Dean & Terror

Was out in the woods for the last four days and so completely ignored the news.

Heard that Howard Dean (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!) accused Bush of changing the subject to terrorism whenever “he gets into trouble” on the domestic side of things. That’s not how the system works.

The Director of Homeland Security and other intelligence agencies brief the President daily on terrorist threat detection and make recommendations based on the latest intelligence that is gleaned from interrogations of terrorist prisoners (both “in-custody” or “newly captured” al-Qaeda/Hamas/Ansar al-Islam/other agents).

The President then makes a decision about the terror alert posture based on that daily information, regardless of timing.

One important note: Bush/Cheney are getting briefings and so is Kerry/Edwards. They are qualified to make statements about current threats and the threat detection posture of the nation. Dean (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!) is NOT getting briefings and is making assertions based on his interpretations of the NEWS, which is not told everything either.

Dean (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!) the cowboy is the one turning this into a political issue. In an election year, all actions are deemed political, regardless of who does what and when and I’m a little surprised that Dean (you get the idea) would do that too. Dean (uh huh) is going to really look like an idiot if something happens in the next few weeks with the Republican National Convention kicking off in New York and the 9/11 anniversary approaching not long after that.

Now is not the time for partisan politics over terror.