I like this post more than I hate this administration.

Well said, Slublog.

I noticed that Brennan referenced terrorism a few times in the article.

Is that term back on the table? Can they update their meme? I'm confused as to what we're permitted to call it these days.

This op-ed is just an extension of Obama's snit-fit last week. Shut off the blogs! Turn on Fox!!1!!! Oh and let me throw in CNN and MSNBC for good measure.

The desperation at this point is palpable.

Those people at NPR are just wicked perceptive!  Damn!

At first glance, it would seem to be from some person or group who isn't thrilled by President Barack Obama's performance so far -- unless it's a more ironic message from those who didn't think too much of Bush and want to remind voters about him.

Very well said.

Unfortunately, this administration is going to kick and scream about any effort to solve our nation's problems in a post-partisan way.  For self preservation, perhaps we should start believing the opposite of everything they tell us.

"Let me be clear, Mr. President. We agree that national security should not be a partisan issue, and that the most important function of government is to keep its people safe. But make no mistake - a party that spent eight years sowing the wind should not be surprised when the whirlwind of recriminations and partisanship overtakes them. The current political atmosphere is regrettable, but it was also preventable."

I see what you did there.  And my nether-regions yearn to envelop themselves with its silky embrace.

 I believe it's still possible for us to reason together...as long as the progressives regressives invite gets lost in the mail.

/fixed

If you oppose this Manchurian-Candidate Muslim President, then you're just helping Al-Queda.

Right. Got it.

 but you see, excessive partisanship and hoping for failures when a Republican was in charge was "truth to power". Now, it's Teh Devil!

I have two words for this fucking traitor:

Nigerian underpants.

19  If you oppose this Manchurian-Candidate Muslim President, then you're just helping Al-Queda.

Right. Got it.

You!  Yes, You!  Just for that you get no New York trial!

To paraphrase the words of the prophet Isaiah, I believe it's still possible for us to reason together.

Good post but I disagree with that line there.  It takes two to "reason together".  When one side only wants to spew bullshit and take down the country it is not possible to "reason".

As a once famous conservative said, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue".

Zero and his merry band of idiots are the best opportunity Al Qaeda is ever gonna have to hit us hard. They would be fools to miss this chance. And I don't think they are the kind of fool to miss out on their best opportunity to kill as many of us as they can. They won't get such a chance in the future.

Isn't this the same genius who accused Republican Senators and congressmen of lying last week, pissing them off royally?

If Congress goes Republican, this POS will have to escape to Pakistan and live in the cave with Bin Laden.

President The Won does not want dissent, patriotic or otherwise.  He wants the kind of forced obedience given by the peasants in Cuba, or the old USSR, or China, or any other dictatorship.  It must be driving him to distraction that his own party members in the House & Senate won't do his bidding and pass his commie agenda. 

The only reason he has such huge majorities in both houses is because Rahm Emmanuel is too clever by half, and Rahm went out and recruited moderate democrats to run for office in moderate districts.  The press was simultaneously waging its own war against the Bush administration, so the elections of 2006 and 2008 were more a popularity contest featuring a battered Bush as the face of the republican party.  The democrats won a lot of seats.  But those people know perfectly well that their voters at home are not moonbats and are not happy about the direction the country is taking.  Hence their reluctance to vote for their own political destruction. 

I used to think that term limits for the US House and US Senate would be a good idea, clean out the deadwood every so often.  The events of the last year have changed my mind.  Clearly the only thing that has stopped the commie agenda has been the desire of those moderate democrats to continue holding their cushy jobs in Congress.  If all of them knew they would be lame ducks someday anyway, many of them would have voted for anything Obama threw at them.  Why not, if they might be able to secure some favors to be used in the future when they were term-limited out of office?

"Trying to wage war with lawyers,  judges and legal briefs is absurd." - nickless

Badda-Bing!!!!!

That's telling it like it is. Those officious, arrogant, pompous asses do more harm than good.

He Knows Who His Real Enemy Is, I Guess

"Looking again at the John Brennan op-ed in USA Today, I see he refers to Abdulmutallab as a "suspect" but asserts that administration critics, ipso facto, "serve the goals of al-Qaeda."

In other words, in the eyes of one the administration's top men on counterterrorism, Abdulmutallab gets a presumption of innocence that you and I don't."

Is dissent still patriotic?

I'm working on a documentary: From Patriotic to Racist Overnight; Dissent's Journey into the Abyss.

Slublog, this is a fine piece of writing.

However I think your tactic of using comparative logic is lost on the average liberal voter.

They got their guy and they're going to ride that dude into the abyss.

Zero and his merry band of idiots are the best opportunity Al Qaeda is ever gonna have to hit us hard. They would be fools to miss this chance. And I don't think they are the kind of fool to miss out on their best opportunity to kill as many of us as they can. They won't get such a chance in the future.

Posted by: maddogg at February 09, 2010 10:54 AM (OlN4e)

+100 right on the money maddogg!

Slublog can work on bridging gaps.

I will continue to mock.

GOP  response in same line as Slublogs response to bipartisanship offer with  regards to health care http://tiny.cc/fsf6N

To paraphrase the words of the prophet Isaiah, I believe it's still possible for us to reason together.

You'll get dismissed as a flat-earther if you reference something religious. And the part after the comma is just not true.

Just rework that sentence.

I was writing in O-style, which meant I had to include a random Bible verse somewhere.

O-style; LOL good one, is that the same as O-logic?

"Trying to wage war with lawyers,  judges and legal briefs is absurd." - nickless

I hate those guys!!!

Winston Smith -

Agreed, the immigration reform issue was an unforced error of unbelievable proportions.  Why would the republican party try and import as many new democrat voters as possible??? 

And I also couldn't figure out how the despised McCain won the republican primary.  I admire the man's service and the courage he clearly possesses, and the sacrifices he made while in uniform.  But his political career has been one gigantic thumb in the eye to his fellow republicans.  He has enjoyed his role as the republican who hates other republicans and gets stroked by the press for being so "reasonable".  There can't be that many Navy vets in the republican electorate to put him over the top.

54 I'm seriously wondering who's more of a danger to this country, this administration and it's cronies, or the terrorists around the world.

Does it matter? One hand washes the other.

Leave It to Beaver Episode 158, in which the Beaver discovers that being fourth grade class president is hard.  Especially all the math and letters and stuff.  John Edwards guest stars as Eddie Haskell.

^{As a once famous conservative said, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue". Posted by: Vic}

It was Harry Jaffa's phrase written for B. Goldwater. Jaffa's said recently he wasn't proud of that line.

Boots, McCain won because the Republican party hasn't figured out yet that close primaries are a good thing for the party.

That and teh Fred! and teh Rudy! ran two of the worst campaigns ever.

31 See, that's what I get for commenting before I read the other comments.

That and teh Fred! and teh Rudy! ran two of the worst campaigns ever.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 09, 2010 11:16 AM (B+qrE)

Yeah Fred. dammit. guy has some good ideas, and some shitty campaign practices.

Jaffa's said recently he wasn't proud of that line.

What did he do, become a damn liberal squish?

What no posts yet on Obama's naked political ploy of a "Health Care Summit"? Come on Ace of Spades HQ, man up, that is some juicy stuff.

Fred hemmed and hawed, would he run, maybe he wouldn't run, maybe he'll make a decision, maybe he won't...........enough already. 

I wanted to vote for Rudy, even tho he's squishy on social issues he's strong on defense and his work in NYC speaks for itself - lower crime rate after his years as a prosecutor, and a more liveable city after his years as mayor.  He does have all the issues with the wives, the ex-wife, what have you.  But it's all out there.  As opposed to Obama, where everything was and still is a big secret.

Thing is, I agree with Brennan that we do tend to act as if these terrorists are infallible, as if their idiotic plans and failed attempts are actual attacks. They're not attacks, really--they're thwarted attacks. That distinction is everything and we should all act like it. That is, to laugh at AQ and their exploding Hanes.

What I don't get is why Brennan would try to make that case in what is a thinly-veiled attack piece. Does he hope the logic of "They're not ten-feet tall" carries him over the weakness of his "Try them here!" case because he spits it all out one one glob?

You get the feeling he's dissemintaing talking points to the Times rather than engaging opponents. Business as usual for the Zero Administration.

What did he do, become a damn liberal squish?

I don't give a fuck what this cock sucking hack says.  I care about what he does.

How did this useless piece of shit handle Richard Burns the Panty bomber.

He handled him the same way he'd handle a house burlgar. 

EPIC FAIL.

Why is anyone surprised.  This IS OBAMA.

We wave the flag.  They mock those that wave.

Posted by: polynikes at February 09, 2010 11:27 AM (m2CN7)

they also burn it.

Another reason the electorate had better think long and hard before believing anything a Democrat seeking national office says about national security.

Great post!

Historically, one of AQ's signature moves is multiple, simultaneous and coordinated attacks.

Posted by: The Chicken at February 09, 2010 11:35 AM (I/MqP)

I love this blog.

If they were 100 feet tall we'd be able to recognize them.  Then Naplitano would send larger jets for them so as not to discrminate against 100 foot tall Muslims.

Speaking of 100 feet tall, the WORLD TRADE CENTER was over one thousand feet tall.  What happened to it?  Did some "SUSPECTS" crash jets into them or soemthing??

You know what folks.  These mother fuckers seriously don't get it.  Brennan tells us we shouldn't have fear?  Just a little over a month ago a Muzztard attempted to detonate a BOMB on board a flight over Detroit.

And we're supposed to have confidence in these fools??

It's a smart military chicken blog.

I wanted to vote for Rudy, even tho he's squishy on social issues he's strong on defense and his work in NYC speaks for itself

He looked like he could barely stay awake most of the time and showed the energy of a sick squid.

We got Mclame for a variety of reasons;  the biggest reason was the stupid "winner take all" way most the the States had in the Republican primaries. Before everyone started dropping out McLame only got about 30% of the vote.  That meant that 70% of the primary voters (e.g. the base) did not want him.  a large percentage of that "base" stayed at home on election day.

Open primaries was another reason, but only in States that allowed people to vote in both primaries.

The "fire in the belly" meme was a pure product of the liberal media, which included Fox.  IIANM that phrase was actually invented by liberal commie Piss Wallace.

As for RINO Rudy, yes his record speaks for itself. He is like most NE RINOs, he is liberal on everything bit defense, not just "social issues". The cutting spending credit in NYC actually belongs to his predicessor in NYC.

He is a gun grabber, he believes in open borders, and he was the one actually repsonsible for the SCOTUS decison that elliminated the line item veto. Fck him. And BTW, Fox was pushing him up until they found that he was teh stupid and wasn't going to campaign until FL.

After that Fox started pushing McLame. The Republican side of Fox is max RINO. Currently they favor Romney.

 But I can't help wondering if some of this is by design.

Yeah, and the quality of sone of these volunteer martyrs is worrying. Richard Reed? Big friggin' doof. Pantybomber? Spills his guts when threatened with Kaffir-lunch. Not exactly prime recruits, either of them.

So it is worth questioning whether they send these losers to test us or to lull us into complacency or if they simply cannot find a better class of idiot to die for them. We should assume the worst case.

Myself I don't want to play into their hands, treat them like they are so scary that we cannot try them in a civilian area. We shouldn't because it's stupid and horrible precedent, but not because we're scared they might try to bomb us.

The civility claim, by you of all people, staggers me.

I’ve consistently read people on this website refer to the president in derisive terms and name-calling (‘teh One’, ‘Messiah’), much more than on any other conservative website I browse.

“Today I say to you that there is no meaningful difference between a president who directly attacks his critics and a president who unleashes his attack dogs upon the same.”

Does this include former president BushÂ’s attack dogs, Rove, Cheney, Wolfowitz, et al.? I guess you're condemning Bush too in this statement.

“…we should not allow reflexive partisanship to threaten national unity in the face of a common enemy…”

Yet this is exactly what AoS did in the immediate aftermath of the recruiting station shooting, the Fort Hood massacre and the Christmas Day bombing.

I'm no great fan of Obama--so far I judge him to be pretty much a failure, but this is hypocrisy in the extreme.

slulog,  that is very well written and articulates much of what I have been feeling in an intelligent, rational, dare I say-'non-partisan' way.

Obama should read this and cringe; but sadly, he won't read it and if he did, I think he is too shameless to cringe. But maybe, in his heart of hearts, he would know...

Nice job!

Great post, Slu! 

There's a good op-ed today in WSJ, "Cheney's Revenge"

"...the Administration has tried to break from its predecessors on serveral big anti-terror issues, and it is on those that it is suffering the humiliation of having to walk back from its righteous declarations.  This is Dick Cheney's revenge."

Here's the link to the whole thing:

With very few exceptions, Republicans have refrained from engaging in the small-minded politics of reflexive partisanship when it comes to national security. We have criticized your policies, but we have not, and will not, engage in the shrill auto-contrarian hatred that the left marinated in during the previous administration. We applaud your willingness to maintain Bush-era policies that keep America safe, but in doing so, will you now recognize that your previous opposition seems now to be little more than the knee-jerk response of a partisan?

Yup!

You guys missed the real "hooter" in John Brennan's attack speech.  He said it made no difference whether the Knickerbomber was handled by the military or by the US Attorneys.  He said "the rules of interrogation are the same in each instance".   Our blindingly brilliant counter terrorism chief failed to note that having an attorney representing the Knickerbomber might make this one little eensie wiensie tiny bit of difference. The lawyer can and did tell the Knickerbomber to STFU--which he did.  He didn't want to play anymore and talk anymore.  Sorry, you don't get to take a "time out" and say "I'm not talking because my lawyer told me not to talk" in military interrogations.  Now you may sit mute and not say much, but the military keep coming back.

You know if you can't blind the rubes with brilliance, you try to baffle them with bullshit.  I'm certain this crapola will do down well in Berkeley, San Francisco and Austin, but out in the real world, we can smell bullshit when it's flung in our face.

William McGurn also had a good column today:  "Bush Was Right, Says Obama". 

"This weekend, Americans were treated to something new:  Barak Obama defending his war policies by suggesting they merely continue his predecessor's practices.  The defense is illuminating, not least for its implicit recognition that George W. Bush has more credibility on fighting terrorists than does the sitting president....Leave aside, just for a moment, the substance.  Far more arresting is that Mr. Obama now defends himself by invoking a man he has spent the past year blaming for al Qaeda's growth.

Here's the bigger picture:  When Mr. Obama arrived in the Oval Office his first official act was to order the closing of Guantanamo in the manner of Christ cleansing the temple.  Attorney General Eric Holder soon followed by opening a criminal investigation of the CIA's interrogaters.  And everywhere he went, Mr. Obama told anyone who would listen that when it came to terror, he would be the anti-Bush.

Abdulmutallab's foiled attempt to blow up a Northwest flight has changed everything.  The administration's misstatements and mishandling are provoking questions about its competence...In other words, we have what Team Obama would define as a messaging problem.  So expect more presidential speeches sprinkled with tough-sounding words such as "war" and "terrorist."  Maybe Robert Gibbs promising a review of policies that were themselves supposed to be revisions.  And when they realize they cannot close it, perhaps a renaming of Guantanomo as our new "Carribean House of Constitutional Correction."

JEA,

After 8 solid years of foaming at the mouth hatred of George Bush - try "Bushitler" vs. "teh One" on the nastiness scale for starters - no one from the left - who lovingly proclaim themselves to be the very models of civil discourse and tolerance -  has any credibility to call someone on the right out for lack of civility or hypocrisy. A non-starter.

May I assume that AoSHQ is aware that it was Brennan's people who broke into the State Department passport files?

Chief of firm involved in breach is Obama adviser
updated 9:10 p.m. EDT, Sat March 22, 2008
cnn.com

They were trying to find [and, presumably, to destroy] any evidence that Obama [as Barry Soetoro] had travelled on an Indonesian passport on or after his 18th birthday.

Indonesia did not recognize dual citizenship at the time, so if it could be proved that Barack "Barry" Obama Soetoro Dunham ever considered himself to be an Indonesian citizen on or after his 18th birthday, then he would be constitutionally ineligible to assume the presidency.

And, of course, they were also looking for any evidence that Stanley Ann Dunham might have crossed over into British Columbia, to give birth, right before she started classes, in Seattle, at the University of Washington, in mid-August of 1961.

PS: Jack Cashill has some interesting new speculation about what might be BHOJr's true biological ancestry [Cashill wonders whether the Dunhams hired BHOSr to pretend to be the biological father, and Cashill also wonders whether the August 4 birthdate could be fraudulent]:

Another Look at Obama's Origins
By Jack Cashill
February 07, 2010
americanthinker.com

Slublog: "How the rhetoric by blog commenters (who are not elected officials) somehow removes Obama's obligation to govern in the manner he promised before the election."

Did you read where I said I consider Obama pretty much a failure, or just conveniently skip that part?

RM, when did I say anything about the left being correct in attacking Bush? In fact, the right suffers from the exact same derangement syndrome the left suffered from when Bush was president.

You folks assume an awful lot, and read things I didn't even write.

"I guess the sooper-genius, hyper-educated JugEars and his minions have never heard of a silent "S"."

Rotten to the corps.

Rotten to the corpse! corps.

FIFY!

I'm certain this crapola will do down well in Berkeley, San Francisco and Austin, but out in the real world, we can smell bullshit when it's flung in our face.

Hey, don't lump me in with those moonbats.  I'm weird, but at least I'm surrounded by millions of tough Texans.

"Because he hasn't been Howard Zinn, Stalin, and Secular Black Santa Claus combined, and put all us evil haters into camps while taking back the People's Wealth for edification of the proletariat workers."

No. But my paranoia meter is off the scale.

"Yet this is exactly what AoS did in the immediate aftermath of the recruiting station shooting, the Fort Hood massacre and the Christmas Day bombing."

Is it just the AoS posters or do the commenters get promotions too?  Elected officials?  Political appointees?  Bureaucrat?  I'll take the compensation raise.

Is dissent still patriotic?

According to the Left, only if you're one of their members.

Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda.

This is coming from a regime that makes a habit out of politicizing legitimate concern over their ate-up approach to Islamic terrorism.

Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill.

The average Hadji that straps a bomb to their ass and blows up people for allah, doesn't have to be 100 feet tall.

They will, however, be dismantled and destroyed, by our military, our intelligence services and our law enforcement community.

As long as you get the fuck out of the way and let them do their job....and maybe BRIEF them about your decisions once in a fucking while.

And the notion that America's counterterrorism professionals and America's system of justice are unable to handle these murderous miscreants is absurd.

It would be nice to handle them with brass knuckles instead of kid gloves, you assclown.

Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill.

I'm fucking tired of hearing what liberals think conservatives fear.

Guess the liberals are finally realizing how tired we are of hearing the same old tired, meaningless, over-used, undefined, all-occasion catch-all word "racism" being used by those who don't have anything else to say -  so they changed it to terrorism.  New word - same old garbage.   Sorry - that isn't going to fly, either.

Spongeworthy ast 74 -- They're not attacks, really--they're thwarted attacks. That distinction is everything and we should all act like it. That is, to laugh at AQ and their exploding Hanes. 

They were not thwarted attacks - they were attacks that failed.  Our security system allowed Reid and Abdulmutallab onto the airplanes with their weapons.  There was only luck between the passengers and death.  This is a reason to laugh at AQ - but it is also a reason to look hard at our security and make improvements.  I don't want to trust to luck on my next overseas flight.   I'd rather have good security.