Frances Townsend Joins CNN: Latest White House Official To Spin With The Media

Seeking to round out its collection of White House obfuscaters, CNN has announced that it will add Frances Townsend to its roster of contributers. Unlike her former White House colleague and now-fellow CNN commenter Tony Snow -- the utility player of White House spin -- Fran is bringing her expertise to bear on issues of homeland security.

And what better source of objective, insightful analysis than a former Homeland Security Adviser to the President? Witness this gem of intelligence insight, where Townsend explains that she doesn't know whether al-Qaida was in Iraq prior to the Iraq war, because she wasn't at the briefing (it seems like a lot of officials missed that meeting). Or how about this nugget of nuanced punditry, where Townsend claims Al-Qaida may try to disrupt the 2008 elections, even while admitting there is "no specific intelligence" that supports the idea. Of course, since "may" just means "possible," then Townsend's anaylsis is correct, just like the idea that Snow and Townsend may provide unbiased commentary to the American discourse.