Republicans see political opportunity in Obama response to failed airplane bomb

[TomCADem]

Source: Washington Post

Republicans are jumping on President Obama's response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner as the latest evidence that Democrats do not aggressively fight terrorism to protect the country, returning to a campaign theme that the GOP has employed successfully over the past decade.

Since before Obama was sworn into office, Republicans have been building a case that he is weak on national security, and in the wake of the intelligence and security failures that led to last week's incident, they think that narrative might stick. Congressional Republicans and GOP pollsters said they believe the administration's response to the failed attack on a Detroit-bound plane -- along with Obama's decisions on the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the intelligence lapses connected to November's massacre at Fort Hood, Tex. -- damage the Democratic brand.

After dispatching surrogates to speak on his behalf over the weekend, Obama tried to quell critics who thought he had been quiet for too long by addressing the nation Tuesday for the second time in two days. But Republicans said his admission of "systemic failures" by U.S. intelligence agencies -- which did not share fully or act upon information about the Nigerian suspect on the Northwest Airlines flight -- underscored what they have been arguing for days. The result of the GOP offensive could be to create doubt, even fear, among the American public that Obama cannot protect them.

Republicans spent much of the 2008 campaign criticizing Obama for his lack of national security experience and have not relented since he took office almost a year ago. Eleven months out from the 2010 midterm elections, however, pollsters said it is difficult, if not impossible, to predict whether the issue will drive voters.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/29/AR2009122903379.html?hpid=topnews

---

I guess if you ignore 9/11 with thousands of Americans left dead, falsified intelligence on Iraq, anthrax, shoe bombers, and attacks on European allies, etc., the Dubya was not so bad compared to President Obama.

[msongs]

1. lol really, bush did not protect us from 9/11, even tho it was clinton's fault. yeah right nt

[TomCADem]

2. Can You Imagine The Outrage If Democrats Openly Discussed Using 9/11 For The 2002 Elections?

This just goes to show how the media and even liberals continuously give the GOP a free pass. Heck, look at health care reform where Republicans are given an absolute free ride for blocking health care reform, because they are Republicans. Likewise, the Republicans will openly discuss using the failed attack for political benefit with no repercussion. Worse, so-called progressives are using the incident to attack the Obama administration. As I said, Democrats and Republicans are judged against two entirely different standards.

[Cha]

3. Republicons are so fucking stupid to work

themselves up in a lather over this. Nothing happened and when bushcheney was in charge people were killed.

If they didn't have the corporatemedia in their pockets..this would be pointed out in the newspapers and on tv instead of trying to make people believe otherwise.

[Stables2010]

4. The Gop does not give a damn about America I bet deep down they are pissed the bomber failed

[Autonomy]

10. Not very deep down

I bet some of them would even admit it.

[babylonsister]

5. What a bunch of bullshit. The WaPo and NYT are salivating with

hope this will become a major disaster for Dems one way or the other.

Who is Andrew Kohut and why should I trust him? Are YOU afraid to fly because of what happened with this whackadoo recently? I'm not.

snip//

A strategy with risks

But the strategy could be as risky as powerful for Republicans, who open themselves to criticism that they are exploiting acts of terrorism for partisan gain. In 2008, attacking Obama on national security proved to be a losing strategy, for both Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

David Axelrod, Obama's senior adviser, who has battled Republicans on national security issues for decades, said the GOP is hoping to reclaim its political power on the issue.

"They can run on rhetoric," Axelrod said in an interview Tuesday. "We will run on our record when the time comes. . . . The president's record, I think, is very clear and very strong. This president has taken the fight to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Somalia, in Yemen. He has focused on the threat in a way that it hasn't been."

Still, Kohut said national security is "fertile territory for the GOP." :eyes:

[Cha]

6. Thanks for that, babylonsister..

This is the reality.

repukes are so predictable.

[Tx4obama]

7. Bush Waited Six Days To Discuss Shoe Bomber With No GOP Complaints

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/29/bush-waited-nine-days-to_n_406307.html

Excerpt from link above:

On December 22, 2001, Richard Reid -- known more infamously as the shoe bomber -- failed in his attempt to blow up a Miami-bound jet using explosives hidden in his shoe. Coming less than four months after September 11, there already were deep concerns about a potential attack during the upcoming holiday break. Nevertheless, President Bush did not directly address the foiled plot for six days, according to an extensive review of newspaper records from that time period. And when he did, it was only in passing.

The day of the attempted attack, for example, the Associated Press reported that "White House officials" were monitoring the situation throughout the afternoon and that "President Bush received two briefings" on the matter while at Camp David for the holidays. Spokesman Scott McClellan, meanwhile, told reporters that administration officials were consulting with acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift -- the plane Reid boarded made an emergency landing at Boston's Logan International Airport.

[TomCADem]

9. True! But Will The Corporate Media Call Republicans On This BS?

Instead, the corporate media will focus on division and dissent among Democrats, and give any liberal who wants to attack fellow liberals or Democrats a free ride. Ron Paul was largely ignored for attacking the Iraq war by the major media, but if you are a liberal and want to attack Democrats, you get a first class ticket to prime time. Paul Krugman attacks the Obama administration's plan to rescue the banks as too small, and he gets 24/7 coverage. However, if Krugman speaks in support of health care reform, then he is no where to be seen.

[RamboLiberal]

31. Yep but the cowed lapdog MSM made no snarky protests

then like they they are doing on Obama now.

This year’s attack came on Christmas. The attempt eight years ago took place on Dec. 22. Obama was on vacation in Hawaii when the suspect, Omar Abdulmutallab, allegedly used plastic explosives in his try to blow up the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight. Bush was at Camp David when Reid used similar plastic explosives to try to blow up his Paris-to-Miami flight, which diverted to Boston after the incident.

Like the Obama White House, the Bush White House told reporters the president had been briefed on the incident and was following it closely. While the Obama White House issued a background statement through a senior administration official calling the incident an “attempted terrorist attack” on the same day it took place, the early official statements from Bush aides did not make the same explicit statement.

Bush did not address reporters about the Reid episode until December 28, after he had traveled from Camp David to his ranch in Texas.

Democrats do not appear to have criticized Bush over the delay. Many were wary of publicly clashing with the commander in chief, who was getting lofty approval ratings after what appeared to be a successful military campaign in Afghanistan. The media also seemed to have little interest in pressing Bush about the bombing, or the fact that the incident had revealed a previously unknown vulnerability in airplane security — that shoes could be used to hide chemicals or explosive devices.

An Agence France-Presse story was one of the few to call attention to the silence from Bush and other top officials.

“Four days after Richard Colvin Reid, 28, tried to set fire to his explosives-laden shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight, neither the White House nor other authorities had spoken officially on the alleged would-be suicide bombing,” AFP wrote on Dec. 27, 2001.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=DD6A80A0-18FE-70B2-A82B1495320108EC

[bertman]

8. Republicans are ATTACKING President Obama for this. How Shocking!!

[EmeraldCityGrl]

11. "They can run on rhetoric," Axelrod said in an interview Tuesday. "We will run on our record when th

time comes. . . The president's record, I think, is very clear and very strong. This president has taken the fight to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Somalia, in Yemen. He has focused on the threat in a way that it hasn't been."

Interesting comment from Axelrod, so we can rely on the war theatre as an election campaign? Still wondering where the troops will come from...oh yeah, economic draft.

[Incitatus]

12. So what should his respsonce have been?

They guy is from Nigeria, so I guess Obama should bomb Mexico.

[47of74]

13. He could've turned Iran into a parking lot...

...and the Republicans would still be bitching. Can't win with those idiots, so don't bother trying.

[Old Ed in VN]

21. Bomb Mexico?

Sorry Incitatus, America has learned that attacking countries with populations over 5 million ain't an easy win. Even Afghanistan with 1/10 the US population didn't work. Think Vanuatu. Better chance for republican imperialism

[rpannier]

23. Here's what he should have done

1. Get on TV and promise to get the guy who tried to blow up the plane 'Dead or Alive.'
2. Suspended all Habeaus Corpus until each and every person involved has been arrested 'Dead or Alive'
3. Thrown 1000 innocent people in jail (after personally cutting off various limbs) this will send out a very stern warning to all -- if he's willing to do that to innocent people imagine what he'd do to the guilty
4. Announce that all laws and punishments will be taken from the 'Legalist' codes of ancient China

[robo50]

26. Yes, but then Obama would look just like Bush and Cheney! LOL

[bluestateguy]

14. Until the media gets bored with this and moves on to something else

which I think will take about 3 more days.

[daleo]

15. If you are strong on terrorism

3000+ people will die in attacks while your party's president is in office.

If you are weak on terrorism, a terrorist will fry his groin, and no Americans will die when the other party's president is in office.

So sayeth retarded Republicans.

[alp227]

16. Don't forget the ~4000 troops killed by a war started on false pretenses

And I wonder if the guy behind the underwear bomb lost his manhood? He'll be some prison bait for sure!

[daleo]

17. Yes, thousands of U.S. troops

And perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, many of whom were under the age of 10.

[aquart]

18. Yah, those pro-torture twits keep hoping.

[opihimoimoi]

19. The Pubs are well known for faked outrage...piss on them assholes..all they do is whine

[santamargarita]

20. I didn't see him reading "My Pet Goat"

:think:

[rpannier]

22. Maybe if they weren't holding up the nomination of the new head of TSA

like the petulant children that they are this wouldn't have happened

[maseman]

24. So Republicans are now basing their entire

platform on a failed terrosim plot? Whoa now that is grapsing for straws. I can see if that plane was brought down or something but NOTHING HAPPENED.

Even further I bet many people really didn't even know about it since it happened on Christmas.

[robo50]

27. Well, true, not many knew on Christmas, but Republicans and the

talking head suck-ups to Republicans, (everyone on the TeeVee except Keith and Rachel and Ed) are making sure we all know it's horrible to respond to this the same way the Bush folks responded to a terror threat, by putting Richard Reid on trial in a civilian court.

Republicans only have one tool, FEAR. They use it everywhere every time.

[and-justice-for-all]

25. Repukes can fuck off, delusional idiots!!!

How many people have died during the repuke occupation of the Hill!! This is apples to oranges.

[Johnny Harpo]

28. Lets not lose sight of the facts that......

this screw-up 1) started in Amsterdam and 2) might not have happened at all if the CIA had done their job.

How does someone on the Watch List AND the No-Fly List get a ticket to anywhere?

I'm starting to think that those in charge of our security are suffering from a false sense of security.

That said, if the 'bad guys' want on a plane bad enough they will find a way.

[Blue Owl]

29. Nice try, fuckwads

The voters have spoken, and YOUR war on terror, launched by King Dubya, has hereby been deemed a FAILURE.

[mstinamotorcity]

30. If you notice they

jumped all over the President with that bulls--t. That was their only opportunity to get it in.But every time one of these trolls speak you never hear how they would do anything different except torture,to find out what else the underwear guy knows.It lets you know where their hearts and minds are at. They keep telling us that everybody in the world hates us and is at war with us.But the truth is Dubya/Shooter are the ones who hated everybody else they would not even engage in civil conversation with other nations. They tried to be the big bad asses of the world.they labeled most other countries as axis of evil. All republicons do is to spout hatred and dissent amongst the people so that we won't trust each other. Oh but they are the trusting kind and you can believe what they are saying.Take it from me you have a better time of getting the truth from your dining room table than you do a republicon.Has anybody found those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq yet:P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P

[OverDone]

32. Right on

Exactly :-)

[mstinamotorcity]

33. And while they are at it

has any of them read the intelligence briefing that sounded the warning alarm for 9/11.Because had they done that we would not be in Afghanistan.

[AndrewP]

34. Team 9/11 will always use the boogyman to win elections.