Dr. Intelligence Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Just Laugh

President Obama's chosen national intelligence chief may finally see his long awaited delay. An inept buffoon from the beginning, James Clapper - to be fair to Obama, it should be noted - was only the president's third choice for director of national intelligence. The first nomination was actually a skilled and brilliant mind by the name of Chas Freeman - an old-school China hand and Arabist - but his nomination fell through due to some comments he made critical of Israel in the past and the Israel lobby sabotaged it (with the White House deciding not to fight back and just ditch Freeman).

Then the second pick, and the first to serve, resigned due to the intelligence mishaps in the form of the Christmas bomber and other failures to recognize threats, threats in the end averted not due to U.S. acumen but the fortunate and gratuitous incompetence of terrorists.

And then came along Dr. Buffoon. Where to begin?

1) His first intimation of stupidity came in an interview with ABC where he was asked by that morning's failed London bombings by Islamic fundamentalists, which had dominated the news coverage that day. Instead of being prepared about something that the average person who watches CNN (okay nobody watches CNN, but you get the idea) would know about, he was totally clue. Literally, had no idea what the hell was up. A classic deer in the headlights look which suggest that even knowledge of his ass was yet to be learned:

2) Speaking to Congress he described the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood group as "secular". Oy, where does when begin to tear this? "Secular", a group with the word Muslim in it? Forget about what you may thing about the Muslim Brothers and the merit or vehemence of their ideology, but at a minimum it should be acknowledged that it is not secular. Even if liberal it is still not secular any more than the ultra-liberal Unitarians are secular. This is just plain stupid.

3) On Thursday he basically told Libyans fighting for democracy to fuck off and vindicated Gadhafi's bloody push back against his people but stating that the Libyan dictator will "prevail". This may be the ass' last straw, in the words of one Senator:

Testimony by the director of national intelligence has prompted a leading Senate Republican to call for his resignation even as other senators expressed support.

In a statement, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, criticized James Clapper's statement, given during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, that Moammar Gadhafi's regime would "prevail" over the rebels in Libya.

"His comments will make the situation more difficult for those opposing Gadhafi," said Graham, adding they undercut U.S. efforts and should not have been made in a public forum.

Graham also cited two previous times where Clapper made misstatements. "It should be the final straw," Graham said of his remarks on Libya.

This will only undermine the Libyan people as they see even the United States betting against him and will only strengthen Gadhafi's hand.

An incredibly careless and even criminal act by a clueless man.

A buffoon!