In a short speech to the press, President Obama stated that the attempted terror attack on a Christmas Day flight to the US slipped through the radar because of a failure to properly analyze intelligence.
Yesterday, Reuters reported that "President Barack Obama is weathering a political storm over last month’s suspected al Qaeda plot to bomb a Detroit-bound plane, particularly from Republicans who say he dropped the ball on security while pursuing healthcare and climate reforms. But how much substance there is behind the allegations may depend on who’s talking."
Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina told NBC’s Today show, "A lot of us have been concerned over the last year that the president did seem to downplay the threat of terror. He doesn’t use the word anymore. He hesitates to say that there is a war on terror,” DeMint said in an effort to prioritize how the president should choose his words.
A completely different picture comes from Bob Woodward, the Pulitzer-winning journalist who chronicled Republican George W. Bush’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
“The new administration is taking a very aggressive stance on these matters and perhaps even more than the Bush administration, doing more about the al Qaeda sanctuaries in places like Yemen,” Woodward told ABC’s Good Morning America. That view comes from reporting Woodward says he is doing for a new book on the Obama White House.
Meanwhile, DeMint says he wants to eliminate politics from the security debate. That means not blaming Obama or members of the president’s team for security lapses, at least not for now. It also means retaining his hold on the Senate confirmation of Erroll Southers, Obama’s nominee for the Transportation Security Administration. DeMint blocked that nomination out of concern that Southers would unionize the TSA.
TSA’s job is to protect all modes of transportation, not just air travel.
“Al Qaeda has capabilities to do other things. How about trains? How about buses?” Woodward said. “You can’t fight the last terrorist attack.”
DeMint is a plonka, he makes his senate colleague from South Carolina, Lindsay Graham, look like a Rhodes Scholar. There must a competition going on between South Carolina politicians to see who can grab the most headlines saying or doing the most ridiculous things. Rep. Joe (you lie) Wilson is currently tied with Governor Mark (Don't Cry For Me Argentina) Sandford.
ReplyDeleteGreat descriptions. Dum, dummer, dummest and the king of dums.
ReplyDelete"...he hesitates to say that there is a war on terror,” DeMint said... "
ReplyDeleteOf course he does.
The Republicans like the word "war", but the threat of terrorism could be called a banana-split and still be as lethal.
The Obama administration prefers to avoid that language because it plays into what how the terrorists see themselves. The terrorists are not "soldiers" - they are scumbag murderers committing gross crimes against humanity. They recruit very effectively by themselves, thank you Mr DeMint. They don't need help with propaganda.
When the Republicans feel ennobled by talk of war, they go to bed happy. Especially those who dodged the draft for Vietnam.
When the terrorists feel ennobled by talk of war, they strap on explosives and go kill a hundred innocent people.
Shall we even ask, then, who has their priorities straight and who is controlling their langauge for the best interests of America?
"Especially those who dodged the draft for Vietnam." Like Boehner and Bush?
ReplyDeleteSmall minds like catch words. Conservative blogs have been criticizing the president for not reacting fast enough and for not using the W word. I'd rather have someone who gathers the facts and studies them before commenting. I'd rather have someone who doesn't shoot from the hip as the Republicans are so prone to do. DeMint and the other big mouths need to realize this isn't the OK Corral.
"Like Boehner and Bush?"
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of Cheney actually.