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Politicizing Terror...Again

By now you have probably heard about the UK foiling a plot to blow up airplanes destined for the US. While it is still too early to tell whether this was another plot that was more "aspirational than operational", many are already calling it more election year shenanigans. And it does have some of the tell tale signs of another attempt by the White House and the GOP to politicize terror.

For starters, the long dormant Terror Threat Level was for the first time ever raised to RED (Severe risk of terrorists attack) for the airline industry. Never before has the level been placed that high, even during the numerous terror alerts of election years past. Some speculate about what really prompted the CODE RED, which brings us to the next aspect: timing.

According to reports, the Bush administration learned details about the plot on Friday, a full four days before the raid took place. And they were apparently ecstatic, gleeful even, to now have a cudgel with which to beat down the Democratic victory in Conneticut. Even Joe "I'm still a Dem, really I am" Lieberman got in on the act. Makes you wonder if Karl gave him a heads-up in that call on Tuesday?

But in their aggressive push to paint Dems as weak on national security, the Bush administration dropped the ball. This is evident by the fact that even though they were aware of the threat, the alert level was not raised nor any security measures put in place until after the plot was revealed.

What's that old saying about a barn door and a horse?

More reactions from BuzzFlash, Isaiah J. Poole, Ivo Baalder, Glenn, Hunter, Steve Soto, Christy, Steve M., and Billmon.