Author: HL

Pitty those poor, poor (doomed) polar bears
The white polar bears are in big danger of losing their species purity!

Schumer Asks Ford Not to Run
New York’s political world “reacted swiftly and strongly to the possibility of Harold Ford Jr.’s candidacy for the United States Senate, with top Senate leaders trying to squash the bid and close advisers to Mayor Michael Bloomberg meeting with Mr. Ford on Thursday to plot strategy for a campaign,” the New York Times reports.

“The developments reflect the seriousness with which Mr. Ford is being viewed as he weighs whether to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in this fall’s Democratic primary.”

On Wednesday night, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) “met with Mr. Ford to try to dissuade him from running, according to two people who were told of the meeting and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversation was supposed to be kept private.”

Quote of the Day
“We had no domestic attacks under Bush; we’ve had one under Obama.”

— Rudy Giuliani, in an interview on ABC News, apparently forgetting one day.

How to Avoid Another Waco: Keeping the Peace in 10-Year Standoff with Armed Family Compound
John Joe Gray has been in a standoff for 10 years, raising the question of when it’s worth risking bloodshed to enforce the law.

John Joe Gray has been in a standoff for 10 years, raising the question of when it's worth risking bloodshed to enforce the law.

9 Hours of Sex? 5 Things You Can Do to Burn Off Gross Fast Food Meals
Here are some creative ways to burn off the bad stuff.

Here are some creative ways to burn off the bad stuff.

Not Only Is Profiling for Terrorism Racist, It’s Tremendously Ineffective
Instead of succumbing to the right-wing drum beat of calls for profiling Muslims, we should adopt a more rational approach to profiling for terrorism based on behavior.

Instead of succumbing to the right-wing drum beat of calls for profiling Muslims, we should adopt a more rational approach to profiling for terrorism based on behavior.

C-SPAN Features Israel Hating Michael Scheuer
Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer really, really hates Israel. No, he is not opposed to its policies. He seems to hate the whole idea of Israel and, as in days of yore, blames Israelis and pro-Israel Jews for his, and…


Central Intelligence Agency – Michael Scheuer – Antisemitism – Jew – Race-Ethnic-Religious Relations

The Difference Between Talking Tough and Acting Smart
Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) is Chair of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel. As we have seen since the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253, there are those who never will understand the difference between talking tough and acting smart….


Terrorism – Warfare and Conflict – War on Terrorism – September 11 2001 – Yemen

Study predicts $1.5 trillion increase in GDP if undocumented immigrants are legalized.
A new study by University of California at Los Angeles professor Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda suggests that comprehensive immigration reform, which includes an earned path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, could generate at least $1.5 trillion in added U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years. Hinojosa explains the data behind his immense calculation: All immigrant workers in […]

A new study by University of California at Los Angeles professor Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda suggests that comprehensive immigration reform, which includes an earned path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, could generate at least $1.5 trillion in added U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years. Hinojosa explains the data behind his immense calculation:

All immigrant workers in this scenario have full labor rights, which results in higher wages — and higher worker productivity—for all workers in industries where large numbers of immigrants are employed. As wage and productivity levels rise, the U.S. economy’s demand for new immigrant workers actually declines over time as the market shrinks for easily exploited, low-wage, low-productivity workers. […]

The higher earning power of newly legalized workers translates into an increase in net personal income of $30 to $36 billion, which would generate $4.5 to $5.4 billion in additional net tax revenue. Moreover, an increase in personal income of this scale would generate consumer spending sufficient to support 750,000 to 900,000 jobs…

According to Hinojosa, a mass deportation program often cited by right-wing enforcement-only advocates would actually result in a loss of $2.6 trillion over ten years while a solution that only consists of a temporary worker program that labor unions vehemently oppose and some moderate Republicans support would only yield $792 billion increase in GDP and also lead to a decrease in wages.

More at the Wonk Room.

Steele’s comments anger congressional Republicans
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, under fire this week for statements he has made while promoting his book, has so angered the party’s congressional leaders that their aides said they told his handlers to “get him to stop.”

Worried House Democrats huddle on health care
Worried House Democrats held a caucus-wide conference call Thursday to strategize about health-care reform before lawmakers return to Washington next week.

Steele comments have GOP aides pleading, ‘Get him to stop’
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, under fire this week for a string of controversial statements he has made while promoting his new book, has so angered the party’s congressional leaders that their aides said they told Steele’s handlers to “get him to stop.”

Some Wishes for the Next Decade
William Galston, The New Republic
I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade–W. H. Auden, “September 1, 1939”It’s official: For the United States, the Naughts were a lost decade–zero job creation, declining household net worth, and the slowest GDP growth (by far) since the 1930s. And yet, Americans remain remarkably optimistic. In a just-released Gallup poll, 63 percent think the next 20 years will be good ones for the country—down from higher levels in 1990 and 2000, to be sure, but noticeably higher than…

Can Obama Change — and Keep His Nerve?
Michael Barone, DC Examiner
A year ago, I was privileged to be one of several guests at a dinner with President-elect Barack Obama. One thing that struck me and others, aside from his courtesy and fluency, was his air of self-confidence. The man who had risen in just four years from state senator to president of the United States seemed sure he could master the job.I wonder if he is as sure now. It seems to me that two assumptions that Obama carried into the White House — assumptions that were shared by many who hadn't voted for him — have proved to be unfounded. Receive news alertsThe first is that economic…

What Does the Detroit Bomber Know?
Michael Mukasey, Wall St. Journal
There was much to celebrate in the providential combination of an incompetent terrorist and surpassingly brave passengers and crew who saved 288 people aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253 on Christmas Day. There is a lot less to applaud in the official reaction. Well-deserved mockery has already been heaped on the move-along-folks-nothing-to-see-here tone of the administration's initial pronouncements—from Janet Napolitano's “the system worked,” to President Obama's statement that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was an “isolated extremist.” This week…

PC Amateur Hour
George Neumayr, The American Spectator
The Founding Fathers set up a limited federal government. Statists have turned it into an unlimited one, eager to perform any and all superfluous tasks while neglecting core ones. That security debacles, both large and small, increasingly define the Obama administration is to be expected given his frivolous and excessive view of the federal government. Perhaps Janet Napolitano spoke more truly than she realized when she said that the “system worked.” The problem is not that the system failed; it's that a failed system is in place, and the Obama administration…

Obama Reneges on Health Care Transparency
Chip Reid, CBS News

Bullets, Wizards and Too Much Love
It wasn’t the Gunfight at the NBA Corral that turned Gilbert Arenas’ life into a bittersweet story. That happened a long time ago—at birth—but that’s how it works in a subculture ruled by stars, in which everyone prefers the sweet to the bitter.

By Mark Heisler

It wasn’t the Gunfight at the NBA Corral that turned Gilbert Arenas’ life into a bittersweet story. That happened a long time ago—at birth—but that’s how it works in a subculture ruled by stars, in which everyone prefers the sweet to the bitter.

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I Don’t Have the Constitution for It

By Mr. Fish

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George Pataki: The Obama Administration’s Systemic Failure on Terrorism
As one who has seen and experienced the consequences of prior failures up close, I am urging the Administration to drastically change its approach to defending America.

Steven Newton: Science Denial on the Rise
From evolution to global warming to vaccines, science is under assault from denialists–those who dismiss well-tested scientific knowledge as merely one of many competing ideologies….

Sec. Hilda Solis: Green Jobs: A Down Payment on the Workforce of Tomorrow
As we help workers through these challenging times, our real focus is investing in their future and today I announced nearly $100 million in green jobs training grants.

Rob Richie: Rhode Island Expands Voter Registration and Requires Elections for Senators
I wanted to share some good news that put a smile on my colleagues’ faces here. These reform efforts have taken years, but have won…

Chris Weigant: Obama’s Second-Year Potential
President Barack Obama has the potential of having a pretty good second year in office. Conventional inside-the-Beltway wisdom is that “nothing much gets done in…

Media report on Dodd’s “sweetheart deal” without noting Ethics Committee cleared him

Following reports that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) would not seek re-election this year, several media figures — including Fox News’ Stuart Varney and Steve Doocy and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough — have claimed Dodd received a “sweetheart” mortgage deal from Countrywide. However, in their reports, these same media figures failed to note that the Senate Ethics Committee “found no credible evidence” Dodd’s mortgages violated Senate ethics rules.

Conservative media revive claims about Dodd’s mortgage “scandal”

Varney: Dodd “got a sweetheart deal from Countrywide Financial right at the center of the subprime mess.” From the January 6 edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom:

VARNEY: This shows the public mood. It shows that the public is intensely angered by bonuses and bailouts. In fact, Senator Dodd could not escape the panic, the banking panic of ‘08 because he is the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. On his watch, he allowed AIG executives to walk away with millions of dollars in bonuses after a huge taxpayer bailout. He got a sweetheart deal from Countrywide Financial right at the center of the subprime mess.

Doocy: “friend of Angelo” Dodd “got that below-public, subprime mortgage for … one or two of his properties.” From the January 6 edition of Fox & Friends:

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Now let’s talk about four Democratic seats in the Senate. You know the Democrats have 60 seats in the Senate. Well, four are up for grabs after two announcements yesterday.

DOOCY: Well, one official announcement yesterday, and that is Byron Dorgan of North Dakota — has said, “You know what? I’m going to bow out.” He’s a Democrat. Later on today, Chris Dodd, friend of Angelo, who got into — there’s Byron Dorgan right there — Chris Dodd, who got that below-public, subprime mortgage for one of — actually, one or two of his properties — he will announce later today at his home in Connecticut that he is saying goodbye.

Scarborough: Dodd “had the Countrywide scandal, where he got the sweetheart deal on the loan.” From the January 6 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

MIKA BRZEZINSKI (co-host): Senator Chris Dodd is retiring. He’s out.

SCARBOROUGH: Isn’t that something?

BRZEZINSKI: NBC News is confirming reports that the longtime senator is calling it quits. He says he will not seek a sixth term.

SCARBOROUGH: A lot of things going into this decision. Obviously, his poll numbers have dropped precipitously. He had the Countrywide scandal, where he got the sweetheart deal on the loan. He was also, of course, on the Banking cCommittee when things blew up. A lot of things he said about Fannie and Freddie, saying they were solvent, nothing to see here.

But Varney, Doocy, and Scarborough failed to note that Senate Ethics Committee cleared Dodd in loan “scandal”

Senate Ethics Committee dismissed complaint after spending year reviewing 18,000 pages of documents. As Media Matters noted, on August 7, the Select Committee on Ethics wrote to Dodd that “the Committee finds no substantial credible evidence as required by Committee rules that your Countrywide mortgages violated Senate ethics rules.” The letter stated:

No Credible Evidence of an Ethics Rule Violation

After examining the extensive record before it, the Committee found no credible evidence that you knowingly accepted a gift, including a loan not available to the public.

First, your mortgages were made in a commercially-reasonable manner based on terms and conditions available to borrowers with similar loan profiles. While your Countrywide loans were handled through the V.I.P. loan unit and designated as F.O.A. loans, the service you received was available to thousands of other non-Senate customers at Countrywide and the loans you received appear to have been available industry-wide to borrowers with comparable loan profiles. It appears your loans met all applicable underwriting standards and that you and your wife were excellent loan candidates and established Countrywide customers in good standing. You sought competing mortgage offers from other lenders that offered terms substantially similar to the ones Countrywide provided. There is no evidence that the interest rates for your Countrywide mortgages were below prevailing market rates.

Second, there is no credible evidence that you sought or knowingly received any financial benefits not available to other borrowers with similar loan profiles. The Committee has found no evidence that you or your wife ever asked for special treatment or that anyone ever communicated to you or your family that you were receiving specific discounts or other special treatment not available to other borrowers because of your status as a Senator.

Third, there is no credible evidence that you used your official position for personal gain. The Committee found no evidence that you fully understood the scope of the V.I.P. program, knew that you were in the “Friends of Angelo” program, or attempted to use your status as a Senator to receive loan terms not available to the public.

Murtha-Tied Military Contractor Barred From Federal Contracts — Again
Kuchera Defense Systems, a Pennsylvania contractor closely tied to Rep. John Murtha and his military earmark machine, has again been barred from getting government contracts.

Presented By:

Lawyer: Alleged Holocaust Shooter Dies In Prison
James Von Brunn, the elderly neo-Nazi who was charged with killing a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum last June, has died in prison, according to his lawyer.

The Secret Life of Charles Krauthammer
Click below for the stirring conclusion!

Fox News Contributor Goes Off on Anti-Gay Rant
This gets weirder and weirder as it goes on.

This gets weirder and weirder as it goes on.

Are Progressives Depressed or Too Privileged to Produce Social Change? Or Are We Just Failing to Organize Effectively?
Real change seems almost impossible. What are we doing wrong?

Real change seems almost impossible. What are we doing wrong?

Is an Anti-Semite Overseeing the Holocaust Museum?
Labeled an anti-Semite by at least one fellow professor, historian Marek Jan Chodakiewicz is a board member with oversight of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Labeled an anti-Semite by at least one fellow professor, historian Marek Jan Chodakiewicz is a board member with oversight of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Does Atheism Offer As Much Comfort in Death As Religion?
The comfort of religion doesn’t eradicate grief. And many people would much rather believe in no afterlife at all than an afterlife determined by a sadistic god.

The comfort of religion doesn't eradicate grief. And many people would much rather believe in no afterlife at all than an afterlife determined by a sadistic god.

Economic Sea-Change
I don’t want to rain on Wall Street’s parade, but I’m a bit suspicious of the current economic recovery boomlet. When 20% of U.S. personal income (chart above) is coming from Government transfer payments (social security, unemployment compensation, etc),…


Wall Street – United States – Social security – Unemployment benefits – Economic

ANTI-SEMITISM ALERT: C-SPAN Features Israel Hating Michael Scheuer While COMMENTARY Condemns Jews For Disliking Palin
Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer really, really hates Israel. No, he is not opposed to its policies. He seems to hate the whole idea of Israel and, as in days of yore, blames Israelis and pro-Israel Jews for his, and…


Central Intelligence Agency – Michael Scheuer – Antisemitism – Jew – Race-Ethnic-Religious Relations

Fox News chyron cast Dorgan and Dodd as ?defecting Democrats.?
This morning, Fox and Friends hosted a segment on the retirements of Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), both of whom will not be running for re-election in 2010. Fox News, however, cast the retirements as defections: Dodd and Dorgan are not “defecting” from the Democratic Party. They are retiring. Rep. Parker Griffith […]

This morning, Fox and Friends hosted a segment on the retirements of Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), both of whom will not be running for re-election in 2010. Fox News, however, cast the retirements as defections:

Dodd and Dorgan are not “defecting” from the Democratic Party. They are retiring. Rep. Parker Griffith (AL) recently announced that he was switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, but no one else has joined him. (HT: TP Reader AC)

Dorgan to leave Senate, giving Republicans chance to win North Dakota seat
Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) will not run for reelection this year, he said Tuesday, providing Republicans with a major opportunity to pick up a Senate seat in the November midterm elections.

Democrats’ announcements change 2010 landscape
While most Americans spent the holidays relaxing with their families and recharging for 2010, a trio of veteran Democrats apparently had visions of retirement dancing in their heads.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd’s retirement improves Democrats’ chances for seat
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) announced his retirement from Congress on Wednesday, bringing an end to an illustrious political career and, in so doing, bolstering his party’s chances of holding his seat.

Pharmacy benefit managers and the rising drug costs for federal workers
When Uncle Sam arranges prescription drug coverage for millions of federal employees and their dependents, you’d expect him to have enough muscle to keep those prices low.

The New Two Party System
Dick Morris, The Hill
The very public way in which the existence of a center-right in the Democratic Party proved to be a mirage has done more to undermine the party's chances for victory in 2010 than any other aspect of the healthcare debate.When liberal Republicans failed to rally to Bill Clinton's 1993-1994 agenda – including his failed healthcare proposal – they laid the basis for their total demise in subsequent years. Sens. Jeffords, Chaffee, D'Amato, Packwood, Hatfield and Specter (as a Republican) are gone. Sens. Snowe and Collins are all that remain of the once-dominant Rockefeller wing of…

Stillbirth of a Progressive Era
Harold Meyerson, Washington Post
Every Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson — Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — has raised the hope that he would bring with him a new era of progressive reform. The legislative torrents of the New Deal and the Great Society — a few brief years in the 1930s and the '60s that fundamentally reshaped the nation's economy and society — are the templates that fire the liberal imagination.Two great liberal historians — the Arthur Schlesingers, senior and junior — posited a cyclical theory of American political history, in which periods of progressive advance…

If Fed Missed This Bubble, Will It See a New One?
David Leonhardt, NYT
If only we’d had more power, we could have kept the financial crisis from getting so bad.Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, has said it is difficult “to know in real time if an asset price is appropriate or not.” That has been the position of Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, and other regulators. It explains why Mr. Bernanke and the Obama administration are pushing Congress to give the Fed more authority over financial firms. So let’s consider what an empowered Fed might have done during the housing bubble, based on the words of the people who…

Dodd Exits, Gracefully
Steve Kornacki, New York Observer

A Case for Presidential Power on Terrorism
Ruth Marcus, Washington Post

Obama Slams Intel Agencies for Christmas Day Attack Attempt
Barack Obama gave U.S. intelligence agencies the presidential equivalent of a knuckle-rapping Tuesday for their failure to connect the dots and nab Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab before a fellow passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was forced to foil his underwear bomb plot the old-fashioned way.  —KA The Washington Post: President Obama rebuked the U.S. intelligence community Tuesday for a “potentially disastrous” failure to detect an airline bombing plot, saying it ignored various “red flags” and failed to pull together pieces of information it already had. He called the intelligence breakdown intolerable and vowed that “we will do better” in the future. On his first full day back at the White House after an 11-day vacation in Hawaii, Obama briefly outlined preliminary findings in a review he has ordered of “human and systemic failures” that allegedly allowed a radicalized young Nigerian to smuggle explosive chemicals aboard a Northwest Airlines jet and attempt to bring it down as it approached Detroit on Christmas morning with nearly 300 passengers and crew. Declaring that “the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way,” Obama said elements of the U.S. intelligence community knew that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had traveled to Yemen and joined up with extremists there. Read more Watch Obama’s speech about the incident and its aftermath below:

Barack Obama gave U.S. intelligence agencies the presidential equivalent of a knuckle-rapping Tuesday for their failure to connect the dots and nab Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab before a fellow passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was forced to foil his underwear bomb plot the old-fashioned way.? —KA

The Washington Post:

President Obama rebuked the U.S. intelligence community Tuesday for a “potentially disastrous” failure to detect an airline bombing plot, saying it ignored various “red flags” and failed to pull together pieces of information it already had. He called the intelligence breakdown intolerable and vowed that “we will do better” in the future.

On his first full day back at the White House after an 11-day vacation in Hawaii, Obama briefly outlined preliminary findings in a review he has ordered of “human and systemic failures” that allegedly allowed a radicalized young Nigerian to smuggle explosive chemicals aboard a Northwest Airlines jet and attempt to bring it down as it approached Detroit on Christmas morning with nearly 300 passengers and crew.

Declaring that “the system has failed in a potentially disastrous way,” Obama said elements of the U.S. intelligence community knew that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had traveled to Yemen and joined up with extremists there.

Read more

Watch Obama’s speech about the incident and its aftermath below:

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Sick With Terror
The underwear bomber has reignited the debates about how best to protect the American people, while a killer that claims 45,000 lives annually—one dead American about every 10 minutes—goes unchecked. By Amy Goodman

The underwear bomber has reignited the debates about how best to protect the American people, while a killer that claims 45,000 lives annually—one dead American about every 10 minutes—goes unchecked.

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Steve Clemons: Losing Smith Bagley
(A giant tree at Musgrove, the family estate of Smith Bagley and the Arca Foundation — photo credit: Steve Clemons) In Dubai a day…

Democrats Dropping Out Of 2010 Elections
BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan stunned fellow Democrats when he decided not to seek re-election this fall and swung open a race…

Democrats Are Dropping Like Flies
It is not shaping up to be a pretty week for the Democrats. The all-but-assured Democratic nominee for governor in Michigan, Lt. Gov. John Cherry,…

Amy Goodman: Sick with Terror: Inadequate health care kills 45,000 Americans per year
The media have been swamped with reports about the attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day. When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, now…

Fox News goes on a witch hunt for Janet Napolitano

Since the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight, Fox News has waged war on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, going so far as to ask whether she should be fired. In doing so, various Fox News figures and outlets have seized on Napolitano’s comments that “the system worked” after the attempted terrorist attack while ignoring both Napolitano’s later clarification that she was discussing the emergency response notification system that took place following the attempted attack, and that Bush administration officials Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge previously claimed success for passengers’ ability to thwart “shoe-bomber” Richard Reid’s December 2001 attempted bombing of a domestic airline.

Fox News wages war on Napolitano

Doocy: Napolitano is “number one on the list” of people who might be fired. On the January 5 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy quoted President Obama saying the airline security breach was “totally unacceptable” and remarked that “it did sound for a little while like some career person might wind up losing their job, and Janet Napolitano was number one on the list” because, in Doocy’s words, she said, “Everything worked before she said it did not work.” The on-screen graphic that aired during Doocy’s comments said, “What to Watch For; Do Heads Roll?” Later during the broadcast, Doocy again asked, “Will heads roll? Remember, it was Janet Napolitano, the director — the secretary of Homeland Security, who came right out and said, ‘The system worked.’ OK, which part of the system worked? Was it the five guys who jumped on this guy, who were sitting nearby? Or was it the fact that something else happened, because a couple of days later she came out — the next day she came out and said, ‘OK, there was a system failure.’ So will her head roll? Chances are, no.”

Fox Nation: “Fire Napolitano? She Says ‘The System Worked,’ Then Backtracks.” On December 28, Fox Nation posted an article about Napolitano, claiming that she “conceded Monday that airline security failed … a turnaround from her declaration a day day [sic] earlier that ‘the system worked.’ ” The headline asked if Napolitano should be fired, though the article to which Fox Nation linked contained no such declarations.

Fox Nation highlighted attacks on “hapless” Napolitano who shouldn’t “remain in office.” On December 30, Fox Nation posted a NewsBusters article under the headline, “Words NOT in Napolitano Op-ed: War, Islam, Yemen, Nigeria.” The article claimed that “Janet Napolitano is seeking to diminish the Obama administration’s NWA 253 failure by exaggerating the cunning of the Christmas Day plot”; described Napolitano as “hapless”; and asked, “How much longer can she possibly remain in office?”

Fox guest “Gunny” Bob Newman claimed Napolitano “not qualified to conduct a cavity search on a bowling ball.” On the January 4 edition of America’s Newsroom, former radio host “Gunny” Bob Newman said, “With all the ways Al-Qaeda can attack us, is we have got to get qualified people in the jobs.” After naming deputy national security adviser John Brennan and national security adviser James Jones as examples of qualified people, Newman claimed, “Then you have the other end of the spectrum, again, and you look at Janet Napolitano, in charge of Homeland Security, and she’s not qualified to conduct a cavity search on a bowling ball.”

Cavuto compares Napolitano to fired Redskins coach Zorn. On the January 4 edition of Fox News’ Your World, host Neil Cavuto compared the job that former Washington Redskins head coach Jim Zorn did with his NFL football team to the job Napolitano is doing as secretary of Homeland Security. Cavuto said that “Jim Zorn is out as coach of the Washington Redskins, Janet Napolitano still in as head coach of Homeland Security. He lost some games and lost his job. She could have lost a lot more and keeps hers.”

Hannity calls Napolitano remarks “laughable,” “absurd.” On the January 4 edition of Hannity, Sean Hannity claimed that Napolitano “tried to convince us that [Abdulmuttalab’s] attempt failed because ‘the system worked.’ Her laughable explanation had many enraged and now has critics from both sides of the aisle calling for her to step down.” He added, “[A]bsolutely no one bought Napolitano’s absurd claim.”

Peter Johnson Jr. claims, “We should be concerned as Americans.” Appearing on the December 28 edition of Hannity, Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. claimed that his impression of the interview he conducted with Napolitano was that “we should be concerned as Americans. It was a disturbing interview. She gave an interview yesterday on all networks and embarrassed herself. She did the same thing today. And if she’s embarrassing herself, and she’s embarrassing us as Americans, what do our enemies think?” Guest host Tucker Carlson replied later, “That’s such a measured way of saying she’s a disaster.”

Fox ignored context of and later explanation of Napolitano’s “the system worked” remarks

Napolitano said “the system worked” before discussing the “the whole process of making sure that we respond properly, correctly and effectively.” On the December 27 broadcast of CNN’s State of the Union, Napolitano stated that “the system worked” before discussing the emergency notification system and response to the incident. From the December 27 edition of State of the Union:

NAPOLITANO: One thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked. Everybody played an important role here. The passengers and crew of the flight took appropriate action. Within literally an hour to 90 minutes of the incident occurring, all 128 flights in the air had been notified to take some special measures in light of what had occurred on the Northwest Airlines flight. We instituted new measures on the ground and at screening areas, both here in the United States and in Europe, where this flight originated.

So the whole process of making sure that we respond properly, correctly and effectively went very smoothly.

Napolitano later clarified that “the system worked” comments were in reference to the emergency response and notification system. On the December 28 noted that Bush administration officials “claimed success” in the public’s role in thwarting a similar failed attempt by “shoe-bomber” Richard Reid. Reid was subdued and detained by fellow passengers when he unsuccessfully attempted to detonate a shoe-bomb on an American Airlines flight. According to Tapper:

Napolitano’s predecessor as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, went on MSNBC’s Hardball on September 10, 2002, where host Chris Matthews asked him if the US government had thwarted any terrorist attacks within the US.

“You can’t measure that success,” Ridge said, “because it’s difficult to determine with an organization that’s so decentralized.”

Matthews suggested that such success could in fact be measured “if you catch a guy about to blow up a building” or “you catch a guy moving a car bomb into an area of their building.”

“Because of the vigilance of some citizens, we certainly have gotten some folks on airplanes, shoe bombers,” Ridge said.

Ashcroft: “We’ve asked citizens to be vigilant” and “alert to any possible threat,” and “success of this policy was made clear” in Reid case. Tapper also reported that Attorney General John Ashcroft stated in a 2002 press conference:

“Throughout the war on terrorism, our military and intelligence officials have made a concerted effort to share appropriate information with the public in order to enlist their assistance,” Ashcroft said. “We’ve asked citizens to be vigilant, to be alert to any possible threat. The success of this strategy was made clear by yesterday’s indictment of Richard Reid, who may very well have succeeded in destroying American Airlines Flight Number 63, as the indictment charges, had it not been for the courage and attentiveness of the citizen passengers and crew.”