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What the Panetta appointment means
Hot Air ^ | January 6, 2009 10:57 am | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 01/07/2009 5:36:03 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Barack Obama sent a message with the selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, but apparently didn’t think enough people understood it.  He sent a stronger message yesterday with his choice of Leon Panetta for Director of CIA, and this time, it’s unmistakable.  Political considerations will trump competence and experience, even in the most critical roles Obama has to fill:

President-elect Barack Obama stunned the national intelligence community by selecting Clinton White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta, a longtime Washington insider with little intelligence experience, to serve as the next head of the CIA.

The decision — which was also met with wariness on Capitol Hill — reflects a desire to change the intelligence power structure, officials close to the selection said yesterday. Obama has chosen retired Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair as the director of national intelligence, a job he intends to reinforce as the “lead horse” on intelligence issues, an official close to the selection process said.

Panetta, 70, is widely regarded as a good manager who knows the government bureaucracy well.


(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bhocia; cia; intelligence; obama; obamaregime; obamatransitionfile; panetta
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1 posted on 01/07/2009 5:36:03 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

We will be hit hard within a year. The MSM will blame us.


2 posted on 01/07/2009 5:38:07 PM PST by screaminsunshine (.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

What it probably means is that Peneta was hired to fix the CIA’s image. Politicians are all about image, and have less to do with substance. But the truth is that the CIA is badly broken.


3 posted on 01/07/2009 5:38:46 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Sadly, a lot of spooks are going to pay the price of Paneta’s “leadership”.


4 posted on 01/07/2009 5:38:46 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
What the Panetta appointment means

America's skyscrapers are once again available for target practice.

5 posted on 01/07/2009 5:38:58 PM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all. -- Texas Eagle)
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To: screaminsunshine

I knew I should of took that job in Antarctica.


6 posted on 01/07/2009 5:39:12 PM PST by randomhero97 ("First you want to kill me, now you want to kiss me. Blow!" - Ash)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Means he is going to dismantle our defense against terrorists.
He will try and save money against the collateral of American lives.
He figures we will take a hit, cry, respond by blowing up some warehouse at night killing janitors, then move on.

Many Americans got the President they deserved for being so stupid IMO. But, we all pay the price.

7 posted on 01/07/2009 5:39:47 PM PST by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: randomhero97

I hear you. We are thinking of checking out properties on remote islands somewhere.


8 posted on 01/07/2009 5:41:10 PM PST by mojitojoe
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To: randomhero97

Then you would be in direct line of the Algore ozone hole. Ya can’t win. Terrorists to the left and liberals to the right. And you are the only target in town.


9 posted on 01/07/2009 5:42:08 PM PST by screaminsunshine (.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Leon Panetta has the managerial background to drastically cut back and eliminate large portions of the CIA.
10 posted on 01/07/2009 5:45:05 PM PST by JimSEA
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

And the “wall” between the CIA and other intel agencies and the FBI will be re-erected and 9-11 the 2nd will happen


11 posted on 01/07/2009 5:45:31 PM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead (3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Just like in Spain, to socialists, defense doesn't mean anything. Experience or even knowledge is not necessary.


12 posted on 01/07/2009 5:45:46 PM PST by Clock King (Radical Conservatives, arise!)
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To: screaminsunshine

Panetta’s appointment to lead the CIA reminds me of the August 1993 Mogadishu disaster in Somalia — Where Les Aspin, Clinton’s Secretary of Defense, didn’t provide heavy armor for American troops.


13 posted on 01/07/2009 5:46:36 PM PST by OldNavyVet (Character counts)
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To: randomhero97

I’ll take that job if it’s still open.


14 posted on 01/07/2009 5:49:59 PM PST by pctech
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To: screaminsunshine
regardless you your prediction, what will this say to the officer with 20+ years and maybe he or she has salted away some bucks and his wife has been making decent money as a nurse or whatever.

He or she will retire and say screw it, there are only so many naredowells anyone can handle within an organization before you throw in the towel, and when you got someone this uncompotent at the top, it is time to do something else.

The problem with that is we will have even more as Rush would say "man-child(s)" running the ship a bunch of 90 day wonders....We are so screwed...

15 posted on 01/07/2009 6:02:39 PM PST by taildragger (Palin / Mulally 2012)
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To: taildragger

Be prepared.


16 posted on 01/07/2009 6:05:19 PM PST by screaminsunshine (.)
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To: Brilliant
But the truth is that the CIA is badly broken. Exactly. The Church Committee and Jimmy Carter badly damaged the CIA, the leadership hired a bunch of Ivy League liberals to fill the ranks, Clinton screwed it up even worse, and now we get Leon Panetta. Unfortunately, Bush did nothing to fix any of the problems, and he dealt with intelligence failures by piling bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy--hardly the best way to fix the problems.

So, yes, Panetta is a lousy choice. But it's not clear that he's worse than, for instance, George Tenet. Or Valerie Plame. Or all those other top guys in the Agency who leak to the NY Times and the Washington Post.

17 posted on 01/07/2009 6:09:14 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: pctech
raytheonjobs
18 posted on 01/07/2009 6:11:18 PM PST by randomhero97 ("First you want to kill me, now you want to kiss me. Blow!" - Ash)
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To: Texas Eagle

I always felt that Jimmy Carter was the worst president in my lifetime. Four years from now I might have a different opinion.


19 posted on 01/07/2009 6:16:09 PM PST by 04-Bravo
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To: Cicero

bttt your true post


20 posted on 01/07/2009 6:19:23 PM PST by Guenevere
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