Goss breaks silence on torture flap, hammers Dems

Porter Goss of Sanibel, the former House Intelligence Committee chairman and director of the CIA, today broke his silence on the flap over President Obama's decision to release Bush-era Justice Department memos justifying the use of harsh interrogation techniques, including a near-drowning tactic called water-boarding, on suspected terrorists.

In a column published online in the New Media Journal, Goss condemned members of Congress who have criticized the practice even though they were briefed about it six years ago - including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, though he doesn't mention her by name. Pelosi was the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee for part of the time when Goss was chairman.

"Today, I am slack-jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were to actually be employed; or that specific techniques such as "waterboarding" were never mentioned," Goss, who was CIA director from September 2004 to May 2006 and intel chairman from 1997 to 2004.

"It must be hard for most Americans of common sense to imagine how a member of Congress can forget being told about the interrogations of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. In that case, though, perhaps it is not amnesia but political expedience."

You can see the whole column here. But Pelosi disputes the idea she had all the details.

One (oily one) for the road

Just three business days before the transfer of power, the Bush administration's Minerals Management Service issued a report calling for offshore oil and gas drilling as close as 10 miles from the Florida Panhandle.

The report released Friday provides a series of recommendations for increasing offshore oil and gas production and offshore wind energy production from 2010 through 2015. For the Gulf of Mexico off west central Florida, the agency proposes opening up everything more than 75 miles from shore to drilling, and it calls for having no permanent structures visible from land.

Castor to Obama: Lift Bush Cuba restrictions

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, wants the incoming Obama adminsitration to reverse the Bush administration's tough restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba.

Under an executive order signed by President Bush, Cuban-Americans are permitted to travel to Cuba to visit close relatives only once every three years. They also may send relatives no more than $300 a year.

"The current restrictions ... bring hardship to the people of Cuba and their family members here in America, many of whom live in my home state of Florida and are my neighbors here in Tampa Bay," Castor wrote Obama in a letter dated today. "The restrictions have proven ineffective in altering the political situation and interfere with fundamental family relations and human rights."

She wrote that relatives in the United States have a hard time visiting sick or dying relatives in Cuba because of "bureaucratic red tape." While the brutal Castro regime should be punished, she wrote, "we cannot allow our policies to bring more hardship to those we intend to help."

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President Bush on Sen. Jeb Bush

W spoke to RealClearPolitics about the November election and Jeb's future: "He would be an awesome U.S. senator," the president said.

But does the party need him to run?

"I think the party would benefit a lot by having Jeb Bush in the U.S. Senate," the president said. "I think Florida would benefit a lot. I think the country would benefit a lot. And I think the Republican Party would benefit a lot. He is a proven leader who, when given responsibilities, succeeded."

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Jeb: 'W.' film is 'hooey'

Wash Times: "The Oedipal rivalry is high-grade, unadulterated hooey," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told he Washington Times.

Exploring such a complicated family dynamic might have benefited from direct conversations with, say, the president's younger brother who, in the telling of Mr. Stone and his W. screenwriter, Stanley Weiser, was regarded by his parents as the more promising sibling.

"I didn't receive a call," Jeb Bush said.

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Gustav divides Cuban-Americans

In the wake of Hurricane Gustav, Democratic Party candidate for Congress Raul Martinez today called on the Bush administration to temporarily lift restrictions on exiles' visits to the island and money sent to relatives. (Sen. Obama has also joined this call, issuing press releases in English and Spanish. See earlier post.)

“We have a moral obligation to allow families to help each other in a time of dire need,” said Martinez, a Cuban-American former mayor of Hialeah who is running against incumbent Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Republican.

Gustav has caused major destruction in the western province of Pinar del Rio, knocking out power and damaging 90,000 homes. Officials say it is the worst hurricane in 64 years to hit western Cuba.

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Obama: Suspend Cuban restrictions for storm care

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, called on President Bush to suspend restrictions on sending money and other care to Cuba in the wake of Hurricane Gustav.

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Martinez: Bush wrong about Putin, McCain right

Speaking on NPR's Diane Rehm Show this morning, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez said Bush appears to have gotten it wrong about Russian leader Vladimir Putin when he so famously said, back in June 2001, "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy... I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country."

Martinez was discussing the conflict between Russia and the Republican of Georgia, a strong U.S. ally. Instead, he's said, he's partial to Sen. John McCain's view: "Perhaps McCain's assessment that he saw K-G-B when he looked into his eyes might be more correct," Martinez said.

Martinez said U.S. military intervention is inconceivable, but America and NATO must send a "strong message to Russia" that it's "not acceptable simply to recreate the Soviet empire and overrun these nations."

Ukraine could be next, "and what about the Czech Republic?" he said.

Bush's FL bundlers trickling to McCain

The vaunted Bush money machine in Florida has yet to step up for John McCain. Some of Florida's most elite Republican fundraisers quietly grumble about McCain, cite his campaign's lack of outreach or just gripe about the tough economy. Others say no candidate could match the financial performance of Jeb and George Bush in Florida, while still more say the Bush family network has been succeeded by a new, Charlie Crist generation of money-raisers jumping enthusiastically behind McCain.

Regardless of the explanation, the numbers are striking. Of the 55 Floridians the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign designated as top fundraisers, either "Pioneers" who brought in at least $100,000 or "Rangers" who raised at least $200,000, only 20 have written their own check to the McCain campaign, a St. Petersburg Times analysis found.

Story here.

Fed energy chief: Drilling no quick fix

The head of the government's Energy Information Administration said opening more of the U.S. coast to oil and natural gas exploration won't affect prices at the pump.

President Bush and the Republican campaigning to succeed him, Sen. John McCain, recently called for lifting the federal moratorium on off-shore drilling that protects much of the U.S. coast, including Florida's. They want states to decide whether to allow drilling, and Gov. Charlie Crist says he's on board.

Democrats have countered that opening more the ocean to drilling isn't worth the environmental risk. A 2007 report for the agency found that the effect on prices would likely be minimal.

"It does take a long time to develop those resources,'' Gary Caruso, head of the EIA, said, according to Bloomberg News. "Therefore the price impact is muted by that."

Read the full story here.