After stonewalling the 9/11 commission for 2 years, Bush will appoint a

[opihimoimoi]

spy czar......so we now will get one 2 years late....what happened to his solemn duty to protect America...?... 2 years late... Reacting again? He is So expedient its pathetic.

Come, time for a drink, make it a double

[lapfog_1]

1. But you have to read the fine print

When Bush does it, it will NOT be a cabinet position, nor will that
person control budgets.

So it will be totally like the "drug czar", completely without
power or responsibilty... in other words "the perfect patsy"!

[Bluebear]

2. He haughtily pointed out today "I can FIRE the person!"

'Bush rejected the Sept. 11 commission's recommendation that a new national intelligence director control all intelligence budgets and have the authority to choose who would lead the CIA, FBI, Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies. The president also turned aside the commission's idea for placing both the counterterrorism center and the director within the White House.

"I don't think that person ought to be a member of my Cabinet," Bush said. "I will hire the person, and I can fire the person. ... I don't think that the office ought to be in the White House, however. '

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040803/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_intelligence_reform_31

[soothsayer]

3. that ass hasn't fired ANYONE for the screw ups of stuff in his admin

He's gonna fire a czar?

I wish the media asked how this is diff than homeland security. I thought ridge was supposed to bring together the spook agencies?

[opihimoimoi]

5. Its amazing how this man thinks....its not normal....its abbynormal

What good is a Czar if its not cabinet level.???

The Czar supposed to be the DIRECT LINK to the Prez so as to expedite matters, not stand in line....

Obviously, the Bush doesn't wish to relinquish control...

[lapfog_1]

10. No... the irony of Dept Homeland Security

is that it left out the national guard (DOD), the FBI, the NSA,
and the CIA.

It's would be funny... if I didn't live here.

[opihimoimoi]

11. Tom Ridge cannot retire soon enough

Dismal failure as the rest of the Administration

[allemand]

4. Check out Josh Marshall's comments: it's even worse

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_08_01.php#003238

<...>

Yet it turns out that this is but one, and not at all the most significant way in which the policy the president has embraced differs from that of the commission. In fact, when you look closely at it, it's nothing like what the commission recommended at all. The president went out into the Rose Garden, said he was adopting the commission's proposals. But in fact he was doing close to the opposite, doing more or less what they said shouldn't be done.

The key point made by the commission, you'll remember, is that the new NDI would have to have budgetary authority across the various intelligence agencies and the ability to hire and fire senior managers. As the Times makes clear, the president's proposal does none of those. Indeed, the dailies do a pretty good job making this clear.

<...>

Now, if you go back and read the actual 9/11 Report you'll see that the commissioners description of the organizational shortcomings of the DCI post reads more or less exactly like the description of the new post the president outlined today.

<...>

[opihimoimoi]

6. The bloody fool thinks no one will NOTICE??? Bwahahahaha

He just has to be DELUDED beyond salvage....

[Disturbed]

7. Dumbass

Cheney told him what restrictions to put on this DCI because no one will be beyond the control of Cheney, the Pres..

[Xenus Sister]

8. Man, where'd you get your rose-colored glasses?

"The bloody fool thinks no one will NOTICE???"

Of course no one will notice. No one who will get the word out to a mass audience, anyway. And then, even if the masses did find out, they wouldn't care. He obviously "knows what's best" for the USA.

He gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "teflon president." Future generations will shake their heads in awe and disbelief at what he was able to get away with, and what the media and the American people let him (and his cronies) get away with. We're under mass hypnosis that will be studied. It'll be taught in schools. Entire courses will be dedicated to this time in history.

No matter what happens, that's always the bright, cheerful thought I keep in the back of my mind. Bush will go down in history as one of the worst presidents ever, and he'll be reviled, scorned and ridiculed by historians and future generations. Unfortunately, so will we and our media. We laughed at Pravda and the gullibility of the Soviet people, but they have nothing on us. Well, not us here at DU and other open-eyed liberals, but the right and the general population. We, people like us, will be hailed for seeing how things are, and for fighting the good fight for honesty and decency.

[opihimoimoi]

9. I agree and hope its not too late to effect the solution to

stronger coffee for the gen population. Bush is a loser trying so hard to be the Hero without doing the real heroic things..... he is cheating. Instead, he is a lame brain in the wrong place/time.