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5/12: Terror Time

May 12, 2005 12:06 PM | |

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Today there is a lot of discussion on several different stories. Just before the false alarm 5/11, buzz was building about ex-DHS Sec. Tom Ridge's comments about pressure to raise the terror threat level. The false alarm itself then became its own focus, with a mix of commentary on what happened and MSM-bashing for the way it was covered. The filibuster debate is still going on, but without major focus today as new developments are again in short supply. Instead, we get see an interesting debate over whether Pres. Bush was criticizing FDR for allowing the USSR to move on Eastern Europe, and if so whether he was right to say so.

In passing, UN Amb. nominee John Bolton is the subject of rumors about his personal life, which seems to be fueling a last-ditch effort by lefty bloggers to sink his nomination. Conservatives applaud The New York Times columnist? Really? Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) gets some '08 love. Midterms matter. And don't forget about the war.

TRACKBACKS: Terror Firma

Where the blog swarm is headed, who's taking part, and what they're saying:

TERROR ALERT I: Ridge Over Troubled Water

Liberal Steve Soto: "So much for the Bush Administration having any credibility ever again on the issue of terror threats. But it doesn't matter now; he scared enough people into electing him for another four years."

Pam's House Blend: "I just want to remind folks that millions, if not billions of dollars were spent (and lost) as a result of these mindgames." Flickr has its own color-code system.

Corrente: "Undoubtedly [the admin] knew the alerts were not being well-received, and were even being laughed at, but they also knew that those alerts contributed, even if only below the surface of consciousness, to an atmosphere of fear, a wartime atmosphere which was going to prove essential in the 2004 campaign."

Talk Left: "The ineffectiveness of a system that doesn't tell people what or where the threat is or what to do about it won't be cured by replacing colors with a different symbol. [New DHS Sec] Michael Chertoff says he's looking for a better warning system. He should start by scrapping the existing one."

TERROR ALERT II: The Air Scare

The Moderate Voice: "Watching lawmakers flee for their lives was not a pretty sight (Nancy Pelosi told a reporter she left so quickly she left without her shoes). This raises the question as to whether the equivalent of high-stakes fire drills and established evacuation plans might be in order ASAP for the nation's capitol -- particularly for Congress. Cable TV news also showed Capitol Police holding guns telling people to run. Is there a better way?" More: "It would seem that letting the President and the city know about a possible terrorist threat before it is 'all clear' might be a useful goal in the future."

Michelle Malkin: "For the people who were evacuated and the pilots who scrambled to protect the zone and the law enforcement officers who made sure things ran smoothly and the rest of us who live in the area, this alert was no joke. But to the idiots at the Democratic Underground, it's another opportunity to bash Bush, hate America, and laugh in the face of a potential terrorist attack."

The Left Coaster: "'While D.C. panicked, Bush bicycled' That's your headline for the rest of the world. I'm sure all those Muslims and Arabs and whoever it was that we were supposed to be impressing with our mighty military might when buschco's resident lunatic neocon fascists decided to make "an example of" Saddam Hussein are mighty impressed by todays actions. Don't ya think?

The Liquid List: "OK, fine, do a couple of things on DC-area safety precautions, or significant lack thereof, but spare us the loops of jiggling cameras and breathless reporters. The fact that CNN reporters were momentarily frightened before hearing the all-clear does not an evenings worth of material make. It just doesn't."

David Corn at The Huffington Post: "[M]y pal Micah Sifry called and noted -- half-jokingly -- that it was very interesting that this had all occurred the same day that USA Today is reporting that former Homeland Security head Tom Ridge had said that the administration had overstated the terrorism alerts."

IRAQ: Turns Out Al Qaeda's There After All

Power Line agrees with the Washington Times: "Whether it's al Qaeda's last stand seems less clear. And, even if it is, [reporter Rowan] Scarborough wisely stops short of suggesting that we won't have to face like-minded and similarly lethal terrorist organizations down the road." Outside The Beltway: "To be sure, the presence of large numbers of foreign jihadists is a result of the war rather than a cause of it. Still, if "fighting them there rather than here" was a major rationale for the Bush Doctrine, then we've succeeded in that regard."

USS Neverdock: "As much as people on the left, anti-war activists and the liberal press would like it to be, the war in Iraq is not a civil war. Here is some evidence to support that. The Sunnis realised shortly after the Iraqi elections that they had made a terrible mistake listening to their religious leaders in boycotting those elections. They then scrambled to become part of the political process and now they have seats in the cabinet -- the Iraqi cabinet. Now comes news that the Sunnis are now joining the army -- the Iraqi army."

Marshall Wittmann cites quotes from an interview of Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld and writes: "[I]t is very clear that Rumsfeld isn't giving himself enough credit. He has transformed the military more than anyone could have ever imagined. Clearly, the army is already leaner as it lacked sufficient armor. Recruitment is woefully down. The military is painfully over-stretched. He forced the Reserves and the Guard to assume the role of the regular military. And by failing to prepare for the aftermath of the war, he helped assure that the military is forced to be bogged down in a protracted counter-insurgency war."

BOLTON: Not Without My Furniture

Raw Story reports that Hustler magazine's Larry Flynt "waded into the conflict surrounding" Bolton when he revealed Bolton's divorce records "and unanswered questions about his sexual past." The divorce records show that "Bolton's wife left him during a trip to Vienna" in '82 "and never returned." Records also show that "she took most of the couple's the furniture."

Flynt has contacted the State Dept. "asking that they confirm or deny allegations" of Bolton's conduct concerning his ex-wife and "alleged paid visits to Plato's Retreat," a swinger's club in the 70s and 80s (5/11).

Commenting on the story: Eschaton, Scared Monkeys, Pandagon, Outside The Beltway, Balloon Juice

Beltway Buzz is live-blogging the Bolton hearings today.

SOCIAL SECURITY: Miller Time

Conservatives love Matt Miller, who says in the NYT: "You'd never guess from the Democratic hysteria that President Bush's plan to 'progressively index' Social Security is an idea we liberals may one day want to embrace. So farsighted Democrats who want to (1) win back power and (2) use that power to fix big problems should quit carping about Bush's evil 'cuts' and punish him instead with what I call Responsible Demagoguery: harsh politics that leaves sound policy intact." BrothersJudd: "Unfortunately, there are apparently no congressional Democrats who fit the second parameter."

Matthew Yglesias notes the failure of United Airlines' pension program and writes that at the time SocSec started, employers already provided employees "with a pension when they retired. ... Under the circumstances, an additional super-secure retirement program wasn't really the country's most pressing need and a program design to create universal stock ownership might have been a better idea. Flash forward to the early 21st century, and all of that has changed. ... [L]ife has become much more insecure. ... [P]reserving -- and expanding -- universal social insurance is [necessary]. Social Security: Now more than ever."

David Sirota writes that Dwight Eisenhower "predicted the demise" of the GOP over SocSec, and offers a (slightly edited) quote.

BUSH: Y'alta Know

Daniel W. Rezner: "[Bush] could have framed his remarks of sympathy with the peoples of Eastern Europe in any number of ways. But, wittingly or not, he endorsed an interpretation of history that sees Yalta as the hinge and America's decisions there as having cast Eastern Europe into darkness."

Pat Buchananwrote: "Bush told the awful truth about what really triumphed in World War II east of the Elbe. And it was not freedom. It was Stalin, the most odious tyrant of the century. Where Hitler killed his millions, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot and Castro murdered their tens of millions." Vodka Pundit: "Would this nation have been acting justly, if we had not stopped at the Elbe, but continued on to Moscow? Yes. Would we have, could we have, asked that much more from our Greatest Generation? Flatly, no."

Balloon Juice: "Yes, it was regrettable, but I don't understand how any other outcome but Soviet occupation of the Eastern Bloc states was possible. Does anyone think that we could have simply bided time in Europe after VE day ... then finished off the Japanese, then after VJ day, shifted all of our assets back to Europe to battle an enormous, battle-hardened, entrenched Soviet Union?"

Lefty Katrina Vanden Heuvel has more suggestions for Bush's IPod, including Britney Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again," and U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

DEMOCRATS: Lip Service

Reihan Salam writes at &c: "How do Democrats push Republicans off the edge of the cliff? By embracing conservative values? Not even. Unfortunately for conservatives, liberals need only pay lip service to conservative values -- something they've had a hard time doing due to the power of entrenched constituencies that care first and foremost about winning the culture wars." Dems "who pass a threshold of giving adequate 'props' ... to devout social conservatives will have an easy time winning them over on pocketbook issues."

MyDD gives some reasons why races in '06 matter. Among them, winning posts that control elections: "For every [OH Sec/State] Ken Blackwell [(R)] we defeat and every [ex-FL Sec/State] Katherine Harris [(R)] we toss out of office, our ability to win elections improves." More: "Unless we rebuild our base locally, we will never have a real majority nationally."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Blogging About TV About Blogging

Jeff Jarvis writes: "CNN has the chicks reading the geeks. MSNBC started by having bloggers actually on the air and I thought that was good (being one of them). ... Everybody's reading text off a screen and, yes, it does make for a straight line. So what's the point? Well, sure, TV wants to get the geek-cool ruboff of this blog thing. But I think it's good that they're also promoting these new voices: The more the better. Have they found the right way to do it? Not yet."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Celebrities, What Are You Gonna Do About 'Em

David Corn, on the "frustrations" of posting free at The Huffington Post: "Minutes after I had posted this serious-minded piece -- which placed me at the top of 'The Blog Roll' -- I was bumped from the penthouse by a posting by Greg Gutfeld, editor in chief of Maxim UK on 'nonsexual heroic celebrity fantasies.'"

In response to a UN Dispatch post complaining that Roger L. Simon is posting too much about UN scandal and not at all about positive things, Pejmanesque responds: "Evidently, the souls of the good people there are much too fragile to continue to stand the Blogosphere's ways. There is a time and place to demand fair and objective reporting, but that is usually when it comes to the mainstream media. It is the media that has the responsibility to be balanced in its coverage of the issues of the day, not bloggers who by and large are editorial writers. So it should come as no surprise whatsoever that blogging editorialists like Roger Simon are going to write about the issues that interest them--even if that means that he doesn't say 'on the other hand, the U.N. did these great things ...' in order to balance matters out."

WHITE HOUSE '08: You Think They'd Get It Bayh Now

Blogging For Bayh writes: "[T]he national media and public STILL have not caught on to what WE know ... that Evan Bayh IS no doubt the strongest candidate that we can nominate in 2008. ... Interestingly, the national media still is looking backwards toward Kerry, Edwards etc as potential 2008 candidates while [virtually] ignoring Evan Bayh. Maybe right now in May 2005 that is a good thing ... we don't want Evan to peak too soon. He still is 'new meat' for our party..he is still young (49) and fresh, and I just can't wait for the day ... and yes, it WILL come, that Evan will get his first Newsweek or Time cover."

IN THE STATES: Running With No DeLay

Off The Kuff interviews TX-22 candidate Nick Lampson (D). Lampson, on his strategy: "I actually don't plan to make Tom Delay the focus of this race. Let's face it, his name is in the paper an awful lot these days -- folks can make up their own minds there. My plan is to concentrate on introducing myself ... to the people of District 22."

New Donkey, on ex-Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) appearing at a fundraiser for LG candidate Ralph Reed (R): "I thought perhaps his outrageous political behavior of the last couple of years would come to an end. I mean, what's the point of insulting your party when nobody really cares any more? Ah, but it now appears the fires of Zell's odd rage still burn."

RedState, on VA LG Tim Kaine (D) allegedly trying to " draw attention" to ex-AG Jerry Kilgore's (R) accent "in the hopes that it would cause a negative reaction to Kilgore" in urban areas: "I'm starting to think that this is the first real, major mistake by either campaign ... . It's already become evident that this issue has legs, and I think the Kaine camp made a real mistake in starting this whisper campaign against Jerry Kilgore, for many reasons. ... My opinion is that this is likely a symptom of a campaign whose candidate is not a native Virginian, and that is staffed almost entirely by nomadic, national Democratic operatives, and assisted by liberal, MoveOn.org types."

Based on a Rocky Mountain News report, Michelle Malkin urges readers to write Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) about an alleged murderer who was an illegal alien employed at a restaurant he co-owns.

MISCELLANY I: Will This Iranian Election Be The Blog Election?

The Moderate Voice's Jack Grant has a lot to say about the RealID provision. "[I]t is difficult for me to overemphasize the effects that the Law of Unintended Consequences will wreak as a consequence of the enacting of this set of regulations will have." Grant is "very good at predicting trends," and asks: "How long before we have to submit to this ID being read to write a check? How long before we have to submit to this ID being read to use our credit cards? ... How long before various government agencies take advantage of the databases built up by corporations and other government agencies to make a 'profile' of everyone that they can run through an 'expert system' to find 'undesirables' that they can then put on 'no-fly lists', 'watch lists', or even prevent them from buying guns?"

Tiger Hawk offers his proposal for tax reform.

Global Voices reports: Iranian presidential candidate Dr. Mostafa Moeen "recently met with bloggers. ... Adventures of Mr. Behi has a detailed account -- in English! -- of the meeting."

God bless him, Jim Lampley defends his previous post about the 11/04 election being fixed.

John Podhoretz claims the new Star Wars is anti-Bush.

MISCELLANY II: Wendy's Edition, Just Because We Can

Lyn Nofziger's Musings (scroll down): "I don't know whether the people who work at my local Wendy's are here legally or illegally, but i do know that some of them don't speak English very well and understand it even less well. ... Sitting in my car in the drive through lane I ordered a Big Bacon Burger, which is a very good hamburger, and a large frosty. From there I drove to the pay window which was closed so proceeded to the window where they dispense your orders. There I paid a man who seemed to understand English and he in turn gave me two paper bags. ... I gave my wife her Frosty, reached in the other bag and got out my baked potato. So much for my mouth-watering Big Bacon Burger. ... I ate the potato, which is rich in potassium and contented myself with the thought that the anti-obesity gods were looking after my best interests. However, I also resolved that hereafter before I leave Wendy's I will check what's in the bag. It's either that or learn to speak Spanish."

The Moderate Voice: "TMV loves Wendy's which is a few minutes drive down the street. So today he craved chili. And he couldn't resist. 'I'll have a large chili,' he told the shift manager. 'Without the finger.' She cocked her head and asked him something so he said in Spanish. 'Queria un chili. Sin el dedo.' And she roared with laughter. See? Some people DO have a sense of humor. PS: The fingerless chili was great but the earlobe got stuck in my teeth."

RexBlog reminds us that it's free Frosty weekend.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Well, The War Is Part Of The Argument Now

Marshall Wittmann writes: "Under any circumstances, this partisan confrontation would be annoying and unnecessary. But, it is particularly distressing that our political leaders could not find a way to resolve their differences while the nation is at war. We have returned to a pre-9/11 politics with a vengeance. Forget about national unity, partisan advantage is job #1. If we had a President who was truly "a uniter and not a divider" he would put an end to this nuclear madness. ... Our soldiers are sacrificing their lives for the national interest. Why can't our political leaders put the national interest before their narrow partisan interest. Don't our troops and the nation deserve better?"

LEST WE FORGET: It's Not About The Referrals

Nykola, in her ways to "Blog Like A Rockstar" implores her fellow bloggers to "stop checking your referrals every hour on the hour. ... It's great to see who's linked to your site, but when it becomes obsessive, your motives are in the wrong place. The more you check your statistics, the more likely you are to be guided by what you see in those statistics. If you're out to be more than just an ordinary blogger, you won't be guided by the masses."