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.
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
"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:
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:
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.
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?!
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