another negroponte theory(s)

First, this story in the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/washington/04secretary.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

I did not know (or the MSM kind of forgot to advise us of these topics) that State has had its #2 slot open for so long. And I did not know that Condi has tried to fill it, but people kept rejecting her. My suspicions are:

a) as bad as we think she is as SexState, in reality, she is far worse. Not only shallow, incompetent, inept and fragile, but vindictive, hysterical and petty. Working for her must be a nachtmare of unimaginable quality. I suspect that every candidate she contacted, did his/her own research w/ present and former State employees and did not like what they heard.

b) Negroponte's emergency appointment (how could it be anything else but an emergency? This admin always trumpets successes with regal aplomb, and hides its many failures without any news releases) must be for several reasons. First, he is known as a good administrator, misguided and evil perhaps, but he knows what goes where and how to get it done. That means the that Intel post was going well. There have been no mass resignations (unlike with Porter Goss), no massive turnovers, no head-hunting in any intel office. Also it means that the rumors of unhappy State people (as faint as they were) were probably true. Lastly, I'd bet dollars to bagels that Israel and Saudi Arabia wanted her pushed aside and replaced with someone with more substance and integrity (even if it is evil-directed integrity)

c) Cheney had something to do with this decision. Whether realizing that Condi was not taking DickTation as well as before, or hearing from the Sauds, or seeing just how badly served his neocon policies have been under Rice, perhaps he needed more heft and substance for his own purposes.

d) Maybe Cheney is being pushed out, and Negroponte groomed to replace Condi. With Condi becoming VP. I just don't see Cheney giving up like that, though. As happy as it would make me, Cheney is a street fighter, not prone to giving up at any time. Bush relies on him as much as he relies on Rove.

e) Rove is pulling the strings, and by moving the same dastardly bodies around, he gives the impression of staff change, while keeping all the corpses hidden from public view. This is nothing more than a PR effort to improve the real poll numbers (close to 29%) that his private polling reflects.

Porter Goss was appointed CIA director with a mission to purge commie liberals from the agency. He was effective in that. He also helped Negroponte diminish the agency's power just in case they missed anybody who is not a card-carrying Publican.

Negroponte is close to the end of his career. And the bastard cannot get any lower relative to the posts he has held over the years.

Anyone much younger might think it political suicide to walk onto that leaky boat right now.