Most coherent observation of the day:

[PaceAdvantage]

By Atty Gen. John Ashcroft (who by the way I am *NOT* a huge fan of)

"The Madrid railway bombings were perceived by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and al-Qaeda to have advanced their cause," he said. "Al-Qaeda may perceive that a large-scale attack in the United States this summer or fall would lead to similar consequences."


And another thing. People complain the Government did not do enough pre-9/11. They didn't warn the people. They didn't coordinate between agencies. The FBI screwed up. The CIA screwed up. Nothing was done right......this is what people complain.

TODAY, we have a press conference warning the public of a possible new threat. We have photos of suspects related to this new threat. AND THIS is the response the press has:

The latest warning of possible new terrorist strikes was greeted with considerable suspicion. Scott McClellan, the president's press secretary, fielded sceptical questions from reporters who hinted that Wednesday's announcements were driven by political rather than security concerns.

At the morning briefing for White House journalists, Terry Moran, the ABC News correspondent, said: "There is a disturbing possibility that you are manipulating the American public in order to get a message out." Mr McClellan dismissed that possibility.


Full article here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1106&ncid=1106&e=4&u=/ft/20040526/bs_ft/1084907849764

[Tom]

Waiting for comments by the fearsome foursome on this one.....
Will this one be a flip or a flop?

[bill]

question


if a great imenent threat why arent they raising the alert


im dumb and addmit it but this doesent make sense

[PaceAdvantage]

That's not the point. The point is they ARE giving out info, they ARE coordinating efforts between agencies, and STILL people are finding problems with the process, and ACCUSING the administration of making this stuff up for political means. I mean, come on!

The critics complained they didn't do ENOUGH pre-9/11, and now that they are being much more PRO-ACTIVE, they are being accused, essentially, of inventing threats for political reasons!!!!

You can not WIN in an environment like this. Team Bush is screwed come November. They are being beaten down like a $3000 claimer at Eureka Downs. No matter the accusation, no matter how offbase or untrue, they are being beaten down.

There is a huge agenda in this country, and it is being backed by some very powerful and very wealthy individuals. No matter what this administration does in the future, it will never be positive, or good enough. They have lost.

The Democrats will never let the election of 2000 go, and they are pulling out all the stops now. All those "entertainers" who said they would move out of the country if Bush won (and they are ALL still here by the way) can't shake that stain of humiliation when their guy lost, and they had to back down from their statements.

It's all over folks. Sanity has left the building, and the inmates are now running the asylum. I wish I was wrong.

[schweitz]

I said a month ago that Bush will win big and I still believe it. Have you seen the guy running against him? Don't let the shrill panic of the liberal media get to you. It will all sort out come November.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Radical liberals are the reason I do not seem sometimes to be impartial. They drive me to agree with the Repubs too often.

[Tom]

Not only are they warning us, they have photos to boot!
Now, I wonder if any of this inforamtion came from Iraqi's cracking under the strain of having underwear on thier heads?

[Secretariat]

Originally posted by PaceAdvantage
That's not the point. The point is they ARE giving out info, they ARE coordinating efforts between agencies, and STILL people are finding problems with the process, and ACCUSING the administration of making this stuff up for political means. I mean, come on!



Well Pa, I think Bill is right. THe information coming out is inconsistent. So much so that Bush is reported as saying to Ridge and Ashcroft, "are you two guys together on this?"

Good question. Personally, I thought Ridge was supposed to be the spokesman for all this stuff. I am happy the Bush admin gave the warning, but who are we to beleive Ridge or Ashcroft. In other words, should we follow Ridge and beleive there is no elevation in threat, OR should we beleive Ashcroft who beleives an attack is imminent.

I guess I don't understand why you can't see that this inconsistency creates confusion to people. Personally, screw the damn color code thing and let Ridge control these statements. Then you've got one POV coming out of the Admin rather than a hundred.

[JustRalph]

Originally posted by PaceAdvantage
It's all over folks. Sanity has left the building, and the inmates are now running the asylum. I wish I was wrong.

You can post this again if Kerry wins in Nov.

I agree that Kerry is being propped up by the media and the rest of their allies. But.....with all this bad news and the obvious crap coming out of the mouth of the Libs........Bush still hasn't lost hardly anything at all in the polls.

I still think that there are tons of possible events that could occur prior to the election........to swing it one way or the other.

[ljb]

Pa,
If you remember the 9/11 hearings, all the folks in the administration said they did not have any specific data to warrant any special activity. Even the PDB was said to be to general to raise an alarm in the administration. So based on the same type of information coming from Ashcroft/Mueller we should expect the White house to go on vacation, correct?

[JustRalph]

Originally posted by ljb
Pa,
If you remember the 9/11 hearings, all the folks in the administration said they did not have any specific data to warrant any special activity. Even the PDB was said to be to general to raise an alarm in the administration. So based on the same type of information coming from Ashcroft/Mueller we should expect the White house to go on vacation, correct?

they can't tell us everything they know you idiot!

As soon as they release everything they know, they compromise their sources.......It's called operational security........Geez, what a bag of Wind you guys are becoming!

[ljb]

From the keyboard of JR:
they can't tell us everything they know you idiot!

As soon as they release everything they know, they compromise their sources.......It's called operational security........Geez, what a bag of Wind you guys are becoming!

What is wrong with saying something like: "the specifics are being addressed by the forces needed to avert/ stop these activities" ? Rather then "we don't really know what is going on but the terroists are acting like they did prior to 9/11".(not an exact quote)
And where in the loop is Tom Ridge? Isn't he supposed to be in charge of Homeland security? What the hell are Ashcroft and Mueller doing making meaningless statements on tv?
You are starting to sound like some other rightys on this board. Anything the administration says or does is not to be questioned. I have to go back to my old standby here... Get Real JR!

[kenwoodallpromos]

You would be good at interrogating our prisoners in Gitmo and Iraq.

[Tom]

First they complain no one warned us.
Now they warn us and they complian they don't tell us enough.
Then they complian why didn't HE tell us?

Hey guys, you want some cheese with that wine?
I really think you guys are disappointed that Al Qeada strikes somewhere in the world with regularity , but have not been able to do 0one thing on US soil since 9-11-01 because our guys are doing their jobs and preventing terroists.

[ljb]

Tom said
First they complain no one warned us.

The only people i heard saying we did not recieve any warning were the Bush gangs response at the 9/11 hearings. This inspite of the PDB titled "Osama determined to attack U.S." That's the briefing that Bush responded to with a round of golf.

[Tom]

Then by your last post, Ljb, you are now agreeing that you had all the warning you personally needed prior to 9-11?

[Latin Qtr]

WE the people did not get any warning but our FBI-CIA etc kept
us in the dark and did not use their brains.

[ljb]

Tom,
Latin qrtr gave a good repy to your question. My real concern is how the Bush gang responded to the warning. Dubya went golfing, don't know what Rummy, Condi and Cheney were doing.

[Tom]

LJB said: "The only people I heard saying we did not recieve any warning were the Bush gangs...."

So I can assume from that he did in fact have ample warning. Point of it is, he is whinning about not telling people before 9-11 and now he is whinning that they warned us this week.
He is just a sensless whinner no matter how you look at it.
There is no reason to expect him capable of intelligent dialouge.
He is only a little troll throwing rocks at the bridge.

[Suff]

PA... et al..


Tell me you saw the press conference from Tom Ridge the same exact day that said we had NO Specific intelligence that Ashcroft was using to alarm the country. Infrighting started about who knew what and when..and who was in charge....

Who consulted who and so forth...

Internal squabbles, lack of leadership..