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Many of us were appalled that the CIA leaked against the Bush administration in a disloyal attempt to alter our policy in Iraq, we believed that there was a fifth column operating within the CIA. It was clear that the whole of the CIA was not involved but there was a significant minority with direct contacts to the New York Times and the Washington Post which had confidence in these news outlets that the CIA leakers would not be exposed.

Now we see elements within the CIA going to war against Nancy Pelosi. Again, we ought not to presume that the whole of the CIA is involved. That portion of the CIA which collaborated with The New York Times against the Bush administration might again leak in favor of Pelosi. In that case we would see a battle erupting within the CIA between two factions.

To further complicate this affair, it is very likely that there is a subterranean war going on between Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader of the house who seeks Pelosi's job and who is her enemy, against the Speaker of the House. It is probable that President Obama is siding with Steny Hoyer against Pelosi.

If this is the case, one would expect to see elements of the CIA lining up with Obama and Hoyer while other elements line up with Pelosi and still other elements supporting the Republican opposition. Under these circumstances the CIA could begin leaking like a sieve.

While this internecine warfare is being waged, it is hard to have confidence that the CIA will be diligently performing its duty to keep us safe. This is a consequence of permitting this agency to play politics over the Iraq war without any penalty being imposed either on the New York Times or on the guilty parties if they could be found. They could hardly have been found without a diligent search.

This is Bush's fault. Indeed, Bush played into the hands of these people with his handling of the Valery Plame affair when he acquiesced in the general proposition that her outing was wrong. He should never have permitted the matter to go to Fitzgerald. He should have pardoned Scooter Libby immediately on conviction or even before. bush should never have given the Medal of Freedom to the director of the CIA, George Tenet, who gave him the worst intelligence advice imaginable over Iraq when he raised his right hand and, referring to the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said, "Mr. President it is a slam dunk." Bush's management of the CIA from beginning (the retention of George tenet) to end (the appointment of Porter Goss) has been a history of unrelieved disaster.

Of course it goes without saying that the Democrats are far more guilty than the Bush administration for this state of affairs because it is they who played politics with national security. The fault of the Bush administration was a failure of will, a sin of omission rather than co-mission, a fastidiousness which moved Bush to keep politics away from national security.

The Democrats, in contrast, have behaved despicably in every turn of these affairs beginning with Valery Plame and continuing right through today's pathetic performance by Speaker Pelosi.

Candidate Obama pandered to the lunatic base of his own party and traded away national security to do it. Obama objected to rendition and now has reversed himself. Obama objected to eavesdropping and is now indulging in it. He threatened to close Guantánamo and now is stalling. He released the memos for a political advantage in the teeth of pleas of his own CIA Director which compromised our position around the world, facilitated recruitment by our enemies, and cost us propaganda miseries. He has flip-flopped on the issue of prosecuting Bush administration officials, thus demoralizing career officials within the United States government and in the CIA. He has threatened to release photos of interrogations and then reversed himself on that issue as well. Obama's record as a despicable one of playing politics with our national security. One might add that he has done so ineptly except that the media covers for him as usual and he is wonderfully immune from his own ineptitude. But media cover cannot undo the harm done to our national security.

As I have posted before, the significance of this story is the fact that the culture of the Democrat party now compels Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America to lie to avoid admitting that she did not interfere with interrogations that saved American lives.

It betrays the Democrat party for the extreme leftist, anti-American gang it has become.

This affair is but one more example of the shameful willingness of Democrats to compromise national security for political advantage. It is very possible that this fiasco will bring down the Speaker of the House, ostensibly for lying but really for not anticipating the mood swings of her leftist base. If the Democrats are foolish enough to move this matter into hearings or some sort of "Truth Commission," the Republicans' line ought to be that the real story is the Democrats shopping our national security for partisan advantage since Valery Plame. If such hearings are conducted, who knows, maybe the role of George Soros and all of this will actually come out. Certainly the speaker is vulnerable if she must testify under oath in view of the series of contradictions she is made on the record. It may be a question of who comes to the conclusion first, the speaker or her party, that she must get out of the way before she is put under oath.

As Bull Halsey says in my tagline, "attack, repeat, attack."

We of course, don't know the full extent of the fighting going behind the scenes. Does Hoyer have the votes, independent of the Republicans, to force Pelosi out?

If he doesn't, then Pelosi need not step down, no matter how intense the political and media pressure.

If he does have the votes, it doesn't necessarily signify a good thing for the country, because how do we know if Hoyer is going to be anything other than a bun boy for Obama?

My hope would be that Hoyer would need to get the support of the Republicans and would have to make compromises with them, and that the Republicans would be able to mount serious opposition to onerous legislation. This might be a bit far out, but in a way, the Democrats might be starting to understand that they really do need the Republicans to have the ability to obstruct their agenda. If nothing else, they can complain about the obstructionism of the Republicans. But more subtly, the Democrats understand now that they are on a runaway train with their reckless spending and taxing, and someone, somewhere, needs to step in and bring order to their chaos. (I know, wishful thinking)

Otherwise, Pelosi or Hoyer - a distinction without a difference? What do yo think?

It is abundantly clear that the only thing the CIA has done well for a long time now, is guard it’s own institutional interests. The Democrats were fools indeed to think that the same institution that so ruthlessly waged bureaucratic guerilla warfare against the GWB administration would allow a Dem-led congress to replay the hits from the seventies (Church committee, et al) and march them up the Hill for a televised auto-da-fe. The real question is how did the MSM suddenly decide to pick up the ball? The Thursday press pack attack almost looks like a Ceaucescu moment for Madame Speaker. I’m guessing it was talk radio and Fox news that forced them to stop ignoring the issue of Pelosi and co.’s connivance.

It is clear that those Dem congresscritters manhandled over the years by Pelosi have decided that now is the time for payback and it looks more and more like Obama has also concluded that a new House Speaker might not be a bad idea.

Make no mistake, this fish rotted from the head on down. Obama was behind the whole thing from the beginning. He wanted former Bush staffers persecuted to the max, he just thought he could set events in motion and push them along with strategic nudges without having to take any responsibility for events. Ostentatiously sending the issue to Eric Holder, releasing memos, trying to release photos, it was his idea from the beginning. However, it was up to the Dems on the Hill to do his actual dirty work and it has blown up in their faces big time. Pelosi IS going to go down, not for any lofty reasons, but because Steny Hoyer, Jane Harman and co. smell her blood in the water and want to settle some scores.

Obama, meanwhile is suffering a rocky learning curve that can be summed up in that being an activist/agitator and partisan legislator is a whole hell of a lot easier than being in charge and having to assume executive responsibility. He can no longer indulge his leftist wet dreams and not have messy consequences sticking to him in the morning.