That was then:The [C…

That was then:

The [Chattanooga Times Free Press] reported Pelosi as saying whoever replaces CIA Director George Tenet “needs to be independent of political pressure” and [Rep. Peter] Goss, having worked for the CIA before being elected to the House of Representatives, has shown that ability as chairman of the House Intelligence panel.

(Emphasis mine.) This is now:

On Tuesday, Pelosi suggested Goss is too “political” to be named director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“But I will say what I said before is that there shouldn’t – a person should not be the director of central intelligence who’s acted in a very political way when we’re dealing with the safety of the American people,” she told CNN.

“Intelligence has to be the gathering and analysis and dissemination of information, of intelligence, without any political, any politics involved at all,” Pelosi added.

(Emphasis again mine.) These statements are just two months apart (June 5th and August 10th). Showing once again how driven by politics and party the Democrats are. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea; if Bush proposes it, it’s automatically a bad one.

Please keep that in mind when you hear them bluster.

UPDATE: Looks like we’re going to have plenty of time to hear that bluster.

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush’s nomination of Rep. Porter Goss as the next CIA director could lead to tense confirmation hearings, with plenty of questions about the president’s national security record and goals, just weeks before the Nov. 2 election.

Even as some Democrats praised the nomination of Goss, R-Fla., who gave up his role Tuesday as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, others criticized him as inappropriately partisan for a job that requires relaying objective advice to policy makers.

“You must keep the politics out of intelligence,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. “I’m not sure that has been done here.”

“The selection of a politician – any politician from either party – is a mistake,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Having independent, objective intelligence going to the president and the Congress is fundamental to America’s national security.”

Pelosi’s comments about him being independent? For goodness sake, that’s so last month. This episode should also shine a bit of light on their real reasons for holding up some of Bush’s judicial appointees.

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