Well, bust my buttons!

... Porter Goss, the director of the Central Intelligence agency since 2004, when he replaced George “Slam Dunk” Tenet, has resigned.

He’s outathere. Kaput.

Says the New York Times Online:

“Porter J. Goss resigned today as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a post that had been diminished in the restructuring of the intelligence bureaucracy after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“With Mr. Goss sitting next to him at the White House, President Bush said the director had offered his resignation this morning. ‘I've accepted it,’ Mr. Bush said, praising the retiring director for his ‘candid advice’ and his integrity.

“The president, who did not mention a successor as director, said Mr. Goss had led the C.I.A. ‘ably’ through a period of transition, and that he had ‘helped make this country a safer place.’

“Mr. Goss nodded, smiled and said it had been ‘a very distinct honor and privilege to serve you.’

[BW here: Isn’t he supposed to be serving US? Just asking.]

“‘I would like to report to you that the agency is back on a very even keel and sailing well,’ Mr. Goss said.”

Please note that nowhere in the NYT story do they say why Mr. Goss might have resigned. And that’s even though a CIA Director just walking away from his job when the country is “at war” is just, well, a weeeeeeee bit unusual.

Being an idealist, I’d like to think he did it because, damn, he just couldn’t work for an administration so packed with liars, incompetent boobs and fucking criminals anymore. And that later today, we’ll see him on CNN telling the nation everything he knows.

Scratch that. I may be an idealist, but I’m also a realist (it's hard, being me). I thought maybe Colin Powell would take the high road and go public with the truth after he left his post as Secretary of State, too, but I was wrong. I liked him, once upon a time. Thought he had integrity.

Fool me once, shame on ... well, never mind.

Now this is purely conjecture – don’t you folks take me at my word, now, because this is just hearsay (though it’s WAY juicy hearsay) -- but perhaps Mr. Goss’s abrupt resignation could have something to do with the booze and hooker parties going on over at the ... oh man, this is just ... oh, thank you Jeebus! ... Watergate Hotel for the last, oh decade and a half?

The intrepid Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo (see link, right) and his pals Justin Rood and Paul Kiel over at www.tpmmuckraker.com can tell you all about it. They've been on this like pitbulls on a sack of chew toys for more than a week now.

I’m so proud of them!