Ace,

I know a bit about Leon Panetta. In my previous life I knew him socially a bit and watched as he built the Panetta Institute in Monterey, CA.

As to his cred as an analyst  of intelligence, etc. I cannot say. But he is an experienced and highly capable administrator.

You'll have to see what he did when he was in Congress. There may have been some role in intelligence.

And whether or not he is a loyal Democrat, there is no doubt.

It's through Leon Panetta that I got to meet John McCain. So I'm thankful to him for that.

That, and he always was a perfect gentleman and very kind to me, a nobody.

Say what you will, but for a ruthless operative he's a nice guy.

Just sayin'.

And whether or not he is a loyal Democrat, there is no doubt.

Replacing someone with a distinguished 30+ year career in national security with a partisan hack, when we at war- gotta be a trial ballon. 

Maybe as DNI, but the Pentagon will eat Panetta's lunch as DCI and will he be able to stand his own ground against Hilary?  I thought the the leftys wanted to de-emphasize the Pentagon's role in intelligence - this would enhance it.

 Panetta was instrumental in creating CSU Monterey by converting Fort Ord, where he was chief of operations and planning of the intelligence section when he was in the army, into the university.

You want qualifications?  Top intel office of the greater Monterey Bay area in the sixties.  Ha! 

OK, John Clark this guy is not.  But is he a moonbat like Dennis Kucinich?  Or a race baiter like Cynthia McKinney? 

Just wonderin'.

We could have done worse. He is a hack and keeps his mouth shut, but I don't think he is as dishonest as you all make him out to be.

He's a nice Catholic boy, give him a chance.  That means he's way over his head and the agency won't trust him and will fuck him.

Welcome to the real world "Magical Negro"

Kemp

A quick google search and I find that Panetta is against "torture" and warrantless wiretaps.  Not surprising but not real encouraging either.

I see negotiating with terrorists in our future.  France is gonna dig us the mostest!

CIA head -

blowjobs you want to keep secret

She's a tough chick who can handle the naval gazers, butt lickers, and fags. 

Man that sounds like some kind of circus act.  

I've met him as well, he should be running something as he is one of the best managers on the Democrats sidelines - however DCI is a not an ordinary job.  It requires years of experience in plush carpet spook land. 

He will be pointman with foriegn intelligence services, who can trust (to some degree) Hayden - but a politcal guy, mmmh.  As DCI he will have to do more then manage a complex agency - he, personally, will be a player.

Posted by: Jean at January 05, 2009 03:22 PM (L64A6)

He's in way over his head. I wonder how long he'll last.

New Year's Resolutions:

-Finish last 40 pages of novel

-Lose 11 pounds

-Build NBC bunker in basement

She's a tough chick who can handle the naval gazers, butt lickers, and fags. 

Man that sounds like some kind of circus act.  

Well sir it is, and we call it Congress!

Posted by: A Plover In Every Pot! at January 05, 2009 03:31 PM (wFYko)

He was an officer, not enlisted.

The only credential this guy has is that he can be counted on to safely hide such information from the public, and vigorously go after those who might leak it.

You mean like Panetta's complicitness in the cover-up of TWA 800?

/tinfoil

At this rate Obama is going to name Monica Lewinsky to an ambassadorship somewhere  - The One is running out of people associated with Bill Clinton to name to his administration.

61
His wiki bio sez he "joined" which I would assume meant enlisted as opposed to drafted. Do officers who "join" have shorter lengths of commitment than a private?

ROTC (Reserve) officers served two years active duty.

At the rate the messiah is picking members of the Clinton administration by next week he'll name Monica Lewinsky as head intern.

Posted by: A Plover In Every Pot! at January 05, 2009 03:44 PM (wFYko)

I read elsewhere he was a military lawyer or or something of that nature, which means he may have gotten a direct commission, which I think can be resigned whenever.

Leon Panetta is a decent, but delusional, man.  He will be pitiably in over his head.

If confirmed, I suggest that everyone send him pictures of your children, along with letters pleading with him to keep them safe.  If these cause him to man up, then good for him and us.  If they cause him to go insane, then someone harder will have to replace him.

Posted by: ParanoidInSeattle at January 05, 2009 03:59 PM (AJ4xq)

Either that or Nuclear/ Biological/ Chemical.

He's against offshore drilling (which is in our national interest) and he's probably against undersea defense technologies  (such technologies may screw up whale migration, etc).

He's actually for UNCLOS, which is majorly supported by the oil n' gas peeps and the US Navy.

If you don't need experience to be POTUS, why would you need it to be head of CIA?

Regards,

Caroline Kennedy

a lifelong partisan hack who can be trusted to hide the stuff that might be embarrassing for Obama.

That's the only requirement for anyone in this establishment.

Everyone is missing something very important from his Wiki bio:

Panetta has long been an advocate for the health of the world's oceans.

We are in good hands.  With Aquaman at our side, we will sail.

#90-Now that's funny, I don't care who you are.

#91-I've seen Aquaman, Panetta is no Aquaman. More like Keith OlberMANN.

These guys all have to Clinton re-treads; or else they would be Republicans -only a few Carter guys are left not needing oxygen. 

He has few choices from industry or the services that would be interested in working with the clowns he is putting in at NSC staff, and I'm sure he is dictating a bunch of far-left hacks for sub-tier jobs that noone notices.  So these Clinton guys are not going to get to pick their own staff, nor trust the guys under them not to go around the Secretary to the NSC or White House.

There was a time when ROTC was mandatory in most universities.

No, only in the land grant schools (many Big State universities, all the A&M's), and the six senior military schools (Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, VMI, The Citadel, North Georgia and Norwich).

It's surprising how many people do not remember this era. Many Aggies still wear their own Corps uniform; I don't remember seeing any during VTech's extensive TV coverage.

The term of regular service, and the amount of financial aid, changed over the years; perhaps some ex-ROTCers on board here can relate the time periods involved. 

I guess saner voices informed Obama that Ayers wouldn't be confirmwed as CIA head.

But there is always hope for Wright.

We all just need to be patient – Big O’s image will tarnish in due time.  Panetta's appt. is just more proof as to why:

First, leaders are usually only as good as their worst subordinates and seeing who O has thus far appointed I’d say that this is more about payback than competence.  More evidence that O doesn’t know what he’d doing – on par for someone that’s never really had to work or be responsible for anyone/anything.  These folks won’t do a good job for O and in time it’ll show.  For all of Bush’s faults he did surround himself with some of the best around and it showed.  Can’t say the same for O.   

Second, I read somewhere that O may have lost by winning the election.  IOW’s, so long as he’s allowed to project a soft image that allows others to define him by their best standards, he’s OK.  But now he has to perform, something that he’s never really had to do and I don’t think that he’ll wear well, not in this hectic domestic and international environment.  He’s kind of like the guy that wows everyone in an interview but once hired and assigned a desk turns out to be a dud and is fired in short order.  O is all show and no go IMO.      

Finally, O makes a mistake when he tries to scare in order to persuade.  His success was built on inspiration but now he’s preaching fear (the economy will only get worse, etc.) which is straight from Carter’s playbook and won’t work for long.  Dick Morris predicted that O would be radioactive by YE ’09 and based on what he’s done thus far, I’d say Morris could be right.

well, at least pancetta, an italian dry cured bacon, and panini, the pressed sandwich, have some use in this world.  you wouldn't appoint either, however, to be director of the CIA.

forrest gump wasn't a disaster and a menace.  gorelick is.  I find the comparison inapt.

51 #42  "Magical Negro"

I find this very offensive!   

You should be more precise and call him the Magical Mulatto!    After all, he is half white.

I believe if you check the constitution, and the first census, he qualifies a as Negro.  He only get counted as 1/3 or 1/6 can't remember which.  That count was put in by YANKEES to prevent Virginia and the Southern states from getting more Representatives in the House.  It was a YANKEE idea to screw the South.  Some things never change.

Kemp

I'm hoping on Bush to cancel the election anyday now!

I was told it was going to happen by the nutroots.

Please, Bush, please, for the good of the country, cancel the election.

@ 107

I wonder if Pelosi and DiFi are gonna take down over this (in private of course!), especially if Pelosi is working against Jane Harmon.  I haven't read the Chronicle in years, but I might have to peek at it tomorrow.

What is needed is both a good manager, and someone who understands what it is he is managing.  Not an easily-found combination, and the Obama administration looks like they are going for a good manager.  Certainly a good understanding of the intelligence trade hasn't helped anyone recently with all of the leaks, etc.  Perhaps a hard-ass who can make accountibility important is needed now.

It may be too difficult to find someone with both administrative skills and intelligence chops, and Team Obama is defaulting to management.  I hope Mr. Panetta knows enough to know when he doesn't know; and knows enough to rein in the experts when they start to act like they know everything.  An expert who thinks he knows everything about his field and all of the other fields it can impact on can be very dangerous, also.

Yeah I was saying "WTF" too when I heard the announcement.  But Obama really has no choice at this point.  He cannot appoint anyone who actually has experience, because these are people who understand that the CIA must occasionally do some less-than-angelic things, and will immediately piss off the idiot nutroots "don't hurt a terrorist's feelings until you've first read him his rights" supporters.  Remember what happened to John Brennan, Obama's original pick.  And Adm. Dennis Blair, Obama's pick for DNI, is going to go through his own personal hell during confirmation hearings because of what he did in East Timor, if he's not swept aside before it gets that far.  So Obama really has no choice but to give the job to a party hack because that's the only type of appointment that won't inspire a nutroot rebellion.

mmmphh!!mmmm!slurp!mmmphhh!

"I know nothing about this, other than what I've read," she said. "My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time."

Veterans of the CIA were caught off guard by the selection.

"I'm at a loss," said Robert Grenier, a former director of the CIA's counterterrorism center and 27-year veteran of the agency who now is managing director of Kroll, a security consulting company.

Why worry? Come Jan. 20 the whole world will be at peace.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I feel bad for my friends at Langley.

Shit, I feel bad for my country. Eh, then again, they voted for it.

Fuck, I'll just feel bad for myself.

But cheer up Ace. Obama's more likely to bomb the Iranian nuclear program than McCain was - he's got the Senate support if the Dem's are willing to flip - and they always are if political expediency calls for it. Dipshit McCain wasn't getting it.

That said, look at the map again and be careful what you wish for.

The Democratic leadership spent so many years demonizing the people who implimented intelligence policies believed necessary to protect the country, that they by and large approved of but turned on when it was convenient, that there's no one of stature left unblemished to play ball with them.

Fucking scumbags.

And, fuck, to a slightly lesser extent, the Republican fools who let them get away with the demagoguery.

Meanwhile, Obama, the golden boy, is determined to destroy himself in the military cul de sac known as Afghanistan, largely on the basis of emotional sentimentality completely unrelated to strategic concerns.

Now, this, is going to be interesting. God willing, we're now going to get to see what would have happened if Kennedy hadn't died so conveniently. Presumably, this time there'll be no LBJ to blame for the new golden boy's misstep.

Now let me see: Korean War (Democrats) we lost, V iet Nam war (Democrats), we lost, Gulf War 1 (Republican) we sort of won, Gulf War II (Republican) being won but will be lost by the incoming regime,(Democrats) GWOT, will continue til hell freezes over but will be lost when BO strips the rest of the Army from Iraq (where it can fight a battle) and throws it in to Afganistan (where it can only fight skirmishes). And then there will be his cutting the legs off Israel.....2009 What a fun year

TomP  Ohio

>Leon Panetta is a decent, but delusional, man.  He will be pitiably in over his head.

This whole administration is gonna be in over its collective head.

We are so fucked.

You would think that democrats would be worried enough about votes that they would be strict on national security. What I mean is that a terrorist target is NOT going to be Perry, GA unless they wanted to disrupt the state fair and all the delicious pork products there. (Unless they wanted a psycological target.) A better target for terrorists is still, first and foremost, NYC. Big population, small space. Good target. Hell, GREAT target. Considering that NYC is a democrat bastion of millions of votes one would think that a democrat government would want to be assured it's survival and prosperity.

Appointing a guy like Leon Panetta is insane. I grew up in the Bay Area and thought that it had to be some OTHER Leon Panetta because it couldn't have been the one I knew through reputation. As far as I know Leon Panetta is just another democrat politician. Bleeding heart, sort of dopey. Kind of a doughy looking accountant type. He always reminded me of Snuffleupagus. But to head the CIA? You have got to be kidding me!?

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