Open Thread

by Mary

My two cents: Leon Panetta was my representative when I lived in Santa Cruz and I was always impressed with his deep integrity and his smarts. He was one of the few Republicans working for the Nixon administration who resigned for principle rather than support Nixon's divisive policies. Then Panetta switched to the Democratic Party and we in Santa Cruz were grateful as we gained an excellent representative.

It was Leon Panetta who convinced George H.W. Bush that the large deficit (for that time) needed to be addressed and thus GHWB signed on to the bipartisan tax increase that kept us out of debtor hell in the early 1990s. At that time we had the savings and loan bail out and Papa Bush's little wars to pay for. Unfortunately, the only thing George Jr learned was huge deficits are okay as long as you minimize taxes on the wealthy.

Panetta is one person who I believe has the capability to make the CIA the agency we can depend on for our intelligence needs without perverting our democratic values.

What's up?