GOP Uses Scare Tactics to Distract From Failed Record
August 14, 2006
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http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/08/gop_uses_scare.phpAs the Bush Administration and Republican Congress exploit Americans' fears of terrorism for partisan gain in an election year, two columns in today's New York Times outline how Republicans are continuing their politics of fear to distract Americans from their own failure to protect America. The latest polls taken after the terrorist plot was revealed show that Americans continue to want a new direction with Democrats taking control of Congress in November.
The war in Iraq is diverting billions of dollars from homeland security efforts to protect our ports, airports and transportation systems, over-stretching our military and bolstering terrorist recruitment worldwide. And despite knowing of the threat posed by liquid explosives for years, the Bush Administration, according to the Associated Press, " quietly tried to take away $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing new explosive detection technologies." Now we learn that British officials had hoped to gather more evidence before stopping the terrorist plot but the U.S insisted on early arrests. Republicans seem more concerned with protecting their majority status than protecting the American people.
Democrats support foreign policy and homeland security efforts that are both tough and smart. If Republicans were serious about keeping America safe, they would join Democrats and enact the bi-partisan 9/11 Commission recommendations immediately.
Aiding Our Enemies
By Bob Herbert
The New York Times
August 14, 2006
"I wonder if Americans will continue to fall for the political exploitation of their fears of terrorism, or if voters will begin to show some awareness of the fact that they have been cynically manipulated, and that our current policies have been disastrously counterproductive. ...
"...There was something pathetic about the delight with which Republicans seized upon the terror plot last week and began trying to wield it like a whip against their Democratic foes. The G.O.P. message seemed to be that the plot foiled in Britain was somehow proof that the U.S. needed to continue full speed ahead with the Bush administration's disastrous war in Iraq, and that any Democrat who demurred was somehow soft on terrorism....While Republicans are savoring the political possibilities of a foiled terror plot, the spiraling chaos in Iraq and other Bush administration policies are contributing mightily to the anger and radicalism in the Muslim world....
"...The U.S. needs to be much, much smarter in its efforts to counter this mortal threat. We should be focused like a laser on the fight against Al Qaeda-type terrorism. We need to ramp up our security efforts here at home. (Even as the terror plot in Britain was emerging, the Bush administration was trying to eliminate millions of dollars in funding for explosives-detection technology. Congress blocked that effort.) We need a new approach to foreign policy that draws on the wisest heads both here and abroad. And we need a strategy for withdrawal from Iraq. In a world that is growing more dangerous by the hour, it's time to try something new."
Hoping for Fear
By Paul Krugman
The New York Times
August 14, 2006
"Just two days after 9/11, I learned from Congressional staffers that Republicans on Capitol Hill were already exploiting the atrocity, trying to use it to push through tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. ...We now know that from the very beginning, the Bush administration and its allies in Congress saw the terrorist threat not as a problem to be solved, but as a political opportunity to be exploited. The story of the latest terror plot makes the administration's fecklessness and cynicism on terrorism clearer than ever. ...
"...If current polls are any indication, Republicans are on the verge of losing control of at least one house of Congress. And 'on every issue other than terrorism and homeland security,' says Newsweek about its latest poll, 'the Dems win.'...
"...Above all, many Americans now understand the extent to which Mr. Bush abused the trust the nation placed in him after 9/11. Americans no longer believe that he is someone who will keep them safe, as many did even in 2004; the pathetic response to Hurricane Katrina and the disaster in Iraq have seen to that. All Mr. Bush and his party can do at this point is demonize their opposition. And my guess is that the public won't go for it, that Americans are fed up with leadership that has nothing to hope for but fear itself."
http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/08/gop_uses_scare.php
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html
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