kat
03-17-2004, 05:10 AM
This Time article (http://www.time.com/time/election2004/article/0,18471,600858,00.ht ml) is, far and away, the best piece I've read on the dynamics of the election, but for now, I want to draw everyone's attention to this paragraph:
Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration's efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month.For Bush to so obviously play politics with the Dept. of Homeland Security is nauseating. As far as I'm concerned, they have more important things they should be doing then giving him photo-op material. This is really the bottom line of the campaign, it's all smoke and mirrors. The Dept. of Homeland Security is not doing all that it needs (http://www.americanprogress .org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=35992) to keep our country safe. To cite just one example, only 5% of checked baggage is screened despite the Transportation Security Administration estimating a 35-to-65% chance that terrorists are planning to put a bomb in the cargo of a US passenger plane.
When Bush does begin planting himself atop bomb sniffing dogs, Americans will know what it means: The Dept. of Homeland Security turned in their monthly photo-op. It's one thing to use 9/11 in an ad or talk about your role in keeping the country safe; it's a wholly different beast to direct a busy agency that isn't yet fulfilling its mandate to divert resources to helping you campaign. It's disgusting.
Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration's efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month.For Bush to so obviously play politics with the Dept. of Homeland Security is nauseating. As far as I'm concerned, they have more important things they should be doing then giving him photo-op material. This is really the bottom line of the campaign, it's all smoke and mirrors. The Dept. of Homeland Security is not doing all that it needs (http://www.americanprogress .org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=35992) to keep our country safe. To cite just one example, only 5% of checked baggage is screened despite the Transportation Security Administration estimating a 35-to-65% chance that terrorists are planning to put a bomb in the cargo of a US passenger plane.
When Bush does begin planting himself atop bomb sniffing dogs, Americans will know what it means: The Dept. of Homeland Security turned in their monthly photo-op. It's one thing to use 9/11 in an ad or talk about your role in keeping the country safe; it's a wholly different beast to direct a busy agency that isn't yet fulfilling its mandate to divert resources to helping you campaign. It's disgusting.