I've been following Leon Panetta's disgraceful "Judas routine" for the past few days with growing anger ~ what a weasel he's turned out to be! ~ Steve Benen sums it up neatly here ~ there are "live links" to more/corroborating information in the original ~ Sooz

Panetta wows Republicans with shots at Obama
10/07/14 10:49 AM
By Steve Benen

There’s ample precedent for members of a president’s team leaving office, writing a book, and having unkind words for their former boss. And as a simple matter of capitalism, it stands to reason that these books have to be controversial to make money – books in which former officials spend 300 pages saying, “The president and I made a bunch of smart and effective decisions,” probably don’t sell well.

But former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has been pushing his luck lately, taking a series of dubious shots at President Obama.

Panetta is hardly the first former cabinet official to publish a self-congratulatory, self-serving book, and if the former Pentagon chief hoped to generate interest in his memoir, he’s succeeded – Republicans can’t stop talking about how much they suddenly love Leon Panetta.

But if we look past the personalities and the partisans, and focus solely on the policy, there are some striking problems with Panetta’s complaints about Obama. For example, he told USA Today this week, “For the first four years, and the time I spent there, I thought [the president] was a strong leader on security issues…. But these last two years I think he kind of lost his way.”

Kevin Drum’s reaction was spot-on.


And while every syllable of this is true, the scope of Panetta’s odd complaints goes further.

The former Defense Secretary last week wrote a piece blaming Obama’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq for the chaos gripping much of the country. And yet, it was none other than Leon Panetta who defended Obama’s withdrawal policy, repeatedly, before he was trying to boost book sales.

Panetta now says he believes Obama should have pressed Iraqi officials to keep thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely. What would those troops have accomplished that they didn’t already try over the last decade? Panetta hasn’t really said. What was Obama supposed to do about the fact that Iraq wanted American servicemen and women out? Panetta hasn’t really explained that, either. Why did Panetta see a residual force as impossible in 2011, only to believe the opposite now? He hasn’t offered an explanation of this, either.

And yet, Panetta just keeps complaining, not just about Iraq, but about U.S. policy in Syria, too, where the former Pentagon chief apparently believes it’s irrelevant that Obama rid Syria of its chemical-weapons stockpiles – weapons that now can’t fall into the hands of Islamic State militants.

Making matters slightly worse, as part of Panetta’s all-out media blitz, he complained to the New York Times about Obama going to Congress last year before intervention in Syria, and then complained about Obama not going to Congress this year before intervention in Syria.

Who knows, maybe this is a terrific public-relations strategy for a guy on a book tour. If Panetta hoped to generate chatter about his book, the past couple of weeks have been a triumph. If he hoped to get White House critics interested in his memoir, Panetta has done what he set out to do.

But those looking for real insights into a sensible national security policy probably haven’t learned much from Panetta’s p.r. campaign.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/panetta-wows-republicans-shots-obama#break

Fighting against "stupidity" and/or "self-stroking" is Obama's biggest challenge.

In Benen-speak, this is a blistering rejection of Leon Panetta's duality ~ I agree 100% ~ there are "live links" to more/corroborating information in the original ~ Sooz

Panetta looks for the ‘heart of a warrior’
10/13/14 04:17 PM
By Steve Benen

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta continues to aggressively hawk his book, which generally means running to every news outlet he can find in order to criticize President Obama on the eve of the 2014 midterm elections. If the former Pentagon chief’s goal was to get people talking, it worked – just about every Republican candidate in the nation has suddenly discovered just how much they love Leon Panetta.

Though I haven’t read his book, I have seen a wide variety of interviews in which Panetta has made his pitch, and on a purely substantive level, his arguments seem deeply flawed. As we discussed the other day, Panetta has blamed Obama’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq for the chaos gripping much of the country, even after he strongly defended Obama’s withdrawal policy, repeatedly, characterizing a residual force as an impossibility.

The former Defense Secretary has complained about U.S. policy in Syria, conveniently overlooking Obama’s successes in ridding Syria of its chemical-weapons stockpiles – weapons that now can’t fall into the hands of Islamic State militants. Making matters slightly worse, Panetta has also complained about Obama going to Congress last year before intervention in Syria, even while complaining about Obama not going to Congress this year before intervention in Syria.

Panetta has even whined about sequestration budget cuts, blaming the ridiculous policy on the president for reasons that seem entirely at odds with reality.

Yesterday, Panetta’s complaints devolved just a little further on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”


Which was right around the time I found it necessary to stop watching.

Rachel will have more on this on tonight’s show, taking a closer look at the larger context of this story, but in the meantime, I was struck by Michael Cohen’s recent piece arguing that Panetta has come to represent “what's wrong with D.C.”


Or did he? The fact that Panetta seems to reverse course so effortlessly raises questions about which of his core beliefs are genuine, and which are the result of the political considerations of the moment.

He’s become quite adept at blaming Obama for things that don’t appear to be the president’s fault, offering vague platitudes as an alternative for sound policy proposals, and suggesting the use of force is always the right course, but after listening to Panetta go on (and on) for the last couple of weeks, I have decreasing confidence in the intellectual integrity of what he actually believes.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/panetta-looks-the-heart-warrior#break

A real sleaze. His book will end up in the $0.99 bin soon enough.