The Pendragon's Hall

The Democrats are really getting quite good at calling the kettle black. Their dogs in the media are bellowing now that not all congressional leaders, even Republicans, share the attorney general's grim prediction of possible terror attacks this summer. As far as I can see from the story, however, the only comments offered by Republican lawmakers are that Ashcroft should have clarified that the terror threat has not yet been raised. They have not called into doubt the intelligence itself unless, as usual, the media is relying on "Republicans" like John McCain. Humorously enough, any difference between Republican leaders is a newsworthy event but when Teddy Kennedy turned on John Kerry last week, only the conservative outlet NewsMax reported it. If it's newsworthy to report divisions among party leaders, why not Democrats? But I digress. Democratic lawmakers, in particular Chuck Schumer, are casting doubt on the intelligence, saying that since these threats "supposedly" exist the fact that they have not raised the terror level must mean the intelligence isn't that compelling. Let's leave aside the fact that to raise the terror alert, specific threats must be named and specific targets picked out. The clear implication is that Bush and other top Republicans are politicizing the threat in an election year in order to give them an advantage at the polls. (After all, even partisan media can't deny when the facts are faced America is safer with Republicans in power than with Democrats.) And after all, why shouldn't they? There's a comment line below. If you think there's one good reason the Republicans shouldn't exploit something like this, let me know. The Democrats have been politicizing everything since last year. Since when is something wrong only when Republicans do it?