Did Snow do his first Job? Anyone ask about Goss? Jay Rosen wants to know

[BurtWorm]

Jay Rosen of PressThink:


http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/05/07/snw_goss.html

Just One of Those Mysteries... For Snow's First Day

The CIA director is forced out after a year and the White House gives no reason at all for it. What will the new press secretary do when asked for an explanation that was glaringly absent on Friday?

Monday is Tony Snow's first day on the job. Let's see if reason-giving can make a comeback.

* “Neither Bush nor Goss offered a reason for his departure.” (Associated Press.)

* “In a hastily arranged Oval Office announcement that stunned official Washington, neither President Bush nor Goss offered a substantive reason for why the head of the spy agency was leaving after only a year on the job.” (New York Daily News.)

* Porter Goss said Saturday that his surprise resignation as CIA director is “just one of those mysteries,” offering no other explanation for his sudden departure after almost two years on the job. (CNN.)

* “Seated next to President Bush in the Oval Office, Goss, a Republican congressman from Florida before he took over the CIA, said he was ‘stepping aside’ but gave no reason for the departure. (Washington Post.)

* “Mr. Goss said it had been ‘a very distinct honor and privilege’ to lead the C.I.A. ‘I would like to report to you that the agency is back on a very even keel and sailing well,’ Mr. Goss said. He did not explain his decision, and both he and Mr. Bush ignored questions after making their statements. (New York Times.)

Remarkable, isn’t it?

Reason-giving is basic to government by consent of the governed. Very basic. An Administration that doesn’t have to give reasons for what it is doing is unaccountable to the American people and their common sense, to world opinion— even to itself.

To pressure the CIA director to leave after 20 months in the job, and to give no reason at all for it—not even “spend more time with the family”—is a big screw you to anyone trying to discern what the President is doing and what the government is up to.

This is why we have professional journalists as part of our public life. They are supposed to step in when reason-giving falters, and press for an explanation. And if on Monday, the White House press corps can’t get an explanation for Goss’s departure it will fail some basic test of usefulness.....

[C_U_L8R]

1. Busy first day

that's a heck of a lot of lies to keep straight.

How'd the old snowblower do?

[jjmalonejr]

2. He didn't

No press briefing today.

What a shocker.