From the Baltimore Sun:
The final report of the commission looking into the Sept. 11 attacks might trigger new criticism of President Bush by Democrats who say he is weak on terrorism and homeland security, and will likely pressure him to embrace some of the sweeping changes the panel is expected to recommend.
Yesterday Democrats and their likely presidential nominee, John Kerry, seized on what has been billed as a highly critical report, to be released Thursday, as an opportunity to deflate Bush's standing in areas where he has demonstrated his greatest political strength - counterterrorism and national security.
While the report describes some missed warning signs of gathering terrorist threats on former President Bill Clinton's watch, much of the 500-page report is expected to say that the Bush White House overlooked clues that pointed to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The report will call for radical restructuring of the nation's intelligence apparatus that includes creation of a Cabinet-level post with budget authority over all the 15 agencies of the intelligence community.
Matt's Chat
Rather than looking out for our nation, Democrats are looking for Bush's weakness. Very telling, isn't it?It is curious that the Baltimore Sun seems to think they know what is "expected" in this report without having seen it. We'll just have to wait and see, but it is fascinating that the "conservative media" would write a propaganda piece like this for the Democrats and John Kerry.
I suspect that the liberals are way off base. They aren't "expecting" the report to be critical of President Bush, they are "wanting" it to be critical of the administration. Lately when this happens (think Joe Wilson and Dick Clarke), the "conservative media" is so far off the mark that ultimately the President is vindicated from these smear tactics.
Let me address the intelligence issue. Personally, I favor eliminating all the intelligence agencies and starting over from scratch. There are too many rivalries in the current system for real reform to work. So I say scrap them all. Keep the people, but shake things up quite a bit. That the CIA continues to exist at this point is a travesty - they missed 9/11 and screwed up the WMD in Iraq assessment. The FBI has not been effective in counter-terrorism either. And don't get me started on Homeland Security, TSA and Air Marshalls...
Do I blame Bush for the preceding paragraph? No. Do I blame Democrats? No. I blame the intelligence agencies. They have a job to do and they need to get on it.
Folks, pay attention who politicizes this issue. Those will be the folks who aren't interested in your protection but rather their own power and glory. Those folks are dangerous.
