the steve soto edition

* lehrer does thing thing at the end of his show where he announces, silently, dead amgrunts 'as their names become available'. there were 16 tonight. i wonder if they load up the friday night episodes?

* soto:

"In essence, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld gain direct control of the CIA with Hayden’s ascension...

Hayden values the technical side of intelligence gathering, which makes you wonder what makes him the best choice for the human intelligence side of the equation, aside from his loyalty to Rummy.

As Time and the Washington Post notes in Saturday's edition, Hayden’s selection will cause partisan fireworks during his confirmation process, and not just because of his close ties to Rummy and Shooter...

But in reading the Post’s accounts (one with Pincus, and one by Dana Priest) of the damage that Goss did to the Agency in a short period of time, one can see how awful of a manager Bush is. First, he selects and installs a man into the job who had no business there in the first place. Then, he finds that he isn’t happy with the guy he just selected. He then sits by while Goss and his former staff aides set about to destroy the Agency by running out or forcing into retirement many high-level and experienced staff. Instead of dealing with that problem, he installs another dark and immoral man as a buffer between him and Goss (Negroponte), instead of dealing with the problem itself. And then, after becoming unhappy with how Goss has made the Agency dysfunctional and handled several major problems, he uses Josh Bolten’s ascension as the cover to finally make a move, but again, by picking someone who will cause just as many problems because of his own inadequacies and ties to those who got Bush into this problem in the first place (Cheney and Rummy)."

* soto: "(Judge Reggie) Walton also decided against a gag order against leaks in the (Libby) case"

* soto: "First, there is no way Harry Reid will allow Bush to get a nomination through for a (goss) replacement between now and November, without making the Administration walk through fire on intelligence reform, the Roberts' Phase Two inquiry, the Plame case, and John Negroponte's pathetic performance as the Director of National Intelligence. In fact, Reid may simply take the position that "we'll wait to see who controls these committees" after November."

* job growth numbers were 30% below expections for april. feb and march were 'revised' down 20%. i wonder if anyone has ever asked whether the egadministration routinely overstates the headline numbers. praps april will also be revised downward. i cant remember off the top of my head the numbers ever being significantly revised upwards...

* huffpo: " We're Hearing... Resignation Of A Pentagon Under-Secretary Also Imminent..."

* TLC: "And who are the Under Secretaries of Defense? Stephen Cambone for Intelligence, and Eric Edelman for Policy, are two of them."
ahhh - our good friend eric. (or see my bio piece here) very likely implicated in sibel-gate. i'm gonna have to go buy a case of champagne. lkjsbdhfkb. what i wouldnt give to know what's inside his head.