Roll Call: Speaker Hastert comes out against Hayden nomination

[kpete]

Roll Call: Speaker Hastert comes out against Hayden nomination
by John in DC - 5/09/2006 09:09:00 AM


Holy shit. From Roll Call:

Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has come out against the nomination of Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to head the CIA, calling the ousting of former Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) from the agency’s top post “a power grab” by John Negroponte, the director of national intelligence.

Hastert’s opposition to Hayden is not based on any personal reservations about the nominee. Rather, Hastert is concerned that installing a top-ranking military official at the “CIA would give too much influence over the U.S. intelligence community to the Pentagon.”

“I don’t know anything about him. He has never darkened my doorstep,” Hastert told reporters on Monday in Aurora, Ill., when asked about Hayden. "I don't think a military guy should be head of CIA, frankly."

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/05/roll-call-speaker-hastert-comes-out.html

[hatrack]

1. Yeah, but it's the Senate's call - cheap show of "independence"

:puke: on Denny the Hutt.

[realFedUp]

2. DiFi seems to think Hayden's just fine....

Just when I think she's got it together again,
she blows it.

[ShortnFiery]

4. The Good People of CA need to send DiFi packing. :P

That is, she has seemingly fallen in love with ALMOST every aspect of our pumped-up Military War Machine Industry. :(

[still_one]

9. They won't, she is too powerful in the party

If the repukes were smart they would run a moderate to liberal against her who was against the Iraq war, but that too won't happen

[ShortnFiery]

13. Yes, but if she's war profiteering, The People not The Party have the

power to kick her out on her chickenhawk a**? I'd almost be willing to suffer six years under a Puke so that The Party can pull their heads out of their butts and put up someone with a moral compass.

[still_one]

19. I hear you. I will not vote for her, and I am a life long Democrat

I cannot support anyone who supports this war in Iraq.

[patriothackd]

17. Is she the one with ties to Bechtel? n/t

.

[BrotherBuzz]

24. Bechtel is headquartered in San Francisco so there are natural ties, but..

her husband is the critter that raises the biggest concerns in my view. Can you say conflict of interest?

Army contract for Feinstein's husband

Blum is a director of firm that will get up to $600 million

David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 22, 2003


URS Corp., a San Francisco planning and engineering firm partially owned by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, landed an Army contract Monday worth up to $600 million.

The award to help with troop mobilization, weapons systems training and anti-terrorism efforts is the latest in a string of plum defense jobs snared by URS. In February, the firm won an army engineering and logistics contract that could bring in $3.1 billion during the next eight years.

<snip>

URS boasts some 25,000 employees working in more than 20 countries. Although the firm has a long history of government work, it has focused more on those activities since acquiring EG&G from the Carlyle Group investment firm last year for about $500 million.


EG&G works with the military, NASA, and several federal departments, according to Hoover's. The company's areas of expertise range from designing transportation infrastructure to training people to dismantle weapons of mass destruction.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/04/22/MN310531.DTL

[The Stranger]

6. War profiteers like military men.

It is to be expected.

[patriothackd]

18. Not necessarily. War profiteers like investments that pay off

Military men don't necessarily think that way. They're more into getting their next promotion than cooking up business deals. Military guys who make it up the chain of command have egos that are gihugic. They think they know more than the president (probably do).

The president is part of the global business cartels and has to see the military as a risk, ultimately. In Europe they deal with this by prohibiting anyone from the military from becoming head of state. In some countries you can't vote if you are in the military.

Bush has got to know he's vulnerable from the military.

[ShortnFiery]

3. Yes! But ...

I'm wondering if Rove-Co. has given the Republican Representatives "the green light" to come out NEGATIVE on this because they KNOW that they already have the votes in The Senate to confirm this spring butt yes-man? It might be early campaigning ... or am I jaded?

[madame defarge]

10. Exactly what I was thinking...

So either we're both political geniuses (and potential Dem Rovers) or we're both incredibly jaded...

[ShortnFiery]

15. I think, instead, we are figuring out Rove-Co's MO ...

Really, Rove is no damn genius. All you have to do is scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the most underhanded way to f**k-over your opponent. I think Rove, like Bush, have strong sociopathic tendencies. That's why the more hideous and corrupt the covert attack against their political opponents, the more they SAVOR the victory. Remember fellow DUers, we're talking about people who do NOT feel guilt. When they get caught, it's always someone else that is to blame. These people are the moral slime of humanity. *All* Antisocial Personalities who commit crimes (even geniuses) eventually get caught up in all the lies. That's why the people who trusted them feel so confused and duped - they're good but not invincible. I hope sooner rather than later Rove-Co. will need to answer for all that they have done. :grr:

[bunkerbuster1]

5. Add this to the list of "Acceptable topics to take issue with W"

for Republicans.

Let's see, that's added to:

- The UAE Ports deal

- Immigration (specifically, a guest-worker program)

- The Medicare Drug Plan (not that it was half-assed and pro-pharm co., but that it was "wasteful.")

Am I missing any Gooper dodges here?

[ShortnFiery]

7. But somehow * always gets "his way" by the end of the saga. eom

[babylonsister]

8. I can't stand Hastert, but this is good news. Repugs showing

spines against dimson might encourage more to do so. I realize they're just distancing themselves, but so what?
Yeah, DiFi spoke way too soon. Hopefully she force herself to have a change of heart.:eyes:

[ShortnFiery]

11. I would love to view her INVESTMENTS portfolio ... many truths there n/t

[nickinSTL]

12. hmmm...Bush is at an all-time low in the polls (for him)...

his party controls Congress...and the entire House is up for reelection this year...that and the increasing show of 'opposition' to Bush's more unpopular positions...coincidence? I doubt it.

They retain control...look for them to go back to kissing *'s @$$ starting mid-November.

[acmavm]

14. Easy to jump on the band wagon when the idea sucks to

begin with. Fatsert would be pushing for this guy's confirmation like a madman if it wasn't an election year and the repubs weren't up to their asses in alligators.

[chaumont58]

16. In some ways, the White House is handling this like they did the ports

They didn't pass the ports by any Congressional personnel, and it blew up in their faces. The same seems to be happening with this active duty General becoming head of the CIA. The bushies truly are incompetent.

[patriothackd]

20. Do you really think they're incompetent?

I look at it like they're reaching to see how much they can grab each time. If the hand gets slapped, circle round and get it next time. It's all a process of slightly over reaching in many areas at once. Sometimes you succeed, then you consolidate what you just achieved over there.

They are building, building, building infrastructure. You've got to look at the downstream benefits. Not much lost if you fail, much gained if you succeed, pursue on multiple flanks at once.

Georgie-boy is not too swift. Everyone who thinks he's actually calling the shots please raise your hand?

[PATRICK]

21. The simplest explanation

is that the WH has not bothered much in lining up its Congressmen. Hastert may think he can safely speak out but he chose to destroy the WH position on a key issue. Clearly they did not bother at all, even taking into account the suddenness of the removal of Goss, to organize a response. Bush prefers this in your face ramrod type of stooge appointment. Just a little phone call or planning would have made this a cakewalk considering the tentative nature of the Dem response. The WH treats the Congress as irrelevant even more than as a rubber stamp.

Hastert's choice of words indicate more a divide of neglect not just conflicting opinions. On either side you should hear the sound of palm slapping face but all there is is a hot breeze of hands waving too far a distance away.

[mdmc]

22. Too bad rat worm dems must bow and blow the corporate machine

Good for the GOP!

[peacetalksforall]

23. Don't get taken in. Hastert and other have done this before, then

switch as if they saw the brilliance of the appointment.

There appears to be a pattern where select Repubs come out against something and then one by one 'see the light'. I would guess this is only an attempt to create an illusion that there is independent positions. It is a psychological attempt at bi-partisanship and very, very safe since there is no vote, only words. And words are absolutely freely formed into lies with these people.

Hastert is a vile operative. You are safe when you don't believe anything he says.

[kpete]

25. Roberts not ready to endorse CIA nominee

Roberts not ready to endorse CIA nominee
May 9, 2006

Sen. Pat Roberts likes Gen. Michael Hayden. But that doesn’t mean Hayden will get Roberts’ support to be the next director of the CIA.

AP reports: “President Bush's nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA chief ignited a confirmation fight Monday over the intelligence veteran's ties to the controversial eavesdropping program and his ability to be independent from the military establishment.

“Senate Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., stopped short of endorsing Hayden: ‘While I am not opposed to his nomination, senators - including myself - will have important questions which they will want addressed.’

“Several Republicans, including House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., have called Hayden's military background troublesome in this case. It will fall to Roberts to keep order on the intelligence panel as it considers Hayden's confirmation.”

http://www2.ljworld.com/blogs/kansas_congress/2006/may/09/roberts/