Comments on: Obama eyes CIA official who defended Bush policies for top counterterror role

By: The American Conservative » Status Quo You Can Believe In

The American Conservative » Status Quo You Can Believe In — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:47:36 +0000

[...] harsh interrogation techniques. One needs to be very suspicious when the Malkinaniacs at Hot Air are giving the Brennan pick the high-five: A defeat for The One? Not quite: Instead of risking a [...]

By: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Transparency: Man reviewing intel center also created and ran it

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:31:47 +0000

[...] That should be prompting a review from people disconnected from the design and management processes with both the NCTC and watch lists — if the administration is truly interested in an independent investigation. The decision by the White House to use Brennan is inexplicable. After all, both systems were built before Obama took office; he has no particular interest in protecting it if they don’t work properly. Obama appointed Brennan to his current position, so failures in Brennan’s efforts might look bad for the appointment, but that would hardly be the worst criticism Obama has endured this year. In fact, it wouldn’t be the worst criticism he took for the Brennan appointment itself. [...]

By: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Byrd: Obama’s consolidating power in the White House

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:17:41 +0000

[...] requiring a sort of uber-Cabinet member – a czar – to confront them.” In fact, remember this post about top Obama intel advisor John Brennan? So despised was he by the nutroots for his defense of [...]

By: Jaibones

Jaibones — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:17:44 +0000

A defeat for The One? Not quite: Instead of risking a confirmation battle with the left by naming Brennan to run CIA, he’s evidently planning to move him upstairs to the White House to be his homeland security advisor — which doesn’t require Senate confirmation.

There was some bluster and blowback on Panetta’s appointment, but I suspect that was just the usual ego wars. Any reason to think The One has traded an intra-party confirmation problem with Brennan for one with Panetta?

By: Obama Outfoxes Netroots, Gives Brennan A Job « Beltway Snark

Obama Outfoxes Netroots, Gives Brennan A Job « Beltway Snark — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:21:30 +0000

[...] A Job Jump to Comments I gotta give it up to Obama here, that’s some fine netroot pwnage. The plan being discussed would eliminate the independent homeland security adviser’s office and [...]

By: aengus

aengus — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:19:43 +0000

Interesting – so that I understand, since the military has used water boarding as a training exercise for some time, it has been “torturing” its own men?

According to the US military’s past definition, and the current media consensus, yes. Look don’t get mad at me, I support waterboarding terrorists but I was trying to answer the question.

BTW, does being interrogated by women in tight t-shirts count as torture too?

You mean as in blue balls?

By: jon1979

jon1979 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:12:20 +0000

Obama’s a former community organizer who apparently is savvy enough to know if he wants to make major changes in domestic social policy, he can’t be interrupted by having planes flying into nuke plants or multiple bombings in malls or on mass transit vehicles. That would probably lead people to want to spend all that $$$ elsewhere, like more counter-terrorist efforts. So it makes sense to blow off the left on foreign policy, given the choice between that and watching al Qaida blow up your domestic policy (and possibly your re-election) hopes.

By: 18-1

18-1 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:08:54 +0000

In years past waterboarding was officially classed as torture, when it was carried out on American soldiers captured by enemy regimes.

Interesting – so that I understand, since the military has used water boarding as a training exercise for some time, it has been “torturing” its own men?

BTW, does being interrogated by women in tight t-shirts count as torture too?

By: aengus

aengus — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:22:27 +0000

I still don’t get why the consensus seems to be that waterboarding counts as torture.

In years past waterboarding was officially classed as torture, when it was carried out on American soldiers captured by enemy regimes. That was before it was deemed to be not-torture and carried out on (a handful of) terrorists captured by the US. So the consensus is that it was always torture but has been redefined for political/pragmatic reasons.

By: prolix

prolix — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:34:03 +0000

Not content to merely screw conseratives, or even America at large, PEBO is now p*ssing right in the eye of those lefties that labored so hard to get him elected.

Equal Opportunity Scrooming. Glad it’s not just me.

innominatus on January 8, 2009 at 6:41 PM

Now the lefties will know what it’s like for us to deal with McCain…

By: PappaMac

PappaMac — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:25:08 +0000

A blind sow finds an acorn every now and then.

By: malan89

malan89 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:20:31 +0000

This guy seems like one of the few Obama people that actually has a pair down there.

By: PappaMac

PappaMac — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:19:18 +0000

Obama to open talks with Hamas!

Popcorn needs more salt.

By: blankminde

blankminde — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:15:43 +0000

My gut says that all of these appointments are cover for his intentions – radically restructuring the United States into a progressive wonderland. My gut is full of coffee at the moment though, so it might be a tad uppity.

By: CP

CP — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:14:26 +0000

Hm, what awful, terrible means is the Newsweek editor referring to…? Printing false information about our troops at Guantanamo that sparked riots that killed people and harmed our national reputation…? Oh, no wait, that was Newsweek.

By: surrounded

surrounded — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:11:41 +0000

I still don’t get why the consensus seems to be that waterboarding counts as torture.

Reporters tried it out to see what it felt like and how long they could last.

To my knowledge no reporter has had someone pull off a fingernail, break off a finger, gouge out an eye, dip them in acid, rape their sister, pull out their tongue or anything else.

If pansy western journalists can do it, it’s probably not torture.

JadeNYU on January 8, 2009 at 6:50 PM

Great comment!

By: rob verdi

rob verdi — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:03:05 +0000

he needs someone who actually understands terrorism, not just Clinton Hacks.

By: portlandon

portlandon — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:01:35 +0000

The old bait & switch works when your selling cars,cell phones & appliances but not when your appointing CIA & Intelligence officials.

This whole Obama administration is playing out like a bad television drama. Does Obama know that President Palmer on “24″ was a fictional character? His surgeon General will be a TV doctor, so I guess Obama will portray a TV president.

By: JadeNYU

JadeNYU — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:50:49 +0000

That would be John Brennan, his intel advisor during the campaign, whose support for Dubya’s interrogation protocols after 9/11 (not including waterboarding)

I still don’t get why the consensus seems to be that waterboarding counts as torture.

Reporters tried it out to see what it felt like and how long they could last.

To my knowledge no reporter has had someone pull off a fingernail, break off a finger, gouge out an eye, dip them in acid, rape their sister, pull out their tongue or anything else.

If pansy western journalists can do it, it’s probably not torture.

By: Skywise

Skywise — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:46:54 +0000

To emphasize – This isn’t politically clever… this demonstrates political weakness

By: Kenrod

Kenrod — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:46:52 +0000

I keep thinking “rope-a-dope” and we’re going to get sucker-punched eventually. Brennan seems like a mixed bag – in this interview at National Journal he’s definitely on the “poverty causes terrorism” and the “US image is tarnished abroad” bandwagon. Maybe it’s just lip-service, I don’t know.

http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/080307nj1.htm

By: Skywise

Skywise — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:45:21 +0000

A real leader would’ve put the right man in charge of the CIA, politics be screwed.

You start pussyfooting this stuff around…

By: tarpon

tarpon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:44:26 +0000

It’s all designed to distract you from the real goal, Obammunism. The Kenyan communist experiment, American style.

By: Entelechy

Entelechy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:43:34 +0000

Jon Meacham piece:

You’re Bush, you were terrible

Same thing, you’re Obama, you’re a noble endeavour for humanity, or something.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are the ‘intelligentsia’ of today. Dog ~~sex~~ love is weird, really weird.

By: Romeo13

Romeo13 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:42:10 +0000

Hmmm… so… in essence he will give a man, who is not Vetted, the power over one who does have to be vetted by Congress?

Government by the people, and for the people… has become Government to do to the people, what we wish, with no real oversite…

And the Dems in Congress, will tamely sit by, as the balance of powers and oversite gets even MORE out of whack.