Ah, Geez, How Could I Not Account For...
... raw, naked, partisan political animus in the Harman wiretapping case? After all, silly me, it's Wash.ing.ton.
When I mused about the reasons for the Harman wiretapping transcripts being leaked at this particular moment, I simply forgot that there were some very bitter rivalries amongst the members of the House intelligence committee, and some actions taken by Harman to run a cattle prod up the asses of Porter Goss and his friends, including a not-very-nice report issued by Harman on some of the ultimately fraudulent activities of one of Goss' best buddies in the CIA, Dusty Foggo, in the course of dishing dirt on Duke Cunningham's bribery shopping list.
It was, of course, Foggo's too-close relationship to Brent Wilkes, and Goss' too-close relationship to Foggo that ultimately forced Goss to resign as DCI. It's also becoming more than a little likely that it's Goss or, maybe, one of the Gosslings, that's been feeding the transcripts to CQ reporter, Jeff Stein.
Goss certainly has motive. Dems working on the committee could barely conceal their glee when the San Diego Times-Union began its series of stories on the hinky stuff in Duke Cunningham's real estate transactions, and were close to busting their bladders when Dusty Foggo and Brent Wilkes were fingered. Goss must have felt as if mention of his participation in their poker games in the press was just too damned close for comfort, and tried very hard to convince everyone outside the CIA that Foggo had been forced on him (which doesn't seem to square with the available evidence). Goss, for a time, seemed to be just one degree away from Foggo, and two degrees from Wilkes, and it would be very natural for a partisan yahoo like Goss to try to paint Dem efforts to shine a light on the Foggo/Wilkes/Cunningham corruption as the real problem--rather than the real problem being the corruption itself and Goss' proximity to the people involved. No doubt, though, that Goss could easily still think, years after his firing, that he had been victimized by Harman, and had adequate justification for sending a few barbs her way.
None of this changes the fact that Harman ultimately created the problem for herself. Saying that discussing influence peddling with a suspected Israeli spy was just constituent service is bit like blaming her tit in the wringer on a wardrobe malfunction.
When I mused about the reasons for the Harman wiretapping transcripts being leaked at this particular moment, I simply forgot that there were some very bitter rivalries amongst the members of the House intelligence committee, and some actions taken by Harman to run a cattle prod up the asses of Porter Goss and his friends, including a not-very-nice report issued by Harman on some of the ultimately fraudulent activities of one of Goss' best buddies in the CIA, Dusty Foggo, in the course of dishing dirt on Duke Cunningham's bribery shopping list.
It was, of course, Foggo's too-close relationship to Brent Wilkes, and Goss' too-close relationship to Foggo that ultimately forced Goss to resign as DCI. It's also becoming more than a little likely that it's Goss or, maybe, one of the Gosslings, that's been feeding the transcripts to CQ reporter, Jeff Stein.
Goss certainly has motive. Dems working on the committee could barely conceal their glee when the San Diego Times-Union began its series of stories on the hinky stuff in Duke Cunningham's real estate transactions, and were close to busting their bladders when Dusty Foggo and Brent Wilkes were fingered. Goss must have felt as if mention of his participation in their poker games in the press was just too damned close for comfort, and tried very hard to convince everyone outside the CIA that Foggo had been forced on him (which doesn't seem to square with the available evidence). Goss, for a time, seemed to be just one degree away from Foggo, and two degrees from Wilkes, and it would be very natural for a partisan yahoo like Goss to try to paint Dem efforts to shine a light on the Foggo/Wilkes/Cunningham corruption as the real problem--rather than the real problem being the corruption itself and Goss' proximity to the people involved. No doubt, though, that Goss could easily still think, years after his firing, that he had been victimized by Harman, and had adequate justification for sending a few barbs her way.
None of this changes the fact that Harman ultimately created the problem for herself. Saying that discussing influence peddling with a suspected Israeli spy was just constituent service is bit like blaming her tit in the wringer on a wardrobe malfunction.
posted by Montag at
7:18 PM
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