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Friday, May 05, 2006

YOU do the math
Posted by Jill | 3:12 PM
1. The Watergate Hotel receives subpoenas of its records in connection with the Hookergate scandal.

2. Porter Goss resigns today.

3. Josh Marshall:

Here at TPM HQ we were listening to the president's announcement. And the talking heads on CNN were speculating whether Goss's departure might be part of Josh Bolten's 'new blood' shake up in the Bush administration. I don't suppose it has anything to do with the fact that Goss is neck deep in the Wilkes-Corruption-and-Hookers story that's been burbling in the background all week. We don't know definitely why Goss pulled the plug yet. But the CIA Director doesn't march over to the White House and resign, effective immediately, unless something very big is up.


Just as an aside? The media's focus right now? Patrick Kennedy checking into rehab.

Once again: The head of the CIA, rumored to be involved in the Hookergate scandal, resigns effectively immediately, and the media are focusing on Patrick Kennedy checking into rehab.

Stephen Colbert, I'm afraid you have to do it again. They didn't get the message after all.

UPDATE: William Kristol adds fuel to the scandal fire:

BILL KRISTOL: It wasn’t done in a routine way. I don’t think people — certainly people close to Goss did not expect this to happen. Senior congressmen and senators didn’t expect this to happen. I’m not sure the White House expected this to happen. … I do think this was sudden. It was unexpected. There will be more of a story that will come out. I don’t know what it implies for the future of the agency and Goss’ effort to shake up an institution, an institution that’s very difficult to shake up. But I do not believe it was part of a long-planned —

SHEPHARD SMITH: How the heck could it have been? In a Bush White House world, things are lined up and they’re put out in a sort of meticulous, controlled way. I can envision — if this had been planned in advance, there would have been almost an immediate announcement of a replacement, the hugs, the thank yous, probably a medal or something. Instead what we have now is a vacuum, and you have to wonder what could have gone boom like that to cause him, A) to tender the resignation and, B) for the President to accept it under these circumstances.

KRISTOL: Well you and I think alike, Shep. Either it’s brilliant minds or suspicious minds thinking alike —

SMITH: It is just out of character.

KRISTOL: It looked that way to me. What was striking about the statement in the Oval Office with the President, he didn’t say, “I will serve until my successor is confirmed,” which is the usual practice. In the written statement, he says he intends to be there for a few weeks to help ensure a smooth transition, but implying he could well leave before his successor is confirmed by the United States Senate. So again, I think there were either serious disputes or some internal problem at the agency or some scandal conceivably involving an associate of Goss’. Who knows? Something that popped this week and that caused this sudden event this Friday.
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