Spinning Spies for Fun and Electoral Profit

PR Week's Douglas Quenqua applauds "how effortlessly George Bush changed the conversation last week. Political debate ... had centered on the 9/11 Commission's recommendations." This was problematic, since "John Kerry unhesitatingly endorsed implementation of every recommendation - and quickly passed Bush's poll numbers on matters of national security." But Bush's nomination of Rep. Porter Goss for CIA director shifted attention to "Goss and what the Democrats were going to do to stop the nomination - something Bush had counted on." Newsweek reports that Goss' recently introduced "intelligence reform" bill "would enable the president to issue secret findings allowing the CIA to conduct covert operations inside the United States - without even any notification to Congress."