with the Iranian Hostage Grab.  Faced with doing something, anything, Jimmuh brought us the Desert Fiasco and the rest is history.  We are still paying the price for Carter's idiocy.

I just can not wait to see what the latest team will deliver.

[grampster]

Assuming the R's have half a brain and stop eating their children over stoopid stuff, The Irish One's appointments almost guarantee handing them back the legislature in 2 years.

Never mind, ain't gonna happen.  Lost my head for a minute.

[Standing Wolf]

We are still paying the price for Carter's idiocy.

Islamic terrorist savagry wouldn't be a world force today if not for that sub-contemptible Carter. If he had acted like an American instead of a spineless Englishman, the World Trade Center would still be standing today.

[grampster]

"Islamic terrorist savagry wouldn't be a world force today if not for that sub-contemptible Carter. If he had acted like an American instead of a spineless Englishman, ignorant, whining, leftist, self hating, sycophantic, communist, wussie, sociopath the World Trade Center would still be standing today."

There.  I fixed it for you.

[zahc]

Please elaborate on how Jimmy Carter contributed to 911?

[Manedwolf]

Please elaborate on how Jimmy Carter contributed to 911?

His ineptitude in dealing with Middle Eastern terrorists is what allowed them to grow from regional annoyance to globe-spanning threat, and his appeasement is what emboldened them to do so. We looked weak, for the first time, and they saw it.

[buzz_knox]

Please elaborate on how Jimmy Carter contributed to 911?

His response to the taking of the American embassy in Tehran taught the mullahs that they could stand against America and win.  The Iranian President certainly knows that lesson, having been one of the hostage takers.

[Manedwolf]

Feinstein is pissy about this.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who this week begins her tenure as the first female head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she was not consulted on the choice and indicated she might oppose it.

"I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director," Feinstein said. "My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time."

A senior aide to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), the outgoing chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the senator "would have concerns" about a Panetta nomination.

Rockefeller "thinks very highly of Panetta," the aide said. "But he's puzzled by the selection. He has concerns because he has always believed that the director of CIA needs to be someone with significant operational intelligence experience and someone outside the political realm."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-cia-panetta6-2009jan06,0,5514283.story

AWESOME! If they fight amongst themselves, they won't get around to screwing up America and will merely be ineffectual.

[makattak]

AWESOME! If they fight amongst themselves, they won't get around to screwing up America and will merely be ineffectual.

Which was, I believe, the idea the founders had in the first place. Keep the different parts of government fighting amongst each other.

Too bad President Bush tried to "get along."

[HankB]

Please elaborate on how Jimmy Carter contributed to 911?

Carter's inept handling of Tehran has already been mentioned, but recall that his policies helped finance the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which set up the current troubles there, including the rise of the Taliban. And of course, don't forget his family was involved in lobbying on the behalf of a terrorist state, Muamma Khadaffi's Libya.

We probably don't know the full story, but a number of directors of the Carter Center up and quit over Jimmy's blatant anti-semitism in a recent book in which he compared Israel to the apartheid government of South Africa.

[longeyes]

Panetta?

What, Soros was too busy?

[seeker_two]

What, Soros was too busy?

He didn't want to take a pay cut....

[Balog]

I'm longing for the day the vicious, back-stabbing cutthroats in Congress turn on The One to try to insulate themselves from the mess they've made of the country. Let the disillusioning begin!