I think the thing that has disgusted me the most about the recent FAILED (remember, that guy FAILED to actually blow up the plane) extremist attempt is how quickly the GOP has politicized it. These assholes are FUNDRAISING off of someone trying to attack America. Surprising? Not so much. Disappointing? Yes. Well, some Democrats are finally coming out swinging:
"In general, we are facing the consequences of the Bush administration's failures to deal with al Qaeda," [DCCC Chair Chris] Van Hollen told Hotline OnCall. "The Republicans have no business in pointing fingers at the Obama administration on terrorism and national security."
"The Obama administration has been much more aggressive about going after al Qaeda than the Bush administration, which turned its focus from al Qaeda to Iraq," he added. The Obama admin has "been on the offense in places where the Bush administration had taken its eye off the ball."
And he's right. For a while during the Bush administration it wasn't even clear why we were in these two wars. Afghanistan, where al Qaeda allegedly was, was largely ignored. Bush had almost 8 years to deal with al Qaeda and we don't seem to be any closer to finding the people who harmed our country (and weren't there rumors that we knew where Bin Laden was and let him go?).
But I also remember that after 9/11, I didn't see Democrats all over the TV blaming Bush. Heck, even when we knew that Bush knew about the planned attacks that AUGUST, we didn't blame him for the attacks because it was a terrorist attack.
A couple of days ago Richard Clarke said President Obama and his administration has actually been "head of the curve" on the extremists in Yemen.
Eric Massa also weighed in:
"I would remind the American public that the apparent leaders of the al Qaeda cell in Yemen were 2 terrorists who were released by Vice President Cheney in secret. I think there's a level of accountability that has to be levied personally on the vice president," Massa said in an interview. "He is personally responsible for that."
Indeed, weren't they released in November 2007? So now we know some of what Dick was doing in that undisclosed location of his.
I'm glad the Democrats are starting to fight back. While Republicans are busy going after President Obama for the "optics" of him being in Hawaii (which IS a part of the United States), they are also blocking the TSA from getting a chair, something that would probably be helpful.
MADDEN: President Obama right now has suffered very greatly in the last few months because of the fight over health care, and he has very little political capital right now. So Republicans feel it is in vogue to criticize this president.
And then lastly, you have to also remember the fact that the president being on vacation in Hawaii, it’s much different than being in Texas. Hawaii to many Americans seems like a foreign place. And I think those images, the optics, hurt President Obama very badly.
Madden backtracked in his criticism when both Roberts and guest James Carville ridiculed his comment by pointing out that Hawaii is not only a state, but Obama’s home state. "I absolutely agree he’s entitled to a vacation," said Madden. "But to many Americans, Hawaii seems like this very tropical place, and the optics of many of these reporters reporting about the president’s response with surfers behind them is much different."
ThinkProgress
Fuck optics. It's not like the President was giving statements shirtless on the beach with the ocean and surfers behind him. It's not like he's giving statements and then walking away from the mic and saying "now watch me hit this ball." What the hell ever happened to "Country First"? Yes, President Obama is in Hawaii, something he and his family do almost every Christmas. It's not like he's chillin' on some random island in the middle of the ocean. President Obama also came out and took the blame for what almost happened, even though I personally don't think it was something he needed to take responsibility for, but I suppose him being a grown-up is simply another sign of his weakness to those yahoos.
They can't even get behind the President after an attempted TERRORIST ATTACK! So I think Dems need to just take the gloves off and give as good as, better, than they are getting right now.
Update [2009-12-30 21:49:26 by Muzikal203]: First, the WH is hitting back too:
To put it simply: this President is not interested in bellicose rhetoric, he is focused on action. Seven years of bellicose rhetoric failed to reduce the threat from al Qaeda and succeeded in dividing this country. And it seems strangely off-key now, at a time when our country is under attack, for the architect of those policies to be attacking the President.
There are numerous other such public statements that explicitly state we are at war. The difference is this: President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and – unlike the last Administration – we are not at war with a tactic ("terrorism"), we at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies. And we will prosecute that war as long as the American people are endangered.
Go read the whole statement, it's a pretty damn good smackdown.
h/t DrDemocrat
Second, there was a Democrat who hit back yesterday, Rep. Jane Harman:
The intelligence on Mr. Abdulmullatab did not result in putting him on a "no fly" list, a process which must be tightened. But civil liberties matter, and we must stay mindful that an overreaction has the potential to overwhelm the system and fail to make us more safe.
In an interview with a local California paper yesterday, she went even further, explicitly saying that Obama’s deliberately low-key response to the attack was a welcome departure from the Bush years:
"They’re not terrifying the public," she said. "This is new. That was not the Bush approach."
...
"Another kind of piece of this, I think, is to not overreact," Harman said. "We could use a sledgehammer to fix this problem and make it worse. We want a scalpel, not a sledgehammer."
h/t BruinKid
Update [2009-12-30 21:49:26 by Muzikal203]:: Hmmm, is the media finally waking up?
h/t susan in sc
Update [2009-12-30 21:49:26 by Muzikal203]: Rachel Maddow also did a pretty good takedown (or simply good reporting) on this:
Sorry, no transcript yet. h/t Angry Mouse and Pam from Calif.
Update [2009-12-30 21:49:26 by Muzikal203]: If you missed Rep. Eric Massa on Ed, this is MUST See TV:
h/t Jed Lewison
We need MORE of that on TV! I saw saw a Democratic Rep. on CNN pointing out that the Obama administration has been MUCH better than the Bush administration at keeping Congress informed. Looks like the Dems are coming out, I hope they keep coming!
Update [2009-12-30 21:49:26 by Muzikal203]: Rep. Massa left us a comment!
Thank you all
I for one am sick of seeing Dick Cheney going unchallenged when he makes outrageous statements like the one he made today.
My new year's resolution is to hold people like Dick Cheney and Jim DeMint accountable and I hope you'll all join me in this cause.
Thank you all for your comments and your feedback
I'm sick of it too, for 8 years when we CARED what he had to say, he was in an "undisclosed" location. Now that he doesn't have to be "accountable" for anything, we can't shut him up. I'm all for holding all of those hypocrites accountable.
Make sure you donate to Rep. Massa if you can on ActBlue, we need to keep Democrats like him in office.