CIA,  Leon Panetta,  Nancy Pelosi,  Steny Hoyer

Steny Hoyer Defends Nancy Pelosi on CIA Flap – Says CIA Director Leon Panetta Was NOT There

May 19, 2009 /

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., second from right, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 19, 2009. Joining him, from left are, Rep. Xavier Bacerra, D-Calif., Rep. John Larson, D-Conn. and House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina

A good catch of the nuance of Steny Hoyer defending Nancy Pelosi on CIA enhanced interrrogation techniques, including waterboarding by Jim Geraghty of National Review.

In an effort to help out Nancy Pelosi, the number two Democrat in the House, Steny Hoyer, asserts that CIA Director Leon Panetta doesn’t know what he’s talking about: “As I understand, Mr. Panetta’s notes don’t reflect that. Mr. Panetta was not there and he wasn’t the director. I haven’t seen the notes.”

Hoyer has now effectively doubled down on Pelosi’s claim, arguing that Panetta is lying when he wrote, “our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing “the enhanced techniques that had been employed.”

Read the entire piece in which Hoyer asserts: “I believe the Speaker.” Yet…………

Asked by CNSNews.com Tuesday whether he agreed with Pelosi’s more general statement that the CIA misleads Congress all the time, Hoyer said: “You guys want to hang on to this like a laser. I think that’s unfortunate. What the speaker said was she was not specifically advised as to the specific enhanced interrogation techniques that were being utilized. I believe her when she says that. I’m not going to go into every other facet of this that you — I’m not going to go into every facet of this. I made my statement. I think it’s pretty clear. I hope nobody here misinterprets what I just said.”

So, what the hell does that mean?

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has essentially said that CIA Director Leon Panetta does not know what he is talking about, insists that Speaker Pelosi has a great memory and doesn’t want to committ to the proposition that the CIA misleads us all of the time, as Pelosi maintains.

Typical POL DOUBLESPEAK – but watch him stick the knife in Pelosi’s back, if she appears wounded.

Technorati Tags: , , ,