This morning, I open my Boston Globe to see the headline (above the fold, front page) that "according to the United States, Great Britain and Pakistan, there is a 9/11 connection to the bomb plot in London." Oooooooh, really?
I'm sure you all remember hearing a few months ago that the GOP planned to make the War on Terrah and National Security the big point in this year's election. Of course back then we weren't sure quite how they'd accomplish it. Looks like Ned Lamont's win is giving us a really good look at their Autumnal Tapdance of Fear. Today, Mitt Romney, the oh-so-polished sometime Governor of my State (don't worry, didn't vote for him) and John Kerry went at it...
Inside the Globe, was this article on the City/Region section front page:
Romney, Kerry spar over fight on terror
Governor raps senator for criticizing Iraq war
Romney was lashing out at Senator John F. Kerry for suggesting that the war in Iraq has harmed the nation's security.
Gee, Mitt, still on the campaign trail? Why I'm so surprised you would say such a thing (you smarmy, elitist snake oil salesman).
First Kerry:
...saw news of the disrupted plot as a ``stark reminder" that Osama bin Laden remains at large and said it shows that Al Qaeda has ``grown in strength" since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
``Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda have succeeded in isolating the United States. Afghanistan and Pakistan are where the fight against Al Qaeda is, not in Iraq."
So Mitt, what do you have to say?
The governor said the senator failed to recognize that the United States is locked in a long-term war against terrorists and that Iraq is a central front.
``I think it shows a complete lack of understanding of the kind of enemy that we're facing," said Romney, a Republican. ``This is not a small group of wackos in the hills that all we have to do is go find one person and it suddenly goes away."
Hmmm. Sounds like Mitt might be referring to that guy in the head scarf hiding away in Pakistan, one Osama bin Laden. So, OK, the London plot is part of 9/11, part of al Queda, but NOT tied to OBL? I suppose that's why George Bush closed down the office that was set up to find OBL, why he said,
"I really don't think about him anymore."
Of course, as the article said,
Republicans cast the arrests as evidence that President Bush's aggressive antiterrorism policies are working.
LOL!!! We had nothing whatsoever to do with uncovering the plot or arresting the perps. That was a criminal, police investigation that uncoverd the plot. We're too busy killing Iraqis (and getting our own soldiers blown up for good measure). Our aggressive "terrorism policies" seem to consist of spying on Quakers and blowing the shit out of Iraq. Funny, but it seems to be creating more terrorists and terrorism. And, if the damned policy was working, wouldn't that mean there wouldn't be any plots to uncover? Since 2001, we've had wars breaking out everywhere, bombings in Madrid and London, A guy on a plane with a shoe bomb, and now Israel and Hezbollah are using each other for target practice, women and children be damned. Meanwhile, here at home, we haven't the money to hire first responders where we need them, nor can we even take care of our own citizens when their homes are washed away by the biggest flood this nation has ever seen (or nearly so).
But let's continue.
Democrats pointed to gaps in US transportation and border security and missteps in Iraq to argue that the nation is more vulnerable than ever.
Damn straight. Let's see, after 9/11 you couldn't check your luggage curbside, now you can. About 90% of cargo loaded onto passenger planes is NOT CHECKED. Our port security was given over to Arabs (thought we squelched that one didn't ya?), and almost nothing is checked there either. Meanwhile, we're making America feel safer by blaming the Democrats for the Neo-cons shortcomings and checking the hand lotions of blue-haired ladies on their way to Boca.
In the MSNBC interview, Romney also avoided a question about the president's decision to attend a fund-raiser near his Texas ranch as the details of the terrorist plot unfolded yesterday.
Well, of course not. How can a governor who has taken almost as much vacation time as Bush criticize him for being out of town and out of touch? Hmmm, Mitt? Why the hell haven't you and your shiny loafers and well coifed `do been alighting in Massachusetts trying to do the job you were elected to do? Oh, yeah, right. I forgot. We're just a way station on your quest for the White House (see smarmy comment above).
More from the Mitt-ster: of using the sobering news from London to score political points.
Now is not the time for ``the politics of attacking America or attacking our policies. Surely there's going to be a debate on what's the right policy to defeat the jihadists. But this isn't the time to be attacking the president. It's not the time to be engaging in partisan sniping."
Oh yes it is! Why your side has so totally F'd things up beyond comprehension now is exactly the time to keep with the hard questions. After all, it was one from your own party who once said:
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
-Theodore Roosevelt
How about Kerry? Let Mitch Wade, his communications director have a go:
``Mitt Romney's command of national security is about as real as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."
Pow! Snap!
Lamont's win is just the tip of the iceberg that the S.S. BushCo is headed for. Lieberman will be nothing but a mouthpiece for them. He's so stupid he think that the Republicans really like him. He hasn't the brains to know when he's being used - Reason #56 on the list of why people just can't stand Lieberman (#78 is that he talks like Eyeore).
Let the media remain clueless about those of us here and elsewhere in the PPP movement. We'll continue to work under the radar to get Dems elected. And as long as they don't pull any bull at election time, I have a feeling we're going to get all the power back. But be wary, these people don't like a fair fight. They don't trust you, me or any American to be able to decide our future. But it's time for them to go.