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McConnell Unsure Whether to Hire FEMA Faker
John "Pat" Philbin's choice to fake a FEMA press conference on the California wildfires late last week isn't looking like the greatest career move.
Before setting up the phony press conference -- in which FEMA staffers pretended to be journalists while real journalists on a conference call couldn't ask fire-related questions -- Philbin, FEMA's press chief, was all set to take a job helming public affairs for the director of national intelligence, Admiral Mike McConnell. McConnell's credibility has come under attack recently over misstatements concerning surveillance, so Philbin's arrival at the DNI's office might have looked a bit fishy. When I asked McConnell's spokesman, Ross Feinstein, about Philbin, Feinstein commented simply, "We do not discuss internal personnel matters."
But while today was supposed to be Philbin's first day, he's still transitioning from FEMA to the high-secrecy world of the DNI, starting with instruction on how to handle classified information. That process was supposed to consume Philbin's first day -- think of it as an Intel Flack 101 crash course -- but now Feinstein tells the AP's Pam Hess that Philbin might be in bureaucratic limbo a little while longer, if he ever emerges. According to Hess, Philbin's new job is "on hold" while McConnell reviews Philbin's record. That doesn't augur well for the man whose old FEMA online bio page has been speedily expunged from the site.
Comments (6)
linda wrote on October 29, 2007 1:58 PM:johnpat philbin's appt will be 'on hold' until it's clear that the chattermonkeys have lost interest and moved on. let's check back next week to see if philbin's been installed as the shiny new propagand.., er, spinmei, er, liar.
Hmm wrote on October 29, 2007 2:00 PM:I took a look at FEMA's archived bio on John Patrick Philbin and here's what I think is going on.
I think he was the victim of naievete and a "loyal Bushie" team.
FEMA's bio says that Philbin was a 21 year veteran of the Coast Guard. After that he had about four years with private industry in government affairs.
That's the classic path of a senior ex-military officer.
Philbin was appointed to FEMA in 2/2006 when ex-Coast Guard Admiral Thad W. Allen was running the place (after Brownie was thrown out). My guess is that Philbin knew Allen through the Coast Guard.
Philbin was then promoted to the head of the FEMA External Affairs office in 2007.
My guess is that the less-able Bush appointees staffing the office were bitter. One, Cindy Taylor, famously e-mailed with Mike Brown during Katrina about being a "fashion God, looking fabulous and makeup." For those e-mails, she probably was not promoted. In fact, on the day of the fake press conference, she was in the same role.
My guess is that there was some effort on the loyal Bushies to damage Philbin. This is not something a USCG officer who had written a 250 page PhD thesis would do (you can find it online). In my book.
jane wrote on October 29, 2007 2:32 PM:Hmm: This appears to be an intended defense of Philbin but, man, is he really that dumb? Gee, I didn't realize that all these counterfeit journalists were my fellow staffers ...
BT wrote on October 29, 2007 2:46 PM:If he is that clueless, he shouldn't be anywhere near classified information.
Is there no one in the entire Bush administration who is capble of quick, sound judgement? Every obvious mistake, subtle or blatant, is on hold until the situation is "investigated".
Here's McConnell assessing this candidate in the ideal world:
"So, where's Philbin from? Fema? Why'd he leave? Fired for staging a fake press conference? Next candidate please."
That simple.
jimbo92107 wrote on October 29, 2007 4:24 PM:Oh, come on Admiral! Just because a guy fakes a press conference and censors some legitimate reporters doesn't mean he's a 'bad' guy. He's not corrupt, just having a 'bad day.' He's not a propagandistic authoritarian hack, just a lovable lunk who did something 'dumb.'
It's not as if he broke some sacred ethical boundaries (well, not all at once, anyway). I'm sure Pat has learned his lesson and won't be anywhere near so blatant in manipulating public opinion on your behalf.
Utopia wrote on October 29, 2007 6:25 PM:"Feinstein tells the AP's Pam Hess that Philbin might be in bureaucratic limbo a little while longer, if he ever emerges. According to Hess, Philbin's new job is "on hold" while McConnell reviews Philbin's record."
What happened to "we don't discuss internal personnel matters?" Oh, I forgot--that's GOP-speak for "we only discuss internal matters (and classified information, for that matter) when we think it might make us look better."
These guys are laughable.
U