Bayh: I'll Back Panetta
On the Rachel Maddow show last night, Senate intelligence committee member Evan Bayh (D-IN) professed no objections to the choice of Leon Panetta to head the Obama CIA.
"Leon Panetta is an outstanding public servant and I intend to support his nomination," Bayh said. So we have Dianne Feinstein, the panel's incoming chairman, expressing her discontent with the nomination, alongside outgoing chairman Jay Rockefeller.
But two other Senate intel committee members -- progressive Ron Wyden and the, uh, less progressive Bayh -- remain copacetic.
The plot is thickened by Feinstein's revealing that the Obama transition team did not consult her in advance on the Panetta nomination before letting it slip yesterday. Wyden, on the other hand, appears to have known in advance. Who on the panel was consulted and who was left in the dark? We haven't yet heard from Russ Feingold and Sheldon Whitehouse, senators who are both stalwart progressives on intelligence issues. But we'll update you as soon as more committee members tip their hand.
Experts: Panetta's Too Old to Withstand CIA Hazing Ritual for New Directors
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=5510
January 6, 2009 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
quit spamming
January 6, 2009 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why didn't they clear it with Feinstein first? Of course she's going to be pissed. Interesting that Obama administration is not as good as plugging leaks as Obama campaign team was.
January 6, 2009 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why didn't they clear it with Feinstein first?
because feinstein won't support anyone who will turn over rocks, as panetta threatens to do.
January 6, 2009 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't a leak.
Wyden was briefed. DiFi and Rockefeller weren't.
My early hunch is along the lines of Josh's - a clear message to DiFi and Rockefeller that their days of cozy cover up of Intel are over.
Further, I do not buy the argument that DiFi et al along with retired CIA are peddling - that it's a tough agency even for an insider to run.
Bull. Bush emasculated the CIA and even demoted it on the org chart. Panetta is a political player, a powerhouse even, and the CIA will be more than willing to do his bidding because they want to regain prominence and influence over decision-making more than life itself
January 6, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's nice to see some experienced hands at CIA like the Panetta pick (see Josh's post on front page)....
Clearly Obama wants CIA to be in line with everything he is doing, and doesn't want any "Curveballs". Panetta, as a former Chief of Staff, can make that happen.
January 6, 2009 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
copacetic - Very satisfactory or acceptable
Thanks for adding to my vocabulary.
January 6, 2009 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now there's a NASA word.
January 6, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good for Obama's team. They've apparently already learned that they need to teach that useless waste of skin DINO Feinstein to know her place. I give Obama a lot of points for that and for the appointment itself which is an excellent one. An insider is the very LAST thing we need in that position.
January 6, 2009 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The choice is between accidental failure to give Fienstein an advance heads-up or a deliberate snub. Not really seeing any middle ground between those two.
The former would be uncharacteristically incompetent for this transition team. If that's what happened, one has to wonder if this isn't a case of someone who opposed Panetta leaking the nomination prematurely in an effort to kill it before it happened.
The latter possibility, however, would seem to indicate that relations between Obama (and/or his intel transition team) and Feinstein are so bad that no one thought doing this would make them worse.
January 6, 2009 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I Obama wants to change the culture at the CIA and Feinstein and Rockefeller are part of the problem as they were too accommodating to the Bush Whitehouse regarding torture, Gitmo and renditions.
DiFi recently came out in support of torture for crying out loud, before backtracking.
She and Rockefeller seem to want somebody in there who will keep the bodies buried.
Panetta is going to have a tough confirmation though given his inexperience. I'm still of the mind that he might be being used to eventually usher in Brennan. It will give Obama cover in that he named Panetta first but he was rejected, and so late in the game it would either be choosing to keep Bush appointed Hayden until a new search could begin or bringing in Brennan.
January 6, 2009 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
No Evan, Leon is not running for president so this will not help you get the vp job.
January 6, 2009 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's hard for me to get worked up over DiFi and Jayo getting snubbed in this process, if that is what happened.
They enabled this miserable excuse of an administration. (13 days and counting...)
January 6, 2009 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course this was deliberate. Even the most incompetent person wouldn't forget or fail to contact the incoming chairperson about a big deal like this. But, I'm not going to make guesses about why those two weren't consulted. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors.
January 6, 2009 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink