Early Media Coverage of Goss’s Resignation Dances Around Cunningham Scandal
Early Media Coverage of Goss’s Resignation Dances Around Cunningham Scandal
Neither President Bush nor Porter Goss gave a reason for the CIA director’s resignation. As CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch acknowledged, “We did not hear Porter Goss really explain why he is leaving now — why he’s making this choice right now.â€
Of course, that didn’t stop her and other TV reporters from offering some boilerplate explanations:
“There also were obviously were these concerns about whether or not the CIA had given the Bush Administration good intelligence to make important policy decisions including those to go to war in Iraq.†[CNN]
“There could have been some concern — there very well there could have been a level of dissatisfaction on the part of CIA chief Goss that perhaps his role had been diminished.†[CNN]
“Perhaps this is in keeping with that call that White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten put out, several weeks ago [to leave now or stay through the rest of Bush's term].†[CNN]
“You think this might have to do with a sense that this was a job that he was ready for, had the skills set for, and for whatever reason he was passed over?†[CNN]
“We’ve been talking about this since the chief of staff has come on here, Josh Bolten, when you have the sort of feeling you know, that new blood is good – new blood is good Natalie – not only within the White House staff but externally. … Maybe he simply felt frustrated.†[MSNBC]
“But in terms of how he has run the agency, in terms of its intelligence gathering efforts, he’s gotten, again, I guess as all CIA directors go these days, mixed reviews from Congress, some who believe that he has refocused the agency’s effort after the tenure of George Tenet, some who believe that he was not moving fast enough.†[MSNBC]
“It’s not totally a surprise. There has been a lot of discontent at the agency and in the larger intelligence community with his leadership. I think people were expecting this to come. This is a little sooner than they expected but he has not made a positive mark on the CIA as we can determine.†[MSNBC]
Amidst all this early speculation, there was little mention of Goss’s connection to the Cunningham scandal and an alleged prostitution ring.
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Is it irresponsible to speculate? Why, it would be irresponsible not to!
May 5th, 2006 at 3:11 pm“It’s not totally a surprise. There has been a lot of discontent at the agency and in the larger intelligence community with his leadership. I think people were expecting this to come. This is a little sooner than they expected but he has not made a positive mark on the CIA as we can determine.â€
The only media quote that doesn’t sound like tabloid speculation.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:14 pmDuke Cunningham wasn’t in the talking points the WH sent over to the news networks and papers prior to the big announcement. They have been well trained to stick to the talking points authorized by the WH.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:18 pmMaybe the big parties at the Watergate is where they found Gannon.
I mean, everyone is speculating that these are FEMALE prostitutes. Do we know that they are female?
I’m only half kidding.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:20 pmCNN’s playing itreal dummmmm. Multiple reporters, multiple clueless people.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:23 pmThe downfall of Porter Goss couldn’t be more fitting. In the wake of the CIA’s utter failure on 9/11 and its abdication to the White House on Iraq WMD, President Bush appointed a partisan hack to lead the American intelligence effort during the war against Al Qaeda. During the 2004 election, then Congressman Goss and House intelligence committee leader repeatedly attacked Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, including a bilous op-ed piece titled “Need Intelligence? Don’t Ask John Kerry.” Upon taking the reins of the CIA, Goss started a politically motivated purge, driving essential senior analysts and leaders out of the agency. And back in February, Goss penned a cynical New York Times op-ed (”Loose Lips Sink Spies”) threatening to persecute leakers and claiming that he “filed criminal reports with the Department of Justice because of such compromises,” while maintaining silence of the outing of CIA agent and Iran nuclear program expert Valerie Plame. As Goss put it in 2004, “Somebody sends me a blue dress and some DNA, I’ll have an investigation.”
For the full story, see:
May 5th, 2006 at 3:24 pm“Goss Goes Down Over HookerGate?”
If prostitutes were involvled, I think that both sexes were represented, not just highly paid women.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:24 pmI wonder if the teleprompts in front of these people in the past 6 years show what NOT to say instead of what TO say… so they just make up craziness as long as it is not the truth.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:26 pmMan, I hope Goss starts crying and spilling his guts about all the stinking scandal up there. Everything that’s gone on in the last 6 years is “related”!!!!! Hey, do you think if Fitz topples the Bush regime that then maybe the Iraqi’s will greet us as liberators?
Peace, back by popular demand!
May 5th, 2006 at 3:26 pmOh God!
Kelli Arena just said “Lots of rumors, but in terms of real facts, things I would get on the air and say to you? No.”
This is the same Kelli Arena who said Osama wanted Americans to vote for John Kerry. That’s a piece of Rovian Slander she has never apologized for nor explained.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:26 pmWhy won’t the media talk about the Republican Prostitution Scandal? This could undercut our troops by corrupting weapons purchases, after all.
I think the news media is being so easy on Bush and the Republicans because upper management and star reporters and punidts are rich and richer because of Bush’s tax cuts. That’s where the ire and the fire need to be directed!
It’sa time to cover the Republican Prostitution Scandal!
May 5th, 2006 at 3:27 pmNothing goes together nicer than a politician and a sex scandal.
As for the neo-con movement:
May 5th, 2006 at 3:27 pmI smell blood. Kill it before it can recover. Put it out of our misery.
First plain burglary and now Turd Burglary at the Watergate. Everything old is new again.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:33 pmhmmm . . seem to remember Tenet resigning for the first one a few years ago . . .
also, haven’t there been RUMBLINGS about the job of another high-profile Administration defense personage? didn’t seem to influence his early vacation . . . I seem to remember Bush got kinda pissed when the RUMBLERS tried to tell him that they were THE DECIDER and not him . . .
May 5th, 2006 at 3:36 pmOnce and for all this will prove there is no liberal media bias….
here we have a SEX SCANDAL of monumental proportions (one that involves Republicans) and the media refuses to touch it….
May 5th, 2006 at 3:37 pmhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahah
i don’t know which of the neocon mouthpieces poopooed speculation that porter goss may have had male or female prostitutes with strap-ons servicing him and the number three at the cia, but, i hope they re-consider whether it has become more likely the case now…
hahahahhahahhahhahhahahha
May 5th, 2006 at 3:42 pmckuf bush is a happy camper today… see: :)
#16
May 5th, 2006 at 3:44 pmMan, why’d you have to go and say something like that just before a beautiful weekend. It’s sad that I can conceivably believe this could be true.
“Somebody sends me a blue dress and some DNA, I’ll have an investigation.”
– Porter Goss, on the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, October 2003.
For the full story, see:
May 5th, 2006 at 3:45 pm“Goss Goes Down Over HookerGate?”
Any bets on when Porter Goss gets his Congressional Medal of Freedom
I say by mid-August
May 5th, 2006 at 3:45 pmDoes Porter Goss have to surrender his badge and his shoe-phone?
-GSD
May 5th, 2006 at 3:49 pmFormer Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia is reporting that Goss resigned due to the Cunningham sex scandal at the Watergate hotel! Barr claims that the number 2, 3 and possible number 4 under Goss are directly involved in the prostitution ring! The top echelon of the CIA > all tied to Bush are in big trouble!
May 5th, 2006 at 3:49 pmHere in MA I’ve heard nothing of this on the local stations.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:50 pmThey’re all busy cackling about Patrick Kennedy checking into the Mayo Clinic.
What coverage? Over at Fox it’s been almost nothing but Rep. Kennedy. CNN has been almost as bad.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:50 pm#13 ? – LOL
May 5th, 2006 at 3:51 pmLead story on “Your World” is the near record level of the Dow. Then how the President is providing sound, no wait, great economic leadership and then banging the drum for keeping the tax cuts. CIA chief resigns? Yawn. Yeah, it’s a “business” show….
May 5th, 2006 at 3:56 pmCNN and FOX have been told to try to cover up the story of Porter Goss with the non important story on Kennedy! This also keeps Senator Ted Kennedy from slamming Goss and his CIA flunkies involved in prostitution!
May 5th, 2006 at 3:56 pmmaybe if we had a missing white women, the networks would pick up on this.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:58 pmThank you, Avenging Angel – Jon Perr, longtime Dem hack, ceratinly gives an “interesting” “perrspective”. (Being a bi-coastal hack, will he be spinning the Patrick Kennedy 2:45 am vote “trip”, too?)
May 5th, 2006 at 3:59 pmUh oh, HuffPo has some news that someone at the Pentagon is about to fall too. History does repeat itself. It’s the Saturday Night Massacre all over again except on Friday. Thank goodness it isn’t Tuesday or it might upset some of the 9/11 loved ones.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:00 pmWE GOT FAMILY VALUES ……. well a brothel is a family of sorts.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:06 pmTying it up in a neat little package so the corporate media can take their “he was disappointed at not getting the head of intelligence job” boilerplate and read it to the cameras.
Lazy, cowardly…..they don’t even deserve to be called “newsreaders” any more….they’re just PR readers.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:10 pmI wish Ray McGovern would come onto CNN tonight to tell us what happened yesterday after he exposed Rumsfeld as a proven liar? It has set off a chain reaction of events > breaking news is someone in the Pentagon is going to resign > god I wish it would be Rumsfeld!
May 5th, 2006 at 4:11 pmNext time I visit D.C, I’m going to stay at the Watergate Hotel and put up a shrine to it in commemoration of its efforts in exposing the scum of our political system.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:11 pmPorter Goss is just tired of all of the killing. The neocon Busheviks aren’t. Killing is the name of the game for them. It’s all about the killing.
He wants out of the killing game, that’s all.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:13 pmRepublicans should avoid the Watergate, they don’t have a very good history there.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:19 pmPost 39 Watergate hotel probably still has all the bugs from the Nixon era still in place in every room > the FBI probably has everything on audio tape at least! I do not want to hear Goss climaxing with a hooker played on TV > lol.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:23 pmbush the war-criminals list of things-to-do….
pardon #2345098465664: porter goss
May 5th, 2006 at 4:26 pmDamn, Jay!
May 5th, 2006 at 4:28 pmThe visual you just gave me is going to haunt me for some time…
Well, since I asked a while ago in the first thread about Goss being “implicated”, I still haven’t gotten any answer as to how Goss is implicated in any crime what so ever. Other than being someone’s boss.
However, the resignation does certainly raise suspicions. I’m glad the media aren’t jumping to conclusions like they usually do. In fact, I’d say that is a sign that they know that Goss isn’t implicated in anything criminal.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:34 pmWell post 42 just be glad in the Nixon era they just had listening devices and not video cam bugs > lol. Pray they do not have visual pics or video of Goss in bed, so played on CNN, even if blurred for the crotch I do not want to see it!
May 5th, 2006 at 4:34 pmPOst 43 Seixon > lol are you kidding? So you think Goss resigned just to be with his family or something? You cannot be in Norway, defending Porter Goss, unless you are a CIA agent?
May 5th, 2006 at 4:37 pmSweet Jesus Seixon for someone who claims to be so “non-partisan” you sure like to swallow republican cock. Please though if you could wipe you mouth before you post it would be nice.
May 5th, 2006 at 4:39 pmThe only interesting point I’ve seen in MSM is this from the Chicago Trib:
May 5th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
I’d sure like to know how MRS. CUNNINGHAM is handling all this good news about her husband, his frat buddies, and the hookers. Sanctity of marriage my ass. It seems the Republican definition of marriage is one man, one woman, and the occasional prostitute provided by friends after poker and alcohol.
AND….Why wasn’t Bill Bennett invited to these poker games? Was he too much of high roller? He must feel snubbed.
“Ochkam’s Razor is NOT a disposable!”
May 5th, 2006 at 4:55 pm[...] With that in mind, we learned today (Friday) that CIA Chief Porter Goss is resigning–and rather abrubtly at that. So why you ask? At this point, nobody knows. If our Friday news theory holds true, the possiblities are endless as the afternoon news services have been so quick to point out. With all the rumours and unanswered questions, one idea does come to mind that seems to hold at least a little water and definatly fits the Friday “bad news” theory. That would be a Goss connection to the Cunningham poker//drinking/prostitute parties held at that last hotel to bring down a president–The Watergate Hotel. [...]
May 5th, 2006 at 6:00 pmWhat in the hell has happened to CNN? They used to be the place to go for solid, reasonably objective reporting. Now they’re an embarrassing joke.
Yes, in the past some people laughed at them for repeating the same stuff ad nauseum all day long. But now even more people are laughing at them—for quite another, much less respectable reason: CNN reporters and “commentators†are trying so hard to out-Faux Faux itself that they have become caricatures of true journalists.
Admittedly, the laughter is sad (the loss of a source for reliable journalism is always sad), and it’s also embarrassed (a caring person soon becomes uncomfortable at such clueless discomfiture). But however the laughter is characterized, CNN is fast becoming a joke and nothing more.
The obvious irony, of course, is that the managers are CNN are trying to emulate O’Reilly even as O’Reilly’s ratings are plummeting. As a lay person I also wonder whether they are trying to sacrifice quantity of demographics for quality. Not just in viewers who are tuned in when the poll-takers call, but viewers who are truly respectful.
May 5th, 2006 at 6:01 pmthe cowardly news network is playing the Sergeant Schultz role in our American stalag 13 media.” I see nothhhhhhing”, “for an apfel struuuuudel hogan(shrubco)?”
May 5th, 2006 at 6:19 pmSweet Jesus Seixon for someone who claims to be so “non-partisan†you sure like to swallow republican cock. Please though if you could wipe you mouth before you post it would be nice.
Comment by krazny
I hope they’re practicing safe sex. The diseases they (republicans) spread are incurable.
May 5th, 2006 at 7:35 pmProstitutes and sex, booze and gambling — might this be the “scandal” that finally brings down Bush&Co? Are the prostitutes male or female? Both? Who is present at these soirees?
May 5th, 2006 at 7:46 pmThere was rumor of a personnel change supposed to come from the WHite House today, but the Goss surprise overtook it. Who is/was the one to be announced, but didn’t happen?
[...] As the truth comes to light and investigators delve deeper into the sex for contracts scandal, we will probably learn that Goss was intimately tied to Wilkes (pun intended). This wasn’t a scheduled resignation and it isn’t business as usual. Yet another Bush appointee has been forced to leave his job before his time is due because of connections to corruption, crime, and scandal. The media may catch on to this, or they may not, but either way we see that the Republican Party simply cannot be trusted with our government. They were corrupt before they had a majority in every branch of government and they’re irresponsible now that they’ve attained that majority. [...]
May 5th, 2006 at 8:39 pmthis and cunningham related “hookergate†story … lots of info at TPMmuckracker.com
May 5th, 2006 at 8:42 pmOh! the irony of it all. Tricky Dickie Nixon, George. W. Bush and the Watergate Hotel.
Is Condi the deep-throat of Bush’s cabinet?
May 5th, 2006 at 9:43 pmOuch. Looks like you all struck out again.
Read it and weep, boys and girls.
Is Larry Johnson swallowing Republican cock too?
Yeah, ouch. BURN!
May 6th, 2006 at 12:08 amOh, and no, Jay, I do not think Goss is resigning to spend more time with the family. I never said so, and neither did Goss. So how would you like your crow prepared? Rare or well done?
I can’t wait for you guys to smear Larry Johnson like you did me, even though I said the same thing that he has just come up with. Goss isn’t implicated in the hooker scandal.
Oh, and did I mention…. BUUUUUUUUUUURN!
May 6th, 2006 at 12:18 am#52 – “Prostitutes and sex, booze and gambling — might this be the “scandal†that finally brings down Bush&Co? Are the prostitutes male or female? Both? Who is present at these soirees?” – thoughtful comment by Marie
******Marie, any immoral Republican engaged in prostitution, booze and gambling are stupidly trying to appeal to the “base” instincts of Dens and progressives. (They thought your love of the Kennedy’s, Clinton, and the symbolic slogan of you over-the-hill hippies, “make love, not war’ would appeal to you subjective types on the Left.
#45 – Krazy – Your vulgarity today rivals FAT DAddy’s…what would your Mother think?…Very tacky!!
May 6th, 2006 at 1:08 amLol post Seixon > you are a glutton for punishment on here! Have you ever answered the question of why supposedly you are living in Norway, but somehow addicted to defending Bush Regime thugs like Porter Goss on TP threads?
Nobody knows all the facts yet on why Goss resigned so suddenly! Nobody believes the story being put out by the White House, nor does anyone believe FOX/CNN talking heads opinions!
May 6th, 2006 at 1:10 amFormer Rep. Bob Barr, of Georgia, who is a friend of Goss claims that the top echelon of the CIA were involved in the Cunningham prostitution ring in the Watergate hotel, so go yell at him!
May 6th, 2006 at 2:26 am
Jay and Ryan,
It must suck to be you guys. I get Larry Johnson, Bush Hater Prime, saying the same thing as me and you…. continue to call me a Bushbot. LOL. You guys are hopeless. You didn’t even address Johnson, but talked about FOX News and the White House. LOL.
Instead, you turn it into an interrogation session on asking me about my personal life. How about coming back to the fact that I was right, and all of you were hopelessly wrong about Goss?
Yes, the top echelons of the CIA are involved in the hooker scandal – such as the #3 guy at the CIA. As Johnson writes, Goss stepped down merely because he would be tainted by the scandal, even though he has no real part in it.
Keep spinning away guys. Hopeless, hopeless, hopeless.
May 6th, 2006 at 9:03 amJohnson is a straight-shooter from what I can tell — he doesn’t accuse Goss of participation, but Goss did put guys in place who did, so it looks bad for the CIA. Goss is also pissed because of his Negroponte conflict.
May 6th, 2006 at 10:41 am(Also, go back to Iran-Contra and see who was involved deeply in that, and where they are today.)
Goss is a politician first, a CIA director second. He was unqualified from the start, he admitted so. His demeanor is abrasive, and the recent scapegoating of a soon-to-retire agent did not help the already low morale at the CIA. (Remember that a CIA agent was betrayed by her own ogvernment.) His meeting with Negroponte was likely pretty heated and if Hayden replaces him, we will know so. Hayden is Negroponte’s man, and an enforcer of NSA domestic spying.
MA’s stupid comment in #58 is making me laugh. The self-righteous Repubs engage in behavior that they loudly condemn, and MA says they do it to garner favor with the Dems!
MA’s stupid comment in #58 is making me laugh. The self-righteous Repubs engage in behavior that they loudly condemn, and MA says they do it to garner favor with the Dems!
Comment by Marie — May 6, 2006 @ 10:41 am
I guess when you’re motivated by emotion and ego, you don’t bother with logic or intelligence. MA contradicts himself so often that it’s become entertainment to watch Ryan unravel his hypocritical rants.
MA’s been demoted to whack-a-troll. And yet he continues to hang around. If that’s not the definition of loser, I really don’t know what is.
May 6th, 2006 at 11:15 amGoss is a politician first, a CIA director second. He was unqualified from the start, he admitted so. His demeanor is abrasive, and the recent scapegoating of a soon-to-retire agent did not help the already low morale at the CIA.
I’d say that’s a fair assessment, even though Goss is a CIA-veteran and was obviously put in place to clean up the place for those 2 short years. It seems like the whole thing with Negroponte and this Cunningham flap is what has him walking out. Not that he is “implicated” like DailyKos, Think Progress, and the rest of the drooling goons were shouting.
May 6th, 2006 at 11:20 amLOL Seixon you still refuse to explain your supposedly living in Norway and helping defend the Bush Regime thugs on TP threads? Nobody in Norway cares anything about helping Dubya Dunce Decider! It must suck to be you, because who would want all the abuse you receive on here daily?! You and Mighty Moron are the most pathetic of Bush loving trolls > lol.
May 6th, 2006 at 11:49 amBush has a penchant for appointing inept and unqualified people to high places. It’s the story of his life. And look at the sorry state of affairs we are in because of it.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060506/news_1n6foggo.html
May 6th, 2006 at 12:34 pmCheck this out on the Cunningham bribery/Goss/Wilkes/Foggo connections.
Two Years. Peace Corps Director resigned too.
CIA is going to be closed. Biggest layoff in union history.
May 6th, 2006 at 4:14 pmJay,
When did I become the topic here? Oh yeah, when you got trounced. If you really want to know about my personal life, please send me an e-mail. I’m sure you are so interested.
May 6th, 2006 at 4:48 pmLOL Seixon you proudly announced on a TP thread a few weeks ago that you live in Norway, but now you try to avoid that claim? Probably because you are NOT in Norway?! You have not trounced anybody on here, but you can imagine it > lol.
May 6th, 2006 at 10:17 pm#66- Clean-up? More like ‘clean-out’. After Goss was installed, many high level, career agents left the CIA. Why? They had all worked under several different administrations, of both Republican, and Democratic parties. But it is under BushCo that all the upheaval has occured. Hookers? Puhleeze!! That is the least of all the problems involving BushCo’s meddling at the CIA. But whatever it takes to FINALLY get people’s attention, I suppose.
May 7th, 2006 at 9:01 amThe only way they(media) would connect the two is if they were chained together on their perp walk.
May 7th, 2006 at 2:18 pm