Hero worship rots our free press and public bureaucracies

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If the reporting shows Petraeus felt he should no longer serve as CIA director, then he shouldn’t be CIA director. You have to want a leadership job to be an effective leader. Tom Ricks refuses to accept his own reporting:

I am told that President Obama tried to talk Petraeus out of resigning, but Petraeus took the samurai route and insisted that he had done a dishonorable thing and now had to try to balance it by doing the honorable thing and stepping down as CIA director

But why?

source: Why does Petraeus have to go? | The Best Defense.

Why? Petraeus doesn’t feel he has the professional and personal confidence he needs to feel to serve as director of the CIA. That’s it. President Obama tried to keep the man on, so he wasn’t pushed out (like McChrystal had to be). Petraeus knows he got caught slippin’ and that was professionally unacceptable. The folks that may continue to fail us are journalists and authors like Ricks, and Spencer Ackerman were/are enamored of Petraeus’ personality.

In addition, another concerning issues is that no one of any knowledge felt they had the position or the need to tell Petraeus the access he afforded journalist Paula Broadwell was not appropriate (affair or not):

Broadwell didn’t have a journalistic background, and it seemed a bit odd that she was visibly welcomed into Petraeus’ inner circle. At a Senate hearing Petraeus testified at last year, for instance, I met Broadwell for the first time in person, and noted that she sat with Petraeus’ retinue instead of with the press corps. Some of Petraeus’ old crew found it similarly strange. “I never told General Petraeus this, but I thought it was fairly strange that he would give so much access to someone who had never written a book before,” Mansoor recalls.

At the same time, consider this passage from All In:

Far beyond his influence on the institutions and commands in Iraq and Afghanistan, Petraeus also left an indelible mark on the next generation of military leaders as a role model of soldier-scholar statesman. … Creative thinking and the ability to wrestle with intellectual challenges are hugely important in counterinsurgency but also any campaign’s design and execution, he felt; and equipping oneself with new analytical tools, civilian and academic experiences, and various networks had been invaluable for him and — he hoped — for those whom he’d mentored and led.

The uncomfortable truth is that a lot of us who’ve covered Petraeus over the years could have written that. It’s embarrassingly close to my piece on Petraeus’ legacy that @bitteranagram tweeted. And that’s not something you should fault Petraeus for. It’s something you should fault reporters like me for. Another irony that Petraeus’ downfall reveals is that some of us who egotistically thought our coverage of Petraeus and counterinsurgency was so sophisticated were perpetuating myths without fully realizing it.

So now I will answer some of the stupid questions being asked over and over again on all the news stations:

Who will testify to congress on Benghazi? He has a second in command at the CIA, they will testify to congress on Benghazi. I’m sure they can answer the committee’s question.

Who will lead the CIA? There have been many heads of the CIA. The president will find someone.

How do you replace a leader like him? If he feels he can’t lead anymore we’ve already lost whatever leader people believed he was and he has to be replaced.

Why didn’t the FBI tell Petraeus superiors earlier? Congress can hear testimony from the FBI director and the head of national security can debrief the FBI director.

Is Petraeus an awful human being because he had an affair? No, just an awful husband. The affair is a personal matter and makes Petraeus and Broadwell two people who violated their wedding vows. They aren’t irredeemable. The fact that Petraeus’ jealous lover, who was also his hagiographer, had access to classified information on her notebook computer and used that to threaten a woman she believed to be Petraeus’ new lover is the real issue.

I wish reporters would trade in the word “head city parking authority” or “kids sports league commissioner” for “general” or “bank CEO” when they get access like this and see if their praise seems ridiculous before they publish these articles. The people wondering if Petraeus is irreplaceable have been told that he was uniquely qualified for his role for years. It’s not nor was it ever fact, but it became “true” to all of them due to reporters failing to hold up their side of the bargain.

In addition, if Petraeus is a scholar, then he should be debated and challenged by leadership above and below him. The fact that no one said: “General Petraeus, as a matter of professional behavior, seating your biographer among your staff and not with her colleagues in the journalist pool is poor practice and can cause problems later” is equally as concerning. Such a suggestion may have led Petraeus to realize he was screwing up earlier than the investigation did. That’s a failure of leadership beyond the general.

Note: Props to Spencer Ackerman for admitting he got sucked in.

Evacuate when told

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Here is Green Island in Toms River:

Here is a story about “mike” from Toms River who it seems tried to weather the storm in this waterfront town:

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, there have been countless stories of heartbreak, loss, and devastation throughout Ocean County and the Jersey Shore. But, as with any disaster, there are also amazing stories of survival and miracles. This story started out as a last plea for help and a message of love to the family of a man named “Mike” who had been swept out of his house in Toms River and had taken shelter in the evacuated home of strangers.

source: A Sandy Survivor Leaves Behind a Heartbreaking Goodbye Note at the Jersey Shore [Interview].

Now the rest is a heart warming story about how people found “Mike” and got him to his parents, but Mike didn’t narrowly escape death, he put himself in the path of death if he had any chance at all to evacuate and get to his parents, he damn well should have. One thing NJ Governor Chris Christie said during Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012 that is so damn true: if you don’t evacuate from these areas then you are stupid.

The interviewer didnt ask the obvious question: why the hell didn’t you evacuate?

President Obama Addresses Campaign Staff

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President Obama: “Im Really Proud of All of You.” – YouTube.

One style thing I like about this President is how he shows up at his campaign HQ, talking to kids mostly right out of or in college and he gives them this kind of treatment and respect. The effusive gratitude is from the President of the United States. This kind of treatment keeps people believing in the good fight. Something they won’t forget and won’t betray.

Meanwhile: Mitt Romney cut off his campaign staff’s expense cards in the middle of the night.

Obama/Biden: Another Historical Campaign

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Gary Hart makes a great point:

How many non-African nations have elected a man or woman of African heritage to the presidency?

source: Reflections on Election Day 2012 | Matters of Principle.

Re-elected for actually doing liberal things for the American people. This is a big day. Props to the people who stood in line in FL until hours past the polls were closed, early voters in states all over the country and to those who refused to show their ID when they weren’t required to in PA. Voting is a right and it’s being threatened. We elected a President that will appoint a DOJ to protect that right. Anyway, we got to see some damn history again.

Wonkette - Photo of Biden Meme - Who Ordered a second fucking term

 

Math Haters: Fox News “analyst” Karl Rove sows disbelief in Fox News’ Poll Trolls

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Showing disappointment is fine, but when you have on air talent openly doubting their own network’s factual reporting of election results, they shouldn’t be anywhere near your election coverage. I’m talking about Karl Rove:

They sent a host to go talk to the poll trolls in the back office at Fox News to just say we’re right, OH is for Obama.
and Maddow goes in:

Karl Rove got money, a lot of money, through Crossroads GPS to get Mitt Romney and down ticket Republicans elected. He is a consultant for Republican politicians and he was a dismal failure this election. Basically, Republicans looking to run for office in 2014 and 2016 should be able to point to the money given to Rove this election and say: why would we go through you?

Change I can believe in: Obama’s re-election is driving Victoria Jackson crazy

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https://twitter.com/vicjackshow/status/266042859294179329

I’m in heaven.

https://twitter.com/vicjackshow/status/266042899479797760

omg. this is awesome.

https://twitter.com/vicjackshow/status/266047430502526976

oh heavens yes.

ditto! hahahaha!