General Casey: diversity shouldn’t be casualty of Fort Hood

http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/11/08/general-casey-diversity-shouldnt-be-casualty-of-fort-hood/

General George Casey, the Army’s top officer, is concerned that diversity will become a casualty of the Fort Hood tragedy.

The religious beliefs of suspect Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim Army psychiatrist, have led to speculation about motive in the shooting rampage that killed 13 people.

“I’m concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers. And I’ve asked our Army leaders to be on the lookout for that,” Casey told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether Muslim soldiers are conflicted in fighting wars in Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, Casey said: “I think that’s something that we have to look at on an individual basis. But I think we as an Army have to be broad enough to bring in people from all walks of life.”

The bottom line is the military benefits from diversity, he said.

“Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” Casey said.

President Barack Obama also mentioned military diversity in his Saturday radio address which was focused on Fort Hood.

Veterans Day is a chance to honor Americans who served in battlefields all over the world, Obama said. “They are Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and nonbelievers.”

“They reflect the diversity that makes this America. But what they share is a patriotism like no other,” Obama said.


http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/11/general_caseys_diverse_army.html
November 11, 2009

General Casey's Diverse Army

Ken Russell

I am missing something here.  After the attack and murder of 13 innocent people by an apparent imbedded radical Jihadist in the US Army, General Casey said on Meet The Press, "Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength.  And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse."

I have some questions for any military officer who swore an oath on several occasions to support and defend the Constitution.  How many innocent Americans have to be murdered by someone who displayed every single modus operandi of the 9/11 attackers in order for freedom and defense of the Constitution to trump diversity?  Will fourteen do it?  How about a few hundred?

I took the oath of office a few times in my military career and for the life of me I don't ever remember the word "diversity" being in it.  Nonetheless, let's take the General at his word, shall we?  Is the Army or the nation for that matter, strong from "diversity" by celebrating someone who makes it very clear for years that he does not like the fact that Muslim Americans in uniform are fighting other Muslims who want Americans to die?

Color me a bitter Bible and gun clinger, but I thought our strength was in our freedom and the defense of our freedom by blood spilled on battlefields.  I also thought that freedom allows diversity to flourish, not the other way around.

If an Army officer, superior to another Hasan-like soldier recognizes similar aspects displayed by Hasan and tries to thwart another similar attack, will General Casey admonish that officer because of insensitivity to "diversity?"  It sure sounds like it to me.  In fact, in a National Public Radio segment comments were made by some of Hasan's superiors questioning whether or not they should do anything about his anti-American rhetoric (not to mention Hasan's Power Point presentation).

They decided they should not because of their concern that it would not look good if the first Muslim psychiatrist were given an early discharge from the Army. 

Even after the "tragedy," General Casey still thinks that's perfectly okay.

So, "as horrific as the tragedy was," if the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force do anything at all that might cause "diversity to become a casualty," no matter how many innocent Americans are murdered, especially murdered by military personnel; losing "diversity" would be worse?  Really, General?  Did you swear an oath to the Constitution or to a liberal professor's PowerPoint presentation at Command and Staff College?  Again, I would ask, how many innocent Americans have to be murdered before freedom and the defense of freedom trumps diversity?

Despite Ariz. Law, Illegals Vow to Keep Coming

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/03/mexicans-hold-noses-shop-arizona-despite-anger-immigration-law/

Associated Press

Illegal migrants targeted by a tough new Arizona law dismiss it as just another obstacle that pales in comparison to the extortion, arrests and kidnappings they already risk to reach U.S. soil.

NOGALES, Mexico — The line of Mexicans waiting to go shopping in Arizona snakes twice around the sun-drenched plaza, even as politicians nearby slap stickers on cars calling for a boycott of the U.S. state.

And the illegal migrants targeted by a tough new Arizona law dismiss it as just another obstacle that pales in comparison to the extortion, arrests and kidnappings they already risk to reach U.S. soil. They vow to keep on coming.

Resentment has erupted throughout Mexico over the immigration law in Arizona that is considered racist here. But crossing back and forth between the countries is so intrinsic to their lives that many Mexicans find it hard to give it up despite calls by immigration activists for a boycott of Arizona.

"Border cities depend on each other and it has been that way for many years," said Maria Romero, a nurse from Nogales, which lies across from the Arizona town of the same name. "It seems they don't understand that on the other side and are always looking for ways to make things more difficult."

There are few signs so far that the bill has deterred Mexicans from crossing into Arizona — legally or not. The wait to drive across the border is more than two hours.

The legislation signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer last week requires local and state police who stop people for another reason to question them about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally. Suspects would be detained if they are not carrying proper documents.

Supporters say the law is necessary because the federal government has failed to secure the border and because of rising anxiety over crime.

The measure has provoked huge protests in the United States by immigrant advocates who say it will encourage racial profiling. But the outcry south of the border has been subdued as Mexicans wait for the law to take effect and see how it will be implemented.

Some Mexican officials even warn that an economic boycott of Arizona could backfire if companies there lay off Mexican workers who would then no longer be able to send remittances back home.

For many of the tens of thousands of Mexicans who legally visit Arizona every day to shop for bargains or visit relatives, the cost of not going is too high — despite their dislike of the law.

In Nogales, Mexico, Romero lined up with hundreds of others at the border crossing, inching forward around a plaza and past vendors hawking jewelry and cheap souvenirs. She needed to buy a tuxedo for her 5-year-old son to wear to his kindergarten graduation and hoped to find it for a third of what it would cost in Mexico.

"No one should cross, but we go because we want to save," Romero said.

Life in the two cities is tightly interwoven despite the corrugated steel wall that runs along the hillsides, separating a string of fast-food restaurants and cheap clothing stores on the U.S. side from the dusty streets and nightclubs to the south.

The Mexican city, founded in the 19th century along a north-south railway line built to promote trade between the two countries, has become the largest point of entry for the estimated 65,000 Mexicans who visit Arizona every day, mostly for the big shopping malls.

At least 23,400 jobs in Arizona depend on the more than $7.35 million that Mexican visitors spend every day in stores, restaurants, hotels and other businesses, according to a University of Arizona study sponsored by the state's Office of Tourism.

In Santa Cruz county — where Arizona's Nogales is located — Mexican visitors account for 50 percent of taxable sales, the research found.

Mexicans angry about the immigration law want to deprive Arizona of that income.

The Institute for Mexicans Abroad, an autonomous government agency that supports Mexicans living and working in the United States, called for boycotts of Tempe, Arizona-based US Airways, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Phoenix Suns until those organizations denounce the law.

Mexican legislators of all political stripes have called on the government of President Felipe Calderon to consider breaking commercial ties with Arizona. The government has issued a travel alert for the state, warning that migrants face an adverse political environment there.

A group of politicians handed out stickers at the Nogales border crossing over the weekend, urging Mexicans not to buy Arizona products.

"Made in Arizona SB 1070. I don't buy from those who discriminate," the stickers read, in reference to the bill.

The movement has yet to take off.

Nogales Mayor Jose Angel Hernandez said many Arizona shops, business and factories employ Mexicans who send money back to relatives south of the border.

"I have family in Nogales, Arizona, and I have a lot of friends who live and work there, and they help Nogales, Sonora," Hernandez said in an interview with The Associated Press. "That's why I worry that if the boycott is not directed correctly, it could harm our Mexican brothers who are there and are helping us."

At a shelter in Nogales, meanwhile, deported migrants discussed how soon they could get back across the border.

"I'll return to Arizona because I know a lot of people there, and I'll go where people will give me work, law or no law," said Nicasio Benitez, who worked in landscaping there until he was deported last week after being caught in a car with a cracked windshield.

He said he would visit family in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz before heading back to the border in a month.

"You live under a lot of pressure in Arizona. You have a hard time finding a place to rent, being able to drive," said Benitez, a father of three teenagers. "But what you make in the U.S. in one day, you make it in Mexico in one week."

"Life there is awful, but I don't go to the U.S. because I like living there," he added. "I go because I like dollars."

President Obama: GOP Opposition to Stimulus 'Helped to Create the Tea-Baggers'

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/05/president-obama-gop-opposition-to-stimulus-helped-to-create-the-teabaggers.html

Three days after he decried the lack of civility in American politics, President Obama is quoted in a new book about his presidency referring to the Tea Party movement using a derogatory term with sexual connotations.

In Jonathan Alter’s “The Promise: President Obama, Year One,”President Obama is quoted in an November 30, 2009, interview saying that the unanimous vote of House Republicans vote against the stimulus bills “set the tenor for the whole year ... That helped to create the tea-baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party to where it now controls the agenda for the Republicans.”

Tea Party activists loathe the term “tea baggers,” which has emerged in liberal media outlets and elsewhere as a method of mocking the activists and their concerns.

On Saturday, the president delivered a commencement address at the University of Michigan where he said one way “to keep our democracy healthy is to maintain a basic level of civility in our public debate … But we can’t expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down.”

The book also describes many of the president’s top advisers cautioning him against trying to tackle health care reform in the first year because it might be too much to take on at the same time as the recession.

“‘I begged the president not to do this,” White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel says.

“They’ll give you a pass on this one,” Vice President Biden told the president.

-jpt

UPDATE: Some liberal bloggers, taking issue with this post, have noted that some Tea Partyers coined and originally embraced the term "tea-baggers." That seems true, and I didn't address the coinage of the term above. But it was fairly soon, by April 2009, when anchors on CNN and MSNBC were employing the term with mocking innuendo, as seen in the links above, and pretty quickly after that Tea Party activists began taking umbrage with it. It's now a common way for some on the left to mock Tea Partyers.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/onmedia/0510/Gibbs_gives_it_to_Fox_reporter.html

Gibbs gives it to Fox reporter

From 44 :

You're doing a heck of a job, Fox-ie.

That was White House press secretary Robert Gibbs's message -- not -- to Fox News correspondent Wendell Goler on Tuesday. Outraged, Gibbs singled out the network for airing an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory spun by President Bush’s FEMA director, Mike "Brownie" Brown.

On Monday night, Brown -- the former horse association director blamed for the White House's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina -- claimed the Obama administration let the Gulf oil leak get worse so they could retract its own promise to expand exploratory offshore drilling.

"I would not be surprised if the White House said, you know, we might be able to, guess what, do what? Use this crisis to our advantage. Let this crisis get really bad, and then we will step in," Brown told Neil Cavuto. "We will be able to shut down offshore drilling. We will be able to turn to all these alternate fuels."

Gibbs, responding to an oil leak query from Goler, called the network out for failing to challenge Brown, now a conservative Colorado radio host.

"I watched Fox yesterday -- you open both the double doors -- and waaah! -- here I am," Gibbs said.

As Goler tried to calm Gibbs down, the press secretary began talking about "the special and unique interview with Michael Brown, who for those who weren’t let in on the big secret ... intimated on Fox and it wasn’t – didn’t appear -- to be pushed back on real hard — that this spill was leaked on purpose in order for us to undo decisions."

Goler tried to differentiate between the network's news operation and its columnists, but Gibbs would have none of it.

"You should call headquarters," he told Toler, and talk to "whoever makes the decision to put people like that on."

Worried Next Terror Attack Could Strengthen Tea Party Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2010/05/04/hardball-worried-next-terror-attack-could-strengthen-tea-party. Questions Only Bloomberg Is Asking Are the Pakistani Taliban upset about ObamaCare?

Chris Matthews, on Tuesday's Hardball, brought on two former CIA officials to discuss the latest terror attack, and the MSNBC host agreed with Tyler Drumheller that the most recent attacker was motivated by his house being foreclosed on and also agreed with Robert Baer who feared another attack could lead to "The Tea Party being strengthened" which could lead to "people blaming the White House for a situation it didn't create." Baer also hit Matthews' sweet spot of talking points when he went on to warn that the last successful terror attack "got us into a war in Iraq we didn't need to be in." [audio available here] 

ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA FIELD OFFICER: But what I'm really afraid, Chris, is the next time one of these guys are going to get through. And what's it gonna do to this country? It's gonna rip it apart. Because people are gonna be looking for quick, immediate answers.
MATTHEWS: How so?
BAER: You know, they're gonna, they're gonna look, you know, crack down on, you know, who knows where it's gonna to end up? You're gonna see the Tea Party being, you know, being strengthened. You're gonna see people blaming the White House for a situation it didn't create.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
BAER: It could affect the, you know it could affect the United States for a long time. Look, it got us into a war in Iraq we didn't need to be in...
MATTHEWS: Yeah well I agree.

The following exchange was aired on the May 4 edition of Hardball:

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2010/05/04/hardball-worried-next-terror-attack-could-strengthen-tea-party#ixzz0n5I0WY2Y

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703866704575224341750649732.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

By JAMES TARANTO

A suspect is in custody in Saturday night's midtown Manhattan car-bombing attempt,MSNBC.com reports:

A Pakistani-born U.S. citizen was hauled off a plane about to fly to the Middle East and arrested in the failed attempt to explode a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square, authorities said Tuesday.

Faisal Shahzad was on board a Dubai-bound flight that was taxiing away from the gate at Kennedy Airport when the plane was stopped and FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives took him into custody late Monday, law enforcement officials said.

Law-enforcement agents appear to have succeeded in extracting intelligence from Shahzad, as this CNN report suggests:

Hours after authorities arrested the Pakistan-American in New York, investigators in Pakistan seized a number of suspects in the probe into the failed car bombing in Times Square, a Pakistani intelligence source said Tuesday.

They arrested two or three people after raiding a house in Karachi where the Times Square bombing suspect, Faisal Shahzad, is believed to have stayed during a recent visit to Pakistan, the source said.

As early as Sunday, the Middle East Media Research institute reported on a possible Pakistan connection. But U.S. officials initially played down this claim, according to an earlier CNN report:

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud appeared on a video released less than 24 hours after the attempt, claiming Taliban fighters were prepared to inflict "extremely painful blows" in major U.S. cities. But a senior U.S. military official said there was no "credible evidence" at the early stages of the investigation that the Pakistani Taliban was responsible for the Times Square bomb incident.

And one counterintelligence official told CNN there was no evidence of any communications among terrorist organizations overseas about the device after Saturday night's attempt. "People overseas were not giving high fives . . . or saying anything about the bomb not working," the official said. "There is no indication that there was that kind of tie."

The unnamed official was wise not to jump to conclusions. It's a remarkable contrast with President Obama's aggressive approach to his domestic political opponents, who he suggested over the weekend may incite "extreme elements" to violence, as we noted yesterday.

Podcast

James Taranto on the midtown bombing attempt.

New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent elected on the Republican line, actually engaged in some Obamaesque speculation about the attempted bombing,NewsBusters.org reports. Asked by CBS's Katie Couric if the attack was "a home-grown," the mayor replied: "Home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything."

Hey, you never know! It could be that Shahzad and his suspected co-conspirators were enraged over ObamaCare. And if President Obama has lost the Pakistani Taliban, he's lost Middle America.

Well, That's a Relief 
"Terror Normally Steers Clear of Times Square"--headline, New York Times, May 4

This Ain't Rocket Science 
A public-school principal in Ann Arbor, Mich., organized a segregated field trip. No, this isn't breaking news from 1953; it happened just last week. The twist is that only black pupils were invited on the trip, which the principal said was "part of his school's efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students," as AnnArbor.com reports:

Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison wrote the letter to parents following several days of controversy at the school after a field trip last week in which black students got to hear a rocket scientist.

"In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way," Madison wrote. "But as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and energy that I saw in these children's eyes as they stood in the presence of a renowned African American rocket scientist in a very successful position, it gave the kids an opportunity to see this type of achievement is possible for even them.

"It was not a wasted venture for I know one day they might want to aspire to be the first astronaut or scientist standing on the Planet Mars.

"I also think it's important that you know that I have talked to the children who did not go on the field trip, and I think they have a better understanding of the purpose of the AA [African-American] Lunch Bunch now, as I hope you do. I'm sorry if any kids were upset by the field trip or my discussion afterwards with them, and I have let them know that.

"The intent of our field trip was not to segregate or exclude students as has been reported, but rather to address the societal issues, roadblocks and challenges that our African American children will face as they pursue a successful academic education here in our community."

We don't doubt Madison's good intentions, nor do we think it was a "wasted venture." It seems to us an excellent idea to expose black youngsters to accomplished black adults, for just the reasons he states.

But why only black youngsters? We are forever hearing that white Americans continue to harbor "racial resentment," derogatory stereotypes, even flatly racist attitudes toward blacks. In this column's opinion, that problem is overstated. But it certainly couldn't hurt to show pupils of pallor that rocket scientists don't necessarily "look like them."

Further, who's to say an accomplished black adult can't be a role model for a white child, or vice versa? The multicultural mindset is impoverished inasmuch as it sees people primarily as members of a subpopulation, rather than as Americans or human beings.

During our childhood, we once read a book about Harriet Tubman, the escaped slave who made a career of rescuing other slaves. It never occurred to us that because Tubman was black, her story was "black history" and therefore not of interest to us. We were inspired by her heroism in the cause of freedom--universal human themes.

Similarly, the laws of physics do not discriminate. Anyone with the aptitude and the interest can become a rocket scientist. That's a worthy lesson to teach children of any color--and that ain't rocket science.

Accountability Journalism 
Tom Raum of the Associated Press reports that it's really hard to be president--at least for President Obama:

Unpredictable and tough to solve, the stack of problems on President Barack Obama's desk is growing unwieldy. It's presenting him with a tough juggling act.

Two wars, a financial crisis, lingering high unemployment and an exhausting battle over health care. And that was just the start.

Now throw in an environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and an attempted car bombing in Times Square. And there are other pressing matters, such as dealing with the increasing menace of Iran's nuclear program, trying to get the Middle East peace process back on track, searching for a new Supreme Court justice and trying to persuade Congress to approve the most sweeping rewrite of financial rules in 70 years.

And Obama is striving to juggle these problems while he and his party brace for potentially big midterm election losses in November.

Imagine the same story, with a few words changed, in 2005:

Unpredictable and tough to solve, the stack of problems on President George W. Bush's desk is growing unwieldy. It's presenting him with a tough juggling act.

Two wars, a jobless recovery and an exhausting battle over Social Security reform. And that was just the start.

Now throw in a meteorological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and an attempted terrorist attack in Los Angeles. And there are other pressing matters, such as dealing with the increasing menace of Iran's nuclear program, trying to get the Middle East peace process back on track, searching for a new Supreme Court justice and trying to persuade Congress to approve the most sweeping rewrite of immigration law in 20 years.

And Bush is striving to juggle these problems while he and his party brace for potentially big midterm election losses in November.

You know as well as we do that this story would never have appeared. In fact, the AP invented "accountability journalism" in order to justify its anti-Bush slant during Hurricane Katrina. We don't necessarily object to Raum's piece on the problems President Obama faces. But those whose job is to cover the news impartially ought to make an effort at least to appear evenhanded.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703866704575224451665380256.html#printMode

Igor Djuric, a broker who showed Mr. Shahzad the 1,356-square-foot home he eventually bought, said he remembered that Mr. Shahzad was quiet about himself, but was openly critical of President Bush in the aftermath of the Iraq war.

"I didn't take it for anything, since a lot of people didn't like Bush," Mr. Djuric said, "but he was a little bit strong about expressing it."

Motive is mystery?!

Misleading Poll Question Doesn't Stop Respondents from Favoring AZ Immigration Law

http://www.mrc.org/timeswatch/articles/2010/20100504111210.aspx

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll focused on Arizona's tough new anti-illegal immigration law, summarized in a story by Randal Archibold and Megan Thee-Brenan that only made the top of the National section, not theusual front-page placement for a poll story.

At least the print headline was strong: “Poll Finds Serious Concern Among Americans About Immigration.” Here's the lead, slanted toward the protesters point of view:

The overwhelming majority of Americans think the country’s immigration policies need to be seriously overhauled. And despite protests against Arizona’s stringent new immigration enforcement law, a majority of Americans support it, even though they say it may lead to racial profiling.

When the poll was first posted at nytimes.com Monday evening, a teaser headline claimed that only a “slim majority” favored the immigration law, but that was misleading if technically accurate. There was nothing “slim” about the actual results.

51% say the law "is about right,” while only 36% said it “goes too far,” while another 9% said it “doesn’t go far enough.” In other words, 60% agree with the thrust of the law, with only 36% thinking it goes too far. (The “slim” modifier was dropped from Tuesday's print edition.)

Not even the liberal slant of the question posed by the Times and CBS stopped the public from showing strong support for Arizona's law. (There's a .PDF version of the poll here.)

Here's question 67:

67. As you may know, the state of Arizona recently passed a law that gives police the power to question anyone they suspect is in the country illegally, requires people to produce documents verifying their status if asked, and allows officers to detain anyone who cannot do so. Do you think this law goes too far, doesn’t go far enough, or is about right? 

Actually, the law doesn't give "police the power to question anyone they suspect is in the country illegally.” It requires reasonable suspicion of such by a policeman, coupled with a “lawful stop, detention or arrest.” Even with the slant, people favored tougher enforcement by a substantial margin. One can't help but suspect the poll would have gotten front-page play if the numbers had been reversed.

Mayor Bloomberg slams Arizona's anti-immigrant law: 'We are committing national suicide'

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/04/29/2010-04-29_its_national_suicide_mikes_grim_view_if_immig_reform_mess_isnt_fixed.html

A fired-up Mayor Bloomberg warned the U.S. "is committing national suicide" by passing the buck on implementing comprehensive immigration reform.

Hizzoner delivered the blunt message Wednesday as he criticized Arizona's harsh new anti-immigrant law.

"This is not good for the country. I don't agree with it," he said. "We love immigrants here."

Bloomberg said that because federal lawmakers have failed to tackle the thorny issue, lawmakers in states like Arizona have taken matters into their own hands.

"This country is committing national suicide," Bloomberg said.

The Arizona law allows cops to stop anyone they think is in the country illegally and arrest folks who can't prove their immigration status or citizenship.

Bloomberg deemed it an invitation to harassment.

"We have to get real about the 12 million undocumented here," the mayor said. "We're not going to deport them. Give them permanent status. Don't make them citizens unless they can qualify, but give them permanent status and let's get on with this."

Bloomberg spoke as he thanked volunteers at the "Citizenship Now!" hotline sponsored by the Daily News and City University of New York, which helps callers who want to know how to become citizens.

He called on President Obama to lead the fight to overhaul the nation's immigration rules. "I will be there behind him supporting him 100%," he said.

Bloomberg long has been a supporter of immigration reform, saying current law deters international companies from sending employees through border hassles to work in the U.S. - and freezes out the highly skilled immigrants America needs.

"We don't have doctors, and we're not allowing people who want to come here and be doctors to come here," the mayor said. "This is just craziness."

"People are developing new drugs in India, rather than here. They're going to win the next Nobel Prize in China or in Europe, not here. If we want to have a future, we need to have more immigrants here."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9FG4H9G0&show_article=1

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the arrest should not be as used as an excuse for anti-Muslim actions. "We will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers," he said.




http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/05/03/cbs-features-ny-mayor-bloomberg-speculating-bomber-was-mad-about-obamac


CBS Features NY Mayor Bloomberg Speculating Bomber Was Mad About ObamaCare

With Katie Couric drawing him out, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed the Times Square car bombing was likely “homegrown” as he proceeded, in an interview excerpt run on Monday's CBS Evening News, to speculate it could have been placed by “somebody with a political agenda who doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.”

Could be “anything,” but the first thing Bloomberg thinks of are those who don't like ObamaCare, presumably conservatives or Tea Party activists.

Audio: MP3 clip

From part of Couric's interview with the mayor aired on the Monday, May 3 CBS Evening News:

KATIE COURIC: Law enforcement officials don't know who left the Nissan Pathfinder behind, but, at this point, the mayor believes the suspect acted alone.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: If I had to guess -- 25 cents -- this would be exactly that, somebody-

COURIC TO BLOOMBERG: A home-grown?

BLOOMBERG: Home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/05/03/cbs-features-ny-mayor-bloomberg-speculating-bomber-was-mad-about-obamac#ixzz0n0G0YoVo