People forget that Bernie Kerik was once nominated to be the head of the Department of Homeland Security.Atrios: Just A Bit Of Murder
Practically justified!Sully: Hewitt Award Nominee
I guess we're going back to the 90s, where all kinds of horrible criminal acts were excused by the Right as long as people claimed to be motivated by being pissed off at taxes and guvmint.
"There is no polite way to put this: Obama's incompetence is getting people killed," - Liz Cheney, daughter of a vice-president who presided over the deaths of more than 3,000 people in New York City after being warned explicitly that al Qaeda was preparing a major attack on the United States.Booman: Rocket Science
Huh?
KARACHI, PAKISTAN -- The capture of senior Afghan Taliban leaders in Pakistan represents the culmination of months of pressure by the Obama administration on Pakistan's powerful security forces to side with the United States as its troops wage war in Afghanistan, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.Dick Cheney never convinced them. Neither did Richard Armitage or anyone else in that stupid administration.
This has passed unnoticed, because of the focus on the economy and health care, but it could have serious implications for 2010: Congressional Dems have no message or strategy on national security, and they’re getting badly outworked by the GOP on the issue.
The GOP has a very specific strategy in place. Republicans are intent on making national security a major issue in 2010. Their plan: Drive a wedge between the White House and Congressional Dems by relentlessly attacking Obama’s policies for making us less safe.
The GOP goal: To get House and Senate Dems to break with the White House on closing Guantanamo, the Mirandizing of the Christmas bomb plotter, the plan to try terror suspects in civilian courts, and other issues.
The Republican leadership even sent House GOPers back to their districts this week with a very specific set of talking points, sent over by a source, telling them precisely what to say to constituents about those specific issues.
There’s no sign whatsoever that Congressional Dems were given anything similar, or even that Dem leaders have spent any time developing a strategy of their own. Are you hearing any concerted pushback, or any message at all, on these issues from Dems?
The result: Republicans are framing the debate on these issues, and more and more Congressional Dems are breaking with the White House on them. In other words, the Dems are following the GOP script.
Worse, this is happening even as the White House is, in fact, mounting a major effort to engage the GOP on these issues. Obama counter-terror chief John Brennan and Joe Biden have aggressively engaged Dick Cheney and other Republicans in recent days, arguing that Obama’s counter-terror policies are succeeding and are superior to GOP policies.
But on this message, the White House has no meaningful support from Congressional Dems to speak of, and it’s waging this fight virtually alone.
One frustrated Dem strategist who works closely with House Dem candidate across the country told me: “We’re behaving like the President has a 30% approval rating. On these issues, Democrats inherently believe no one will believe our arguments.”
Yep.
Spencer Ackerman adds:
The Obama administration is racking up wins on the issue like it was a pool hustler. Where are all the surrogates? Why are John Brennan and Joe Biden doing all the work here?
....
Crazytown. The facts are there. Obama’s national security numbers outpoll the GOP’s. There’s clearly an audience there. What’s amazing isn’t just that there’s no bunch of Congresspeople on TV to back the administration — to say nothing of Democratic candidates. It’s that there are no surrogates out there pushing back on endless conservative national-security attacks that have been disproven, like how we need to torture people to get information out of them, or how military commissions have a better record of convicting terrorists than civilian courts when the exact opposite is true. Hell, the question I have for the GOP is if the conviction rate isn’t the metric for success in a terrorism prosecution — Mitch McConnell called convicted-for-life Zacharias Moussoui’s prosecution a "disaster" — then what in the world is?
Benen: TALIBAN SUFFERS ANOTHER 'SIGNIFICANT BLOW'
We learned this week about the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's top military commander. Baradar was the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the war began, making this a key success story.
Better yet, it was the start of an apparent trend.
Two senior Taliban leaders have been arrested in recent days inside Pakistan, officials said Thursday, as American and Pakistani intelligence agents continued to press their offensive against the group's leadership after the capture of the insurgency's military commander last month.
Afghan officials said the Taliban's "shadow governors" for two provinces in northern Afghanistan had been detained in Pakistan by officials there. Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban's leader in Kunduz, was detained in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad, and Mullah Mir Mohammed of Baghlan Province was also captured in an undisclosed Pakistani city, they said.
When combined with the Baradar arrest, the developments represent "the most significant blow to the Taliban's leadership since the American-backed war began eight years ago." It also points to an unprecedented level of cooperation between U.S. officials and the Pakistani government.
And it gets better still.
Pakistani authorities using U.S.-gathered intelligence arrested up to nine al-Qaida-linked militants in a series of overnight raids in the southern city of Karachi, officials said Thursday. [...]
They said eight or nine militant suspects were arrested. One was identified as Ameer Muawiya, who the officials said was in charge of foreign al-Qaida militants operating in Pakistan's tribal regions near Afghanistan and was an associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Go ahead, Republicans, tell us again about why we should question the Obama administration's approach to national security and counter-terrorism.
And you could write this off as just a few nuts on the Internet, except that new GOP Senator Scott Brown said tonight that the same anger that convinced this man to crash a plane into an IRS office, 9/11 style, was the same anger that got Brown elected last month. Perhaps not such an aberration after all.
Mike Signorile turned me on to this. He was reading the comments on the air on his radio show. The initial page was taken down by Facebook - and I don't blame them from what Mike tells me. But a new page is up. It's pretty hideous. The page has the "Don't Tread On Me" flag that Tea party teabaggers like to use, and it has a wonderful Thomas Jefferson quote that domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh used. A lot of the nastiest stuff got deleted the first time around. Including a number of anti-Obama comments. Here are some examples of the comments on the page (now that the page is getting discovered, some negative comments are coming in, finally):This is Emily Walters. We were the original ones who started this group. It grew to about 300 members and was deleted. They deleted my profile also. This is my boyfriends profile he made just to put it back on there because its sad when you don't have the right to freedom of speech or expression anymore.One more:
Do we as americans have our head buried in the sand? is it time to pull it out? what will we really see.....? Abolish the IRS, lets go with a sales tax....ooohhh yea, how would big brother keep us in check.... it is time
I would call him a hero!!! I.m sure they will call him a terrorists.
WE DON'T HAVE REPRESENTATION IN GOVERNMENT WHATSOEVER
I'm sick and tired of our tax dollars supporting lazy old people with their free social security. Get a job or get out of our country!
They are not screwing with "Andrew Joseph Stack III is not a Hero" group.
Mr. Stack is a true American hero
JOSEPH STACK AN AMERICAN HERO!
There only deleting comments becouse there too true...
The IRS planned to eat him anyway, might as well serve a gourmet meal.
when does terrorism become patriotism???were the minutemen and anybody who revolted against king george terrorists or patriots?? im sure they were also perceived as terrorists
this country was founded on rebellion. history repeats itself. common sense.
Obviously you haven't heard Patrick Henry's quote, "Give me the politicians I want or give everyone else death"
So we should just sit there and take what Uncle Sam gives us in the ass? Joe Stack had the balls to make a point -and his point certainly received international attention.
sad thing for the folks who think this is going to be the only time we hear about something like this. this is not the way americans act UNLESS YOUVE FALLEN VICTOM OF THE IRS AND THEYRE UNBALENCED POLICIES!!!!. so get used to it--nuff said
It's not about who he killed or who he could have killed. It's about the undeniable identification of the common American with his letter and his frustration with our out of touch, detached government.
This poor man was hunted to insanity. I pray for his family.
This building did not contain any important files, I believe this might be the building were that S.O.B. worked that Joe thought was on his side and would help him save his ass yet he turned out to be on the gov's side instead. I dont know about you all but, if I were in that building when Joe struck it I would have been honored to die for a good cause that would finaly atleast open up some eyes.
I hear that there was already a hazmat team across the street before the plane stuck, how did they know to be there at that exact time???????????????????????????
I am watching CNN, and they keep bringing on Pyshc experts that keep painting this guy as paranoid, and deranged. I can't help but think that behind the scenes even psych professionals can understand this guy's frustration with our bloated, intrusive government, but yet on the air they say what's politically correct, and what's best for their careers. In no way do I condone killing innocent people, but I understand Joe's logic and frustration. Personally, I think he would be pleased that he was able to get our attention without causing a single death.
His name was Joseph Andrew Stack. He died serving project mayhem. In death we are all Joseph Stack.It is heroic to set fire to your house with your wife and daughter in it then reenact what he called a horror in his manifesto with a miniature version of a plane? Please do tell me how that is heroic.
No, but it is heroic to fly your plane into the IRS building
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