Porter Goss Resigns-Speculation Flies

(Via New York Daily News)

WASHINGTON - CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman.

Kyle (Dusty) Foggo, the No. 3 official at the CIA, could soon be indicted in a widening FBI investigation of the parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham, law enforcement sources said.

A CIA spokeswoman said Foggo went to the lavish weekly hospitality-suite parties at the Watergate and Westin Grand hotels but "just for poker."

Intelligence and law enforcement sources said solid evidence had yet to emerge that Goss also went to the parties, but Goss and Foggo share a fondness for poker and expensive cigars, and the FBI investigation was continuing.

[Emphasis mine]

So, Goss abruptly resigns yesterday and today a laundry list of reasons why has emerged, yet the only thing that has been substantiated so far is that Goss likes to smoke cigars and play poker. The headline screams "CIA boss Goss is cooked", all based on hints and wild speculation.

I'm not claiming whether I believe Goss is guilty or innocent because I don't know the facts. Come to think of it, neither do Richard Sisk and James Gordon Meek, the authors of the article. I have no problem with someone reporting on the buzz around Washington, but it should be reported as such. To headline the article to imply that Goss is already guilty of what is merely speculation is akin to pronouncing the sentence before the trial begins.

So Goss is guilty by association he likes to play poker and smoke cigars? I'm not playing that game.

MacRanger is exactly right when he points out the whole Goss resignation is nothing more than "mission accomplished:

Goss didn't come in to be a "uniter", or necessarily a "divider" but specifically to be a "Fox among the chickens" and "stir things up".

He did. Under his tenure things did get stired up and the rogues who saw the light at the end of the tunnel and realized it was the "Goss Express" did what rats do. They vacate. But his stirring up did get a major result accomplished.

Point of clarity that will be coming out in the days and weeks to come, Mary (Loose Lips) McCarthy wasn't just "a" leaker - she was in fact the Queen Bee leaker from which all the little worker bees delivered their 'honey'.

So do you get it now? Goss killed the Queen - mission accompished.

MacRanger also makes another salient point:

Dang....I like cigars and absolutely love poker......hmmmm, can't remember the hookers tho...

I suppose this means MacRanger is guilty as well, at least according to the rules set forth by Sisk and Meek. After all, he does have at least two things in common with Goss and Foggo. What more information could possibly be required?

Tags: Politics,Porter Goss, CIA, Resignation, Bush