The tale of Petraeus’ resignation now involves two jealous women, a threatening note from one to the other and, ultimately, an FBI investigation of intimate relationships and potential security breaches.
The F.B.I. found no security breaches.
But one F.B.I. employee wasn’t convinced:
Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, said Saturday an F.B.I. employee whom his staff described as a whistle-blower told him about Mr. Petraeus’s affair and a possible security breach in late October, which was after the investigation had begun.
[…]Mr. Cantor talked to the person after being told by Representative Dave Reichert, Republican of Washington, that a whistle-blower wanted to speak to someone in the Congressional leadership about a national security concern. On Oct. 31, his chief of staff, Steve Stombres, called the F.B.I. to tell them about the call.
Here is what I don’t understand. If the whistle-blower wanted to speak to “Congressional leadership,” shouldn’t Reichert have taken this person to Speaker Boehner? Reichert brought this person to Majority Leader Cantor, who is only the leader of the House Republicans, not Congress.
What’s wrong with Reichert? Is the man brain damaged or something?
How long until house Republicans throw Boehner under the bus?
I don’t see anything wrong with Reichert. It is called “chain of command”. You don’t take most things to the top leader, you take it to someone higher than you. Do you call President Obama every time you have a complaint about the federal government, or do you speak to someone lower than him?
By your logic, Democrats in Congress should only talk to Speaker Boehner (who just happens to be a Republican), and not to anyone in the Democratic leadership. If the whistleblower had gone to Jim McDermott instead, would you be complaining that McDermott referred the problem to Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, instead of Speaker Boehner?
I’d be surprised if Boehner goes anywhere, especially since the House remains firmly in GOP control. I suspect Cantor’s happy enough lurking in the background and leaving the Speaker propped up in place.
Wow. Curiouser and curiouser. I note that the FBI didn’t formally notify the President’s staff until after the election. Nice attempt at insulating Obama from the inevitable politicization of this type of situation. The FBI ‘whistle blower on the other hand seemed intent on breaking this story before the election. Hmmm.
I won’t miss Petraeus. He’s one of the last vestiges of the Bush-Cheney crime regime.
I wonder if the complaining ‘Other Woman’ has some connection to JBLM?
Where Puddy is at the NY Times is blocked! Apparently it’s not acceptable reading…
@5 Uncle Puddy!
Hey, who would have guessed?
You, of all people, are part of that 47% that want “free stuff”?
You’ve obviously used your 10 free reads at the NY Times. You want more, pay for it.
Hmm, the FBI finds no criminal wrongs or a security breach. Then a lone FBI agent discloses ancillary information found in the target’s computer to a Republican in Congress, who takes it to the chief Republican in the House.
I see some parallells with the McDermott situation.
It’s really no surprise to find the FBI is still very politicized. What I did find surprising (a little) is that Kantor didn’t dump this stinking kettle into the Presidential Election. ‘Course Kantor would see Petraeus (part of the Bush-Cheney crime Regime) as a fellow team member.
Reichert was just being Das Gut Soldier Schweik. Congressman Good Hair is not too bright, but has a lively sense of self-preservation and knew instinctively this was ‘way above his pay grade.
It does not surprise me that Richert’s name comes up in this – he’s a republican but I’ve never liked him. HorsesAss.com is a perfect place to talk about him. To my disbelief he took self-agrandizing credit for stopping the Green River killer. He was involved in the investigation for 20 years. 20 years in which the guy continued to kill. I don’t think Reichert had anything whatsoever to do with Ridgeways’ final capture. He rode the false credit all the way to Congress and now reveals himself to be a Judus. Doesn’t surprise me.
If the first action against Petraeus was started by Dave Reichert, I would say he is brilliant. Time for the Truth to come out about what really happened in Benghazi.
@10
BEHGHHHHHAAAAAZZZZZIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!
ahem. had to say that.
It will go down with FastNFurious and SOLYNDRAAAAA!!! in the annals of wingnut sannabe scandals. Sad that that is all the vision they have to offer….trying their mightiest to tear things down…sort of ‘vulture government’ analogous to vulture capitalism.
@11
Based on your lack of knowledge of Benghazi (including the spelling), I don’t find any pearls of wisdom in your post. Even broadcast media can’t keep this story quiet now. Thanks Reichert!!
L.S.,
you left off “Long-form Birf Cirtificat”.
Konservative Kitteh Kat,
keep on pretending sis/bro. We all know you got nothing.
Deflection and belittling is all you have #13. Let Dianne Feinstein (D) of San Fran lead the charge into getting to the truth…BENGHAZI-GATE. OUCH progressives
@14 Shit happens. An unguarded CIA station in Libya was attacked by guys with AK-47s and RPGs. Who wudda thunk? Let’s see, who’s responsible for the security of CIA stations in unstable countries where Al Qaeda is known to operate? Choose one …
[ ] 1. The CIA director
[ ] 2. A New York taxi driver
[ ] 3. Your dog
[ ] 4. It’s Clinton’s fault! (Choose one: Bill __ Hillary __ )
I wonder what the CIA director was thinking about when he was supposed to be thinking about the security of CIA stations in unstable countries where Al Qaeda is known to operate?
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/11/.....-boot.html
Paula Broadwell tweet on August 7, 2012:
Paula Broadwell @paulabroadwell
@DRUDGE_REPORT Your speculation about @petraeus as a Romney VP pic is full of non-truths (but I guess you figured that out)! @rajivwashpost
Good thing for Romney he didn’t pick Petraeus as his VP mate. Obviously, Broadwell knew some very good reasons for Romney not to …
Isn’t that the exact same wishful thinking/FoxNoise regurgitation that puddl was engaging in with the some alleged Elizabeth Warren scandal?
It’s just around the corner….
Mmmm-hmmmm.
@14 Regarding your retweet,
Bailing on America already, huh? You and those losers over at (un)SP. Apparently the idea of a center-right candidate winning the presidency was a little too much for you folks. Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this (heh, not really), but you can’t have FL, MI, CO and VA. Those are ours. And AR and TX will soon be ours as well. Hell, before we’re finished the only thing left for you will be the swath of Sherman’s March to the Sea.
@17 Which makes you wonder if Romney knew, too …
Not bailing by no means, being a native Washingtonian living amongst a plethora of uneducated progressives who have no understanding of what they are even voting for or against, I will always voice my opinion and focus on the truth with facts and not meaningless attacks. (something that is prolific here, btw)
@19:
I trust you actually meant AZ, not AR. It’ll be a long haul to get Arkansas into our column.
@21 “uneducated progressives”
Uneducated? In this thread you’ve been addressing a retired judge, a medical doctor, an engineer and other highly educated people.
You obviously project too much. Understandable, as it’s a common wingnut affliction. Did you know that Doctor Steve can help you with that? It requires the application of a little voltage, but it works pretty good. I’ve tried it on my own cat and she votes progressive now. In fact, like a good Democratic kitty, she voted twice, once under the name “Fido”, which I thought was rather clever of her.
Quit being so damned stupid and WAKE THE FUCK UP!
@22 Hell, let’s take both of those and Georgia too.
Yeah, and all you have is bluster and bullshit, so belittling is all you deserve.
Oh that’s rich. Just because we didn’t vote with you means we don’t understand, eh? Pathetic.
I find it amusing that republicans seemed to think there there was no chain of command for Bengazi, that President Obama was intimately involved instantly on every aspect of everything in the middle east, but when something involves a republican, there is suddenly a “Chain of Command”.
Does anyone see a double standard?
@23 & 24, There is the small fact that those that didn’t graduate high school overwhelmingly voted for obama, but if you think that I was inferring that you were the uneducated, then so be it.
@26. Where is your links? Otherwise you are just lying to make yourself feel good.
More insubstancial assertions from the Konservative Kookeh. And even if it’s true, so what? There were plenty of drooling morons who voted for Romney, just go back and read through the comment threads here to see for yourself.
How smart are people who blew an election they couldn’t lose?
http://seattletimes.com/html/d.....obinsource
This might provide some light, to go along with Kitteh’s heat.
The best correlate for Republican voting seems to be wealth.
If the system works for you, if you can yell, “I GOT MINE!!” then you tend to vote Republican.
As one gains greater education, the tendency is to more likely vote Democratic.
I think the people who vote Republican do so for a number of reasons.
GREED.
The system worked for them. They already got the ‘free stuff’ that Max and the people at (un)SP are braying about.
Their industries get to pollute without regulation (thereby taking from us clean environment as their sewer), their banks get to play with our money without adequate regulation and their losses are socialized, the horrid employers like Wal-Mart exploit our social safety net to keep their employees (wealth-generators for the Walton vultures) afloat.
We’re seeing this now with the petty and the smaller outfits like Appleebee’s (YUCK) and that twit Scnatter’s awful pizza place- cutting back on employees’ hours to circumvent the Republican-lite law, ACA.
This is all ‘free stuff’ that the stratum of sociopaths in our culture exploit – like parasites, sucking the wealth out of the economy by exploiting ‘free stuff’ and other inefficiencies and irrationalities in the marketplace. These are problems that ‘regulations’ address – which is why they hate them – these people thrive in the dark and they will stop at nothing to keep the lights from going on.
More on FEAR to come….
FrEe StUfF.
@32
You make my point for me, Max.
Greed-head Republicans are reduced to garbled mewlings of “Free stuff” as they see their ‘free stuff’ being taken away from them.
Just another old greedy racist white guy impotently watching the country change out from under him, all his assumptions growing invalid, all his expectations being rejected….
Tragic, really
@30 – Even wealth is a mixed bag when it comes to correlating with party affiliation. Romney got the vast majority of his EV’s from states with the highest percentages of 47 percenters.
Can you say “self-loathers”?
@33
Free stuff!
This isn’t little maxee. That moron is doing his same old dumbass thing in the charter schools thread – typical of someone who flunked out of school district rank 216 in this State.
This “thing” is Technical Sergeant Garp.
Free stuuufffff!
@36
Yep, and that supposed high school dropout(lol) makes 4x what you do.
Who’s the stupid?
Oh, that one is easy.
You.
This whole thing is starting to read an awful lot like a Tom Clancy novel. I’m willing to posit that whatever’s going on behind what we’ve been allowed to see is far larger and more bizarre than most of us could imagine.
One thing seems pretty certain: Nobody in their right mind who was party of information related to national security would take it directly to Boehner. He’s merely a “useful idiot”. Those who are actually running the show are permitting him to pretend to lead the House and picking up his bar tab as long as he does what he’s told–and not a whit more.
This is the last forty years of conservative policy in a nutshell. Economy going gangbusters? Reduce regulation and taxes (i.e. Free stuff!!).
Economy in the dumps? Reduce regulation and taxes (Free Stuff!!).
Global climate change? Reduce regulation and taxes (Free stuff!!).
Terrorist attack? Reduce regulation and taxes (Free stuff!!).
No matter what, conservatives want their Free Stuff!!111!
re 41: Free stuff and a wide stance to take advantage of it.
@41 We seem to have a new troll (or an old one experiencing an identity crisis) using the handle “Gimme gimme gimme”.
How appropriate…
Ffrreeee sstuuffff!!
Getting back to the original subject…it’s now come out that apparently Reichert’s tip came from one General Allen, who became aware of the email messages Broadwell sent to Jill Kelley because he (Gen. Allen) and Kelley were exchanging steamy emails of their own.
It just keeps getting better and better, folks…