Howard Dean, democrat operative

General Hayden is a certainly a cool cat. He said the right things and even put the CIA itself in perspective when he said "we need to get them out of the news". Indeed. His confirmation is all but confirmed, according to the WaPo, further evidenced by the dying media storm.

Democrat heavyweight Jay Rockefeller, one of the most vocal critics of the NSA surveillance program to date, was absent from the hearings due to recent back surgery, but he prepared questions for the hearing and will vote by proxy. That didn't stop him from commenting to the press, but it's likely his rather benign comments won't satisfy the passionate detractors in his party.

Then we have DNC chairman Howard Dean. He's over in the corner screaming about Hayden 'not being fit' for the job because of his involvement with the surveillance program and is trying to get 100,000 people to sign a petition supporting Hayden's rejection. Did he not get the memo?

Such a dichotomy might suggest he's a republican operating under deep cover, or that the dems are simply too afraid to fire him for fear of the potential embarrassment with campaign season kicking in. Or maybe it's something else entirely.

Although his rhetoric might represent a rant to the right, it amounts to gospel for the far left base. Those folks are the ones most likely to sit down a sign a check to the DNC, so he's only preaching to the choir. With Howard running interference it frees up the Congressional dems to take moderate stances on certain issues with the goal of gathering undecided voters. They've gotta have 'em to win.

So, assuming they really want to win, and of course they do, Dean would have been fired last year if he was dragging down the plan.

MORE 5/21

Guess this was Dean's New Orleans evacuation plan. If true it would seem to invalidate the above thesis in favor of a larger conspiracy.