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November 15, 2004

Long Knives at Langley

Powerline reports that they're finally taking out the trash at the CIA:

The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.
"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

Fabulous news. I've long thought (and written) that the CIA was politicized, Clintonized, and determined to undermine any foreign policy it disagrees with. Trouble is, the CIA is not charged with making policy; it is charged with reporting facts to the President and other executive employees who themselves make policy. Too many times liberals in the CIA have sought to change the facts to further their own political ends; how many times do we need to read some anonymous liberal CIA analyst stating, in his opinion, that an offer from Saddam Hussein to sponsor and host Al Qaeda does not in fact constitute an attempt at cooperation between the two?

You can have your own opinions, but you can't have your own facts. Too many Clintonoid CIA liberals want just that, and I'm thrilled that Goss (and Bush) have the courage to can them.

The purge will of course be portrayed as a horrible politically-motivated sacking of our best and brightest. But many of these folks violated their oaths -- and occasionally federal law -- to leak to the press and to friendly liberal Democrats.

Political appointees serve at the pleasure of the President. Bush's move is of course political, but so was their nonstop spoonfeeding of classified information to Seymore Hersh. You can't take the politics out of politics, after all, but you can take serial leakers out of sensitive positions.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. They'll be happier working for the liberal media as advisors and on-screen experts, anyway.

Must-read Update: Steve sends along this terrific Q-and-O link. The lefties are in a lather (what else is new?), but it seems Clinton did something similar.

There weren't any blogs then, of course, but I doubt that these newfound admirers of the adversarial-model of the CIA weren't as upset by the Clinton Purges.

posted by Ace at 01:32 PM

Comments

Wow, this is great news for the folks over at 60 Minutes. Soon, they'll have a whole stable of bitter, partisan hacks--er, I mean credible sources willing to smear the Bush administration.

Did i say "smear the Bush administration"? I meant to say "offer thoughtful but hard-hitting critiques of the Bush administration."

Posted by: Sean M. on November 15, 2004 01:51 PM

Clean up the putrid mess at both CIA and State and appoint some solid conservative justices to the Supreme Court. Now that's a legacy...the kind that 60 million+ of us voted for.

Posted by: The Old Coot on November 15, 2004 01:53 PM

About time, by gum.
But Oliver Witless compares this to Russia's Putin clamping down on the news media, only worse, and he links to a site about impeachment.
That's his slogan, "like two tons of crap too stupid." Also, Yahoo news has a headline - "Congress concerned over Turmoil within CIA", which turns out to mean that a couple of democrats (two by name) are objecting. (On the other hand, McCain is quoted as supporting it...)

Posted by: Ira on November 15, 2004 01:53 PM

I guess Valerie Plame shouldn't bother re-applying for her old job, huh?

Posted by: sonofnixon on November 15, 2004 02:12 PM

The wailing and teeth-gnashing has already begun.

Via Instapundit, here is a post at QandO which rounds up some leftist commentaryganda, then follows with a counter-punch.

http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=429

Posted by: Steve on November 15, 2004 02:14 PM

We all know this is long overdue, and short of blackmail, I will NEVER,EVER understand why W kept Tenet and the Clinton bunch on. But I hope we don't wind up now with a bunch of Yes Men. There always needs to be a give-and-take of differing views, no matter who is in power. But again,

THIS IS OVERDUE BY FOUR YEARS!

Posted by: 72VIRGINS on November 15, 2004 03:02 PM

I'm going to have to talk to my cousin, who's in the CIA about this. He's no lib though, don't worry. Silver star recipient from Somalia (Mogadishu). Name didn't make it in the book credits b/c he's an active spook. LOL. Pisser.

Posted by: fat kid on November 15, 2004 03:17 PM

An interesting side thought about all this: Even with the CIA, the MSM, Soros' millions, Mikey Moore-on, France, Germany, and other so-called world leaders arrayed against him, they STILL haven't laid a significant charge of wrongdoing on GWB.

They can carp about how he's handled things, but they got bupkis on him. It galls them to no end, I'm sure. Now, just think if all this energy had been applied to Bill Clinton's foreign connections, Vince Foster's death, or Hillary's handling of files.

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! on November 15, 2004 03:47 PM

In other related news, I was skimming NZ Bear's blog ranking and Willis wasn't anywhere on the top 100. Did he lose that much traffic that quickly or do I misunderstand how it works?

Posted by: Elric on November 15, 2004 05:54 PM

He's currently #96 for traffic. I don't see him on the links list, but that's some kind of glitch. He's usually in the 50's to 70's at worst.

Posted by: ace on November 15, 2004 05:57 PM

It's past time for a purge. I wish Angleton was still around for this one. He did not mind making the hallways of Langley run red and sticky.

Posted by: pinky on November 15, 2004 09:16 PM

Now, with Rice at State and Gonzales at Justice, the purges begin.

Let the bleating begin and update your resume.

It's about time.

Posted by: MD on November 15, 2004 09:38 PM

The democrats in the CIA can't say that W didn't give them a chance to keep their jobs. But they've definitely shown that they'd bring down the agency and destroy the credibility of the country for the benefit of their own pathetic party. Maybe we should have that civil war that some of those asshole democrats are talking about. It's time to clean the crap off of our spokes.

Posted by: Gary B. on November 16, 2004 02:23 AM

I'm liking this. With all the complaints about the CIA and intel over the last couple years, how can we not need a purge? Thank them for their service, and show 'em the door.

CNN's spin is running about 50/50... half "a change for a new boss/reality" and half "King George executes loyal subjects". Figures.

Posted by: Jack Grey on November 16, 2004 05:21 AM

As Jonah said over at the Corner, the bureaucracy will whine if it's a good reform or a bad reform. Still, I think it's pretty clear that something needs to be done.

On the other hand, it's probably difficult to find non-partisan Dems willing to work bureaucratic jobs. Something about being dull and boring must lend itself well. (Oops, did I just say this out loud?)

Posted by: austin mls on November 16, 2004 05:44 AM

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Top Headlines

"It's f**king f**ked."
-- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source"
Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.

Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat

🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER

He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight

It's over

"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION
Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)

No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.

Only a cult does this.

Now they've lost 84%.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg
@zatzi
If this continues Labour loses 2,148 seats tonight.

That is much worse than the worst case predictions I’ve seen.

Cataclysmic

Update: They've now lost 88% of the seats they're defending. As I mentioned earlier, I think I heard that London will not bail them out, as many of those Labour seats will probably flip to "Muslim Independent" or Green. Detroit's 5am vote will not save them.

Yup, Labour is losing 80% of its seats...

The British Patriot
@TheBritLad

🚨 BREAKING: Labour have lost 80% of all seats contested as of 2:25 AM.<
br> If this continues, Keir Starmer will be out of office next week.

Reform has surged and projected to pick up between 1700-2100 seats.

Wow, up to 1700-2100 seats. It's not incredible that this is happening. It's incredible that the Davos crowd is so absolutely determined to privilege Muslim "migrants" over the actual native population who elects them, no matter how loudly the natives scream that they want to be prioritized, that they will gladly self-extinguish as a party rather than simply representing the interests of their own voters. Astonishing.
Remember, when they call other people "cultists" -- they are the ones so imprisoned in their social reinforcement and discipline bubbles that they will choose political death rather than dare upset the Karen Enforcement Officers of their cult.
Update: Now they've lost 83% of the seats they were defending.

(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges

Reform are basically wiping Labour out in the North. It's not a defeat. It's not even a rout. Labour are simply ceasing to exist.

Nick Lowles
@lowles_nick

Tonight’s results are calamitous for Labour. Not just for Keir Starmer's leadership, but for the very future of the party

STARMERGEDDON: In early returns, Reform gains 135 seats, Labour loses 90, the Fake Conservatives lose 36 (and I didn't even know they could fall any further), the Lib Dems lose 4, and the Greens gain 6. Note that the only other party gaining seats is the Greens and they're only gaining a handful of seats.
Update: Reform now up 145, Labour down 98.
Labour projected to lose Wales -- where they've ruled for 27 years.
Fulton County Georgia just discovered 400 boxes of ballots for Labour
Update: REF +156, LAB -107, CON -45
Brutal: In four out of five council seats where Labour is defending, they've lost. 80%.
I'm sure it's not this simple, but Reform is straight taking Labour's and the "Conservatives'" seats. They've lost almost exactly what Reform gained. If understand this right (and warning, I probably don't), all of London's council seats are up for election, and Labour might lose hugely there, as their old voters abandon them for Reform, Muslim Indenpendents, and the Greens.
REF +190, LAB -134, CON -56.

Updates on the Labour collapse in council elections -- which wags are calling #Starmergeddon -- from Beege Welborne. There are about 5000 seats up for grabs, Labour is expected to lose 1,800, Reform will probably gain 1,580, up from... zero. So this would be more than that.
People claim that while Labour has adopted the Sharia Agenda to appeal to the million Muslims it allowed to migrate to the country, those voters are ditching Labour to vote for the Muslim Independent Party or the Greens. Delicious. This shadenfreude is going straight to my thighs.
Oh, and if Starmer loses about as badly as expected, Labour will toss him out of a window Braveheart style and replace him. He will announce he is resigning to spend more time with his Gay Ukrainian Male Prostitutes.

Media bias and senationalism are as old as, well, the media:

That was written by Denny O'Neill and illustrated by, get this, Frank Miller. Editor to the Stars Jim Shooter was in charge at the time.
I always thought the gag was original to the comic book, but in fact the "Threat or Menace" headline was a satirical joke about media bias and sensationalism for a long while. The Harvard Lampoon used it in a parody of Life magazine: "Flying Saucers: Threat or Menace?"

Hamas is Humiliating Trump's 'Board of Peace'
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Tucker Carlson is pretty sure Trump is a wizard

Ted Turner Dies At 87 [CBD]

Podcast: Starting a new season, CBD and Sefton discuss their personal journeys to conservative principles, is Nick Shirley the beginning of a trend?, Iran trying to reignite the war, the Left attacks itself, even on "Best Guitarist" lists, and more!

TJM definitively ranks the films of Billy Wilder, like Some Like It Hot

TJM talks about Billy Wilder

Democrat Congresswoman Sara Jacobs cites Me-Again Kelly, Cavernous Nostrils, Alex Jones and Tuq'r Qarlson as proof that concerns about Trump's mental health are "bipartisan"
As Bonchie from Red State says: Know the op when you see it.

Leftists who have been drawing Frankendistricts for decades are suddenly upset about Republican line-drawing
Socialist usurper Obama cut commercials urging Virginians to vote for the bizarre "lobster" gerrymander -- but now says gerrymanders are so racist you guys
Obama is complaining about the new Louisiana map -- but here's the thing, the new map has much more compact and rational borders than the old racial gerrymander map
Pete Bootyjudge is whining too. But here's the Illinois gerrymander he supports.

Big Bonus! Under the new Florida congressional map, Debbie Wasserman Schultz will probably lose her seat
And she can't even go on The View because she's ugly a clump of stranger's hair in the bath-drain

Podcast: CBD and Sefton Charge the Democrats with fomenting violence against the nation with their rhetoric, Virginia redistricting going down the tubes? Trump's bully pulpit is not censorship, Lee Zeldin is a star, J.B. Pritzker is an idiot, and more!