Gen. Hayden Rubberstamped Confirmed For CIA Leadership

Not that it was at all unexpected, but disappointing nonetheless.

AP: Senate confirms Hayden as CIA director

After hearing assurances he will be independent of the Pentagon, the Senate on Friday easily confirmed Gen. Michael Hayden, a career Air Force man, to head the CIA.

Hayden, a four-star general, currently is the top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.

Hayden, 61, would be the first active-duty or retired military officer to run the spy agency in 25 years. He was approved by a vote of 78-15...

If being one of the key architects for the warrantless domestic spying program whose legality and constitutionality is still a hot topic politically isn't enough to disqualify you from a post that's come under increasing scrutiny after 9/11 and Iraq, then good lord I don't know what is.

Wonkette has the most blunt take on this confirmation-

Michael Hayden has been confirmed! Holy shit! This Friday is FULL OF SURPRISES!

The lesson is an important one: You can be an idiotic middle-manager motherfucker who’s personally responsible for an overreaching and very possibly criminal domestic spying program, while also being so lousy at this spy shit that you’re caught by USA TODAY, fer chrissakes, and none of that is any impediment to running, more or less without oversight, the most powerful intelligence agency in the world.

What a great day to be an American!

Indeed.

Apparently, far too many Senators were not aware that they actually had the option of saying no. Instead the majority of Democrats caved into the OMG-WAR-ON-TERROR conventional wisdom and helped to confirm a man whose nomination should have be treated with the same passionate opposition that conservatives directed toward the Harriet Miers confirmation. It will be much harder for these Democrats to express concern over the issue after having almost validated it with this vote.

For the record, I do want to highlight the good guys who voted no...

There were 14 Democrats: Evan Bayh, Maria Cantwell, Hillary Clinton, Mark Dayton, Christopher Dodd, Byron Dorgan, Dick Durbin, Russell Feingold, Tom Harkin, Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Robert Menéndez, Barack Obama, Ron Wyden.

And one Republican: Arlen Specter.

The rest of them just wanted to rubberstamp the General and leave for the weekend.

Remember the only constitutional rights your Congress cares about is their own.



"You guys confirmed me?! Really?! Wow, what a bunch of suckers!"