Glenn, in the third update, you wrote that Tony Snow made his comment earlier this year. He actually made those comments in February 2006, a few months BEFORE he became White House spokesman.

These are from minor players and commenters, so we all know they have limited evidentiary standing, but I do think they are representative of a strain within the right that thinks the CIA has fallen from its glory days, that it was emasculated under Clinton--or under Carter--or under Kennedy. Alternately, the CIA as an institution is endangered from within by rogue elements (Plame, Larry Johnson, etc.), who bend it to their perfidious designs. In other words, it has all the hallmarks of other right-wing theories of the good and true being continuously endangered by the wicked and corrupt. This is the narrative to which the faces of the right constantly appeal.

Comments from Captain’s Quarters:

The CIA, at least in the Beltway manifestation, is a bloated, anti-American bureaucracy that couldn't manage an effective riot. Time to close that shop completely.

Posted by: old_dawg at May 29, 2007 9:33 PM

Somebody please shut down the CIA. Net-net that agency most surely does more harm than good.

If need be shut it down, fire everybody and start from scratch with a new batch.

Posted by: Ken at May 29, 2007 10:00 PM

Besides, in my past life, I've been inside "Langley" a time or three, and I can tell you, the REAL "cvert agents" wouldn't be caught dead going near the damn place!

Nope, after the US State Department, the CIA is the most Anti-American institution in the entire United States Government, and the quicker we tear it down, fire all the damn Leftists and Democrats who work there and have ruined it, the better off we will all be!

Posted by: Dale in Atlanta at May 30, 2007 12:06 AM

Comments from Petterico’s Pontifications:

I hate to tell you, but this latest CIA bullcrap is just that CRAP! Please read the latest Senate Intelligence Committee Report — namely the minority reports on this subject. If it took the CIA this long to determine that what’s her name Plame was really covert, I can’t help but wonder why we have these bozos in the employ of the US intelligence. Its obvious that both Valerie Plame and her husband lied to the US Congress and to the American people. Will Henry “Vyshinsky” Waxman ever be the man to admit that? Don’t hold your breath!!

Comment by Mescalero — 5/29/2007 @ 9:32 pm

It is difficult to tell but it seems that the source of this “report” is the CIA. Given it’s performance since the dawn of the Bush Administration, that hardly inspires confidence. In fact if the CIA reported that the sun was up, I’d go outside and look.

Comment by Ken Hahn — 5/30/2007 @ 3:12 am

Heading Right & Macsmind

What you see her is a complete broadside fabrication from the rogues and nothing more. It might fool the fools of the MSM, but for those who were there and known, it’s crap pure and simple.

I find it fascinating that the RWNM is all about refusing to see the smoke so they can ignore the fire. Because Fitzgerald didn't bring charges relating to the outing of a CIA agent, and "only" brought charges of perjury, that means there was no outing of a CIA agent.

You'll see this over and over again. No charges = no crime. At least, when it is a "loyal Bushie" involved like Scooter or DeLay.

You know...most of your blog keeps reminding me of something I read years ago..just after Bush was appointed to office by the SCOTUS.

It was probably in Harper's Magazine, but I cannot recall now.

What I *do* recall is that a clearly stated intent inside the new Administration was to destroy the credibility of all news organizations. The Administration knew almost immediately that a free, honest, skeptical press was their greatest enemy, and the Administration--and the GOP--set about the task of making it appear as if all news-media were unreliable.

This was merely a continuation of unstated GOP policy begun many years earlier, to corrupt MSM to its own ends.

It was an insidious and utterly un-american act, and it has, on the evidence, succeeded far beyond the wildest dreams of its progenitors.

So, now we have a situation where large numbers of Americans get their news from obviously mendacious sources, and where any kind of objective journalism is simply dismissed by those same Americans.

This was not any accident, a side-effect of GOP politics. This was the result of deliberate action, started long before Bush took office. It's fair to argue that the corruption of MSM was central in Bush's coup d'etat. Without that corruption, Gore would likely have won handily, even with GOP cheating.

It's great that you do what you do, Glenn, but it's not enough. Until the great old media regain their basic principles, if they ever do, I can't help but think that propaganda will rule our news indefinitely.

It is a sad, and dangerous, state of affairs.

My thanks to Pudgenet for explaining that a claim that is right is just as wrong as a claim that is wrong. Right?

The mind reels.

Kelly Joyner:

I just don't think that Plame was a covert officer at that time.

No offense, but I think the CIA (and Plame) might know a little bit more about this than you do.

...I learned a technique to win arguments called "making it up on the spot." I'd say, or assert what I wanted to say, and, if it was said quickly and forcefully enough, the less sure, the slow, the insecure would accept it, or at least fall quiet.

I usually thought I was right, and did not go to the length of actually making something up, but I would assert on dimly remembered or very vague evidence.

I did not reveal this to the kids, of course.

As an adult, I have seen people use the same technique, and I always enjoy calling them on it. By reading the signals and information, you can tell when someone has tipped into this assertion mode. I call it being "agressively ignorant." The agressively ignorant are very strong in their completely off-base way, and loudly proclaim it. They hope to cow the rest of us. Glenn is not cowed, and nor is most of the rest of the population anymore, and the Plame scandal is just another example.