LaxPower Back-Up Stick

I’d like someone qualified for the job, not to kiss Trump’s ass.

Coats was no more qualified than Radcliffe to be DNI. He just kissed MSM ass.

Dan Coats. Huge lefty. Tell us about the terrorists Rat’s jailed.
Where are you on Trump claiming Wedding Night Bridal Visitation Rights?

Coats is a good guy. So is Ratcliffe, unless/until proven otherwise.
Neither has significant IC or natl sec experience, beyond what they got in intell comms.
That's enough, as Coats demonstrated.

I don’t remember Senator Coats pushing bogus conspiracies. I don’t remember Coats claiming accomplishments not in evidence. In the hearing Ratcliffe took great umbrage at Mueller uncovering so much Obstruction. Shouldn’t even have looked. How dare he. Yeah, he’ll be great at this.

Meanwhile....pelosi says Trump should ask slumlord Kushner about Baltimore.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

old salt wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 10:51 pm Coats is a good guy. So is Ratcliffe, unless/until proven otherwise.
Neither has significant IC or natl sec experience, beyond what they got in intell comms.
That's enough, as Coats demonstrated.

I don't remember Coats making stuff up:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investig ... 3220f394a0

"President Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s intelligence community often cites a massive roundup of immigrant workers at poultry plants in 2008 as a highlight of his career. Rep. John Ratcliffe claims that as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Texas, he was the leader of the immigration crackdown, describing it as one of the largest cases of its kind.

“As a U.S. Attorney, I arrested over 300 illegal immigrants on a single day,” Rat­cliffe (R-Tex.) says on his congressional website.

But a closer look at the case shows that Ratcliffe’s claims conflict with the court record and the recollections of others who participated in the operation — at a time when he is under fire for embellishing his record.

Ratcliffe played a supporting role in the 2008 sweep, which involved U.S. attorneys’ offices in five states and was led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, according to a Justice Department news release. The effort targeted workers at poultry processor Pilgrim’s Pride who were suspected of using stolen Social Security numbers.

Only 45 workers were charged by prosecutors in Ratcliffe’s office, court documents show. Six of those cases were dismissed, two of them because the suspects turned out to be American citizens. One of those citizens, a 19-year-old woman, was awakened in her home and hauled away by immigration agents, the woman said in an interview."

Trump should nominate retiring Rep Will Hurd, who has experience in the field. Do something for America for once.

old salt wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 12:11 pm

MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:59 am

old salt wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:26 pm

seacoaster wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 6:12 pmI think the real concern is the other one: he's a political apostle without the stones to let the President know that the intelligence suggests something that doesn't help Trump get re-elected.

That can cut both ways. If Trump trusts his DNI, he's more likely to believe the intel the DNI brings him.
Trump won't be as likely to question his loyalty. He can give Trump unclass briefs via FNC.
The DNI is primarily a front man for the IC, who can make their case to the WH & Congress.
...& cuddle with Andrea Mitchell at Aspen.

Trinity wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:10 am Our allies might stop telling us anything, watching Trump try to deliver the Arab Bomb.

So, of course, here's the problem.

If Trump 'trusts' Ratcliffe is that because the Rat will tell him the truth about the IC's assessments?

Or because the Rat will tell Trump what he wants to hear?

Will the Rat tell Congress the truth about the IC's assessments or will he not?

And finally, will the IC trust the Rat to tell the truth?

You might want to wait & see what the IG & US Atty's Huber & Durham find.
Maybe Radcliffe's been a truth teller in what he's said about the IC.

Would you prefer a truth teller like Comey or McCabe as DNI ? They're available.

Would our allies prefer the Arabs partner with the Russians in building nuc power plants ?

uhhh huhhh , the Rat as 'truth teller'.

Right now Trump is celebrating a prior burglary at Rep Elijah Cummings’s house that Trump just learned about.

Hard to pick a favorite, but ending AIDS and curing Childhood Cancer have to be strong contenders.

"The things we're doing in our country today, there's never been anything like it. We will be ending the AIDS epidemic shortly in America, and curing childhood cancer very shortly." - Trump

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/p ... 3HN1Y5AjLE

Shocker:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... 8467591e9e

"President Trump announced Friday that Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.), his embattled nominee to lead the nation’s intelligence community, was withdrawing from consideration and would remain in Congress.

The lawmaker was facing intense questions about padding his résumé and a lack of experience, which led to a lukewarm reception on Capitol Hill.

Trump said he would announce a new pick for director of national intelligence shortly.

In tweets, Trump said that Ratcliffe was being treated “very unfairly” by the media.

“Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people,” Trump wrote. “John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country.”

Yeah, the media helped to expose and publicly note his exaggerations, always a quality character flaw in an intelligence officer. Only the best people.

Deputy Susan Gordon is more than qualified to serve as the acting.

I say we bring in Putin, according to some, he already controls our election, the internet, our president, Tulsi.

Retired Adm Mike Rogers, former head of NSA & Trump's first choice for DNI in 2016.

In Washington DC today, Trump Administration officials admitted pressure from the Politics Forum of the website FanLax overwhelmed formerly rock-solid GOP support for Ratcliffe.

old salt wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2019 4:22 pm Retired Adm Mike Rogers, former head of NSA & Trump's first choice for DNI in 2016.

He sure could do worse...eg someone like the Rat.
Disqualified on the face of it. Obviously so!
What's truly amazing is that these idiots in the White House don't bother to do a little research of their own before Trump makes nominations? Or does Trump just ignore any semblance of a professional vetting process?


I responded to a rather ridiculous post of yours with a whole set of conspiracy theories on another thread, but it seems to me that Rogers at least doesn't come across as a Trumpist flamer and has actual experience.

Does he have other major skeletons in his closet?

If he was Trump's first choice originally, why didn't that happen?

Trinity wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2019 5:11 pm In Washington DC today, Trump Administration officials admitted pressure from the Politics Forum of the website FanLax overwhelmed formerly rock-solid GOP support for Ratcliffe.

seacoaster wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2019 2:39 pm Shocker:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... 8467591e9e

"President Trump announced Friday that Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.), his embattled nominee to lead the nation’s intelligence community, was withdrawing from consideration and would remain in Congress.

The lawmaker was facing intense questions about padding his résumé and a lack of experience, which led to a lukewarm reception on Capitol Hill.

Trump said he would announce a new pick for director of national intelligence shortly.

In tweets, Trump said that Ratcliffe was being treated “very unfairly” by the media.

“Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people,” Trump wrote. “John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country.”

Yeah, the media helped to expose and publicly note his exaggerations, always a quality character flaw in an intelligence officer. Only the best people.

Was he ever a member of the communist party, like some in the intelligence community?

Is this the sort of thing that got Mike Rogers nixed by Trump the first go round?

Rogers, who retired in 2018, put this belief in accountability in practice after a serious situation arose and President Obama needed to be notified. He said he gathered in the White House situation room with the National Security team, cabinet members, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President. Rogers told them the situation had “significant” implications for the country and “quite frankly, we have failed.”

Rogers told the room he was willing to step down to restore the nation’s confidence in the mission. But in “one of the greatest lessons in leadership I ever saw, [President Obama] stops me for a minute and he says, ‘Admiral, let there be no doubt in your mind, I have the ultimate accountability.’ And I just thought to myself, ‘That is a leader. That is someone who understands [that] you’re there when things are going well, and when things aren’t going so well, you stand up and take a round for your team.”

“You could never be a leader without being accountable.”

I think Adm Rogers got nixed the first time because Clapper & Brennan had slimed him so effectively in the media that his confirmation hearing would be a partisan circus, with no one (then) in a position to defend him.

That may still be the case, since DNI confirmation hearings would probably scoop the findings of Barr's Spygate investigations which are just beginning to be revealed & are still gathering evidence & building the case