This page was last updated on February 4, 2010.
Track record; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 4, 2010.
Yep, we Americans are a bunch of cowards. If we didn’t already know it, we now know there are just about no limits to which the Times will go to cover bad politics-motivated decisions by the Obama administration.
Trying these guys in New York was all about politics, not commonsense. After his ravings during his campaign about how bad Gitmo was, President Obama had backed himself into a corner. Instead of admitting he was wrong, though, Mr. Obama felt compelled to forgo historically proper military tribunals for civilian trials. Realizing too late the decision wasn’t popular outside of the kook left regardless of a person’s political affiliation, the Obama administration issued -- and continues to issue -- public comments just about guaranteeing guilty verdicts. Isn’t that in direct opposition to the idea of fair trials? Ultimately what may finally derail the civilian trials is the cost, currently estimated to be about $200 million.
As for the Christmas Day would-be bomber (a “minor act of terrorism?”), what upset people were the obvious blunders that let the guy ever get on a plane and then treating him as a common criminal by giving him Miranda rights and a lawyer.
Except for itself, the Times has a history of referring to anyone who believes we’re at risk of being cowards or accuses them of fear mongering. That said, the Times hasn’t used that characterization for Obama administration officials. During Senate Intelligence Committee hearings (2/2/10) earlier this week, committee chair Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) asked, “What is the likelihood of another terrorist-attempted attack on the U.S. homeland in the next three to six months, high or low?” Dennis Blair (Director of National Intelligence) answered, “An attempted attack, the priority is certain, I would say.” When Ms. Feinstein asked the same question of the CIA and FBI directors, Messrs. Leon Panetta and Robert Mueller said they agreed with Mr. Blair. If Mr. Bush were still President, we’d have seen an editorial about fear mongering by now. With Mr. Obama, however, there’s not a peep from the Times, except to call us cowards.
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