NP: Ben Harper, Diamonds on the Inside (CD)

Slate's Today's Papers column, which I highly recommend as quality meta-news, has a good summary of the questions surrounding Porter Goss' nomination as CIA chief. Basically, there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to nominate him before the election, since he likely won't be confirmed until after the election, and if Congress were to somehow fast-track the process, nobody would listen to him until after the election, in the event Kerry wins.

So Bush either did this to simply look like he's doing something about terror when he's actually not (as explicitely stated to the Washington Post by a "GOP operative"), or to offer up a highly partisan -- albeit also highly qualified -- sacrificial lamb so he can go after any Democrats who oppose minor inconveniences like Goss' campaigning for the GOP ticket as being soft on terror. But hey, the important thing is not to use real national security decisions as a political football, right? Haven't about a million Republicans said that whenever the subject comes up?

I'm sure we can count on the major media to point out the emptiness of the gesture, right? Right? Why are you laughing?