Harding Exits The Stage

First, a note: your blogger is working from home and under the influence of a nasty sore throat, so if I'm a little slow to get to an item, a question, or to post a comment. That's why. Many apologies.

But man, what a crash and burn for Obama's second choice to head the Transportation Security Administration, Maj. Gen. Robert Harding, who withdrew his name from consideration over the weekend. Five pending Inspector General reports into his contracting work? Using sleep apnea to claim he was a "service disabled veteran" (not that I dispute the severity of sleep apnea, it just seems like a fairly brazen claim to meet the definition)?

I would be very, very curious about how deep the vetting was on Harding, and if, in fact, the Obama administration knew about all of these issues with his company, how they decided those issues weighed against the strengths he'd bring to TSA as an administrator. It's been hard for me to believe the Obama administration is paying close and careful attention to TSA, given what's gone down with their two picks to run the agency.