State of the Blogosphere:
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CIA Director Leon Panetta tells the House Intelligence Committee that the CIA has been hiding significant information from Congress, beginning in 2001 and continuing until last month, presumably when Mr. Panetta found out about it.
In the past, this would have been a significant scandal. However, in post-Bush America the scandalous is normal.
And the Right Blogosphere leaps upon the significant development that the President’s name was misspelled in a White House press release. This is the shiny thing that will keep them distracted from the significance of the first story for a few hours, until someone among them cobbles together a rationalization/excuse they can all get behind.
The third story connects back to the first. President Obama objects to a provision that would require him to inform more than 40 members of Congress — instead of just the so-called “Gang of Eight” — about covert actions taken overseas. Make of that what you will.
I tol’t ya…
Obama turned into a kool-aid swillin’ punk as soon as he hit the Oval Office…
Happens to the best of ’em…And Obama is far, far from the best…
I read in this mornings headline that Mexico is using torture in it’s battle against drug dealers. My initial thought is who are we to point fingers at Mexico for a practice that we engaged in ourselves. It’s of no importance what I think, but it does illustrate the intangible damage done to our country by the Bush administration. It’s a shame that the American public so easily accepted Bush’s moral failings as their own.
Goodness! I couldn’t believe the comments on the hill link. I will forever think of that site as the gutter.
Pelosi was right, the CIA was misleading Congress.
Isn’t lying to Congress a crime? So I guess they’ll all be prosecuted and go to jail, just like I would be if I lied to Congress. What? They won’t?
And I’m getting really disgusted watching Obama act like George Bush. Afghanistan, DADT, DOMA, indefinite detentions, now this.
The comments on The Hill are truely stomach-turning.
Lynne — Yeah, I looked at The Hill comments. What a zoo.
Just to show I’m not paying attention, this was the first I’d heard that President Obama’s alleged original name was “Barry Soetoro.” Snopes says the birthers got this from a fake Associated Press story that someone wrote as an April Fool’s joke.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/occidental.asp
Obama is not remotely “acting like George Bush”. If you are surprised by what he’s doing in Afghanistan, you weren’t paying attention during the election. He’s treating DADT and DOMA as what they actually are … matters for congress to fix, not something he can fix personally.
The only thing in your list that is actually troubling is the indefinite detention part, but it’s still not “acting like George Bush”. Obama is reacting to the fact that we are holding people we can’t legally try and convict, but that we know are and will be a danger to the US. Myself, I’d say the correct option would be to go ahead and let them go, and just keep very close tabs on them. While I don’t approve of what he’s doing, I understand the reasoning behind it, and understand the man is just doing his best at untying the gordian knot that bush left him, without having the traditional solution to that particular problem actually available to him.
As for his potential veto over intel disclosure, I’ll have to see why he’s objecting to it, not sure yet. However, one immediate objection I see is that I wouldn’t trust 40 members of congress to actually keep anything at all a secret. Still, we’ll see.
-me
Sorry, the comment above sahould have been addressed to gypsy howell.
-me
Here are my thoughts about where Obama has gone in the first 6 months or so. I believe that certain important people in Washington (starting with the lobby powers of the banks and insurance companies, finishing with the MacDonald Douglas Military Industrial complex) vetted Mr. Obama before he became the Democratic nominee to make sure he wasn’t some crazy radical. Therefore, despite his high highfalutin rhetoric, he never was going to be anything other than a incrementalist. What we need to keep in mind is (and he says this a lot), there is a reason these problems have gotten worse or have not been solved for a long time and that is they are tough problems with a variety of stakeholders who are content with the status quo. These stakeholders are the same ones who vetted Obama to make sure he wouldn’t immediately take over the banks or implement single payer health care on day one.
Myself, I’d say the correct option would be to go ahead and let them go, and just keep very close tabs on them.
That would be the correct response, as I understand the constitution. This is supposed to deter the relevant police agencies from gathering evidence illegally and all that. I continue to be surprised that we aren’t letting them go somewhere, somehow.
… but having the traditional solution to that particular problem actually available to him.
I’m stumped by that statement. What is the traditional solution to this particular problem, if it’s not letting them go?
As to the CIA thing, I completely understand what Panetta is telling us: It is not our policy to lie to congress; the fact that we have been lying to congress for the past seven years doesn’t mean it’s our policy to lie to congress, it simply means that we’ve been lying to congress despite our policy to not do so.
Shorter version:
Rule #1: The CIA does not lie to congress.
Rule #2: If you catch the CIA lying to congress, please refer to Rule #1.
George W. Bush’s whole life is a lie. Why would any one expect anything different from him and his administration, which included other liars of the first order like Cheney and Rove. Thus, when I first heard that statement from Panetta, my only thought was, D U H . . .
THe comments, OH MY, Oh My, oh my, ohmy, OOOOOOOOOooooooooo……..
Right, Bonnie, and exactly why aren’t they in jail?
That bunch committed high crimes and treason, not to mention what they ordered the military to do.
I guess Voltaire got many things right, especially the one about murder being a crime unless when done in great numbers to the sounds of trumpets.
Heh so the ci lying a lies. News scoop they lied from the day they were conceived.
Obama needs impeachment now. I can read and this past five months of war crimes want his lying ass in gitmo for 20 years. Biden’s no genius but if we impeach Obama he might get a clue.
evil is evil: Hello? Make sense next time. Thanks much.
I like Obama! I think he is weighing options and doing the best possible with the shambles he was left to work with. He gives me hope for a brighter future for our country.
I am not sure why someone thinks 40 people being lied to is any better than 8 and to me it does seem more likely that someone would leak info.
Obama is acting the way he always has – as a relatively decent conservative who doesn’t want to change that much or that fast.
Note that the current GOP are not even remotely conservative (even if they are Conservative). They are a bunch of screaming radicals (the last gasp of the conservatives in the GOP was George H W Bush).
Remember all of those calls for Pelosi to resign because she said the CIA hadn’t told her things? I wonder where all of those people are now. Maybe they should be yelling their apologies just as loudly.
Oh, they aren’t apologizing. They’re claiming that Panetta’s testimony is “politicizing” the issue. Unreal.
That’s rich. Does that mean telling the truth is against the republican policy?
I’ve concluded that in any given population 25% of the people are brain dead. In our country they are those who supported Bush (to the bitter end), are unerring fans of Palin, Joe the plumber and Limbo, and, like the Rep from Arizona believe the earth to be 6,000 years old.
They are unteachable and unreachable so the rest of us should really give up trying.