The left, all the way up to the Obama administration, are calling BF (Bush’s Fault) on the terrorist attack — the systems in place “for years” were inadequate, Bush let out the guys who planned the bombing, blah, blah, blah.   Yep, the systems were inaqequate, because of so much push back against allowing the CIA to do their jobs.  And yep, Bush let out those effers because he was finally giving way to the heap of shit that had been piling on him since his 2004 reelection over the wars and terrorist “rights”.  He shouldn’t have done it, and many said so.

/rant mode

But instead of making lists of home-grown terrorists (like pro-lifers and veterans), Janet “the system worked” Napolitano should have been FIXING the systems if they were so broken.  Instead of Nancy “they lied to us” Pelosi saying the CIA never briefed her on waterboarding and demanding some on-paper-only program be investigated, she should have had her Homeland Security committee helping Napolitano.  And instead of Harry “the war is lost” Reid trying to punish Joe Lieberman because he supported McCain, he should have let him loose to work on a fix, too.  And instead of the whole of Congress working on taking over health care, killing us with carbon credits, and card check, etc, they should have been working one of the few things the Constitution actually charters them to do — provide for a common defense.

But, they don’t have to.  You see, even if Obama DOES screw up (as his administration clearly did here), he has the COA (Cover Obama’s Ass) left in full force.  They just call BF.   The Democratic Underground has a list of newspaper articles regarding Bush’s whereabouts during the Richard Reid attack back in 2001 (no link — bing it).  He was also on vacation.  And he didn’t make a statement for SIX whole days.  And.. and..  he was at Camp David to celebrate the holidays.  And.. and.. and.. there were accounts of all the minutia he and his family were doing to get ready for Christmas, including going to the gym.  AND THEN he went to that damn CRAWFORD!   And on top of that… ON TOP OF THAT… NO ONE on the right called for for Richard Reid to be treated as an “enemy combatant.”  AAAAAHHH!

Well, forgive us, O, glorious One!  Since Bush did it, you’re SOOO allowed some leeway.  You and yours spent almost his entire presidency criticizing his approach to the war on terror.  Then, you spend your first year doing NOTHING ABOUT IT. 

Yeah, all Bush’s fault.

/end rant mode

When the Richard Reid bomb plot happened, it was three months after 9/11.  People were on edge, waiting for another attack.  I don’t remember how I reacted to Bush’s six day lag in a personal response, but from what I read, I didn’t see anyone saying “the system worked” before Bush managed to make a statement.  Heck, even Joe Biden said these things might still happen, and we’re lucky Reid wasn’t successful.  It appeared as if it took a few days to even establish exactly who Richard Reid was (he traveled as Richard Reid, but many thought it was an alias for a few days).

Most of the fomenting about the response time now is coming from the blogs, talking heads, and opinion columns.  There weren’t very many blogs around back in 2001.  I did a quick search, and the only real commentary, blogwise, that I found was from Talking Points Memo.  And if you look at his archive, he was hardly focused on the Reid incident.  He even mentioned that the MSM was being PC and almost downplaying the heritage of Reid.  With the recent incident, we knew the guys real name and motive within 24 hours. 

But you have to admit, most of the outrage is well-placed.  We’ve known about this guy for months and he STILL had a visa to enter the US.  We were warned by his father — that alone should be enough to suspend it pending further investigation.  But no, the left says we can’t blame Obama because he hasn’t had time to fix the problems yet. 

Oh, wait, the left spent a lot of time blaming Bush, who was in office almost 8 months, for not following up on a piece of intel that said terrorists wanted to use planes as bombs (as Andrew Breitbart pointed out on Glenn Beck today).  Hmm.  But we can’t blame Obama, who’s been in office 11 months, for not following up on CIA and parental notifications on “The Nigerian.”  OK, not sure how that works…

I will say this, however.  I think too many people are making a mountain out of a mole hill over Obama’s location.  It’s not like he’s backpacking the Appalachian trail or anything.  His words mean a lot more than his location, and his words are what are failing him now.  We sound like a bunch of screechers when we complain about the little things instead of focusing on the big ones. 

But, as much as I like him, Karl Rove needs to back off a bit.  I saw a clip of him on either Hannity or O’Reilly, I can’t remember which one, Monday night where he complained about Obama waiting a “whole 72 hours” to make a statement.  Mr. Rove was in Bush’s administration during the Reid incident.  Why didn’t Bush come out before six days during the Reid incident?  Just sayin’.

So says Chuck Todd as a means of diminishing Rush Limbaugh and his audience.  I first heard this comment while listening to Laura Ingraham on XM this morning, so I beg to differ. 

I’m in my car a lot.  I mystery shop, and I often find myself driving to more remote areas in order to pick up jobs.  I have an Austin -> Del Valle -> Wyldwood -> Luling -> Lockhart -> Austin trip that I drive each month that is about 150 miles round trip.  And when we had to cut back expenses, I told my husband I did not want to drop XM radio.  I would pick up even more jobs to pay for it.  I LOVE it, and I know exactly what I’m going to listen to when I get in the car at any time (times are Central).  And, when I make trips like the one above, I don’t have to search the radio to find something to listen to when one station is out of range.

8 am     Brian and the Judge on XM 168 OR Laura Ingraham on XM 166 (depends on the topic)
               I’ll even occasionally swing on over to Glenn Beck on XM 165
11 am   John Gibson on XM 168
2 pm     Sean Hannity on XM 166
5 pm     I used to listen to the Radio Factor, but it looks like they are bringing back Spencer Hughes instead of  inserting the Fred Thompson show here. Spencer is OK, so I might listen to this or the Special Report broadcast from Fox News on XM 121
7 pm    Glenn Beck’s Fox News Channel show replay on XM 168
8 pm    Either Rusty Humphries on XM 166 or a replay of The O’Reilly Factor on XM 168
9 pm    Either continue Rusty Humphries or even listen in on Alan Colmes on XM 168

I love my radio so much that I was devastated when they moved John Gibson to the 11 am hour (used to be the Radio Factor, but I would listen to Laura Ingraham) to take over that time slot as the Radio Factor wound down. That left a big hole for me at the 5 pm hour, a time I often take off in my car and get into traffic. About the same time, they put Laura Ingraham on during her regular live hours, which came on during Brian and the Judge. That tears me apart, but I subscribe to BATJ’s podcast, so I have the chance to listen to it if I want.

Talk radio is not dead.  When I’m on the road, there are LOTS of other cars with me.  Not all of them are listening to the crud that passes for music now.

Michelle has a post about an interview conducted with a survivor not too long after he had been rescued from Flight 1549.  The media mobbed him and shoved microphones in his face while he shivered in his freezing wet pants.  No one bothered to offer him a coat or anything.  I guess it’s that “objective observer” creed that so many of them adhere to.  Can’t change the story by interfering, eh?

This whole story is fantastic — it doesn’t seem like anything went wrong.  I’m very thankful that everyone is alive and in pretty good shape for the most part.  Everyone is hailing the pilot and crew as heroes.  I’ve read stories and seen video of the pilot’s family.  I’ve seen his whole resume online as well as accounts that the voice mail at his safety company is full. 

The problem is that almost no one in the media can let a hero stand.  I’m sure there are bloggers as well as MSMers digging into his background right now.  I pray for him and his family that we just let him stand as the hero he is today and not worry about anything that might be in his past.  I mean, if we can give Geithner a pass for not paying taxes, we sure can let this guy who saved over 150 lives let anything that might be in his past stay there. 

I’m not saying that the pilot has ANYTHING there. I’m just a cynic who worries that after he gets the key to New York he’ll be bombarded with some sort of mistake in his past that will take over the story.  I would love for this story to NOT turn out that way.  Please let this miracle stand, media.

Despite reporting during the Clinton years of the potential Freddie / Fannie bust, the New York Times spent 5000 words blaming the economic collapse ENTIRELY on the Bush administration.  The White House, understandably, was not too thrilled.

While Bush should have pressed harder for reform (he mentioned it yearly in the budget but didn’t really do anything about it), he is by no means the catalyst that deflated this economy.  Here’s the report from one of Brit Hume’s last “Special Report” broadcasts on FNC.

Later in the broadcast, Nina Easton from Fortune Magazine said, quite aptly, “You cannot write a story about affordable housing policies and blame it on George Bush instead of the Democrats!  I mean, it’s just, it’s outrageous!”

More from Michelle Malkin.

Over at Ace, he has a post that pulls a quote from a Newsbusters article excusing Blagojevich for his issues.  David Gregory said this:

(A)t the heart of all politics is pay to play. Yes. There’s a thin line between expectations and shakedown. But do any of us really believe that the people who raise huge sums of money for a particular political candidate aren’t expecting something for their efforts? Do we really believe that a person who is vested with the power to give away an Iraqi contract isn’t going to give it to the person who will somehow do him or her the most good?

Haha, not really, but can you IMAGINE if someone had said this about Dick Cheney and Halliburton?  No!  Cheney was excoriated by the left for supposedly giving his former company Halliburton contracts.

Just for clarification, please replace “an Iraqi contract” with “a Senate seat” and you’ll have Gregory’s true quote.  Not much difference, eh?

By the way, Ace argues this is just a perk afforded Democrats by the MSM.  I, however, believe this is just a special treat afforded to anyone who might tarnish The One.  If “Hot Rod” Blagojevich was “Billy Bob” Blaggard, a high-level Democrat from some southern state, the media would be all over the story calling for his head with no excuses at all.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s version of a conservative, railed on the MSMfor not investigating Obama’s background more thoroughly, especially the Blagojevichconnection in light of recent events.  He questioned the judgment of editors who sent legions of reporters to Alaska to investigate Palin without doing the same for Obama when he burst onto the scene.  During the segment, which was a discussion on an article from earlier in the year regarding the Emanuel / Blagojevich / Obama connection, Mike Barnacle had the laughable audacity to suggest that he knows that Obama’s role was overstated by Emanuel based on his “instinct.”  Scarborough threw up his hands in frustration over that comment.

I find this rather funny, considering the small amount of questioning Scarborough did during the campaign.  He did no more to question The One than others in the MSM did.  Granted, he did more than his primetime comrades, but he still went along much more than he should have.

The Democrats want the public to believe the Republicans were to blame for the auto bailout.  Evidently, the Los Angeles Times does, too.  Despite the truth.

Right now, the Democrats have 48 seats in the house (remember: Obama has resigned), plus Lieberman (I) and Sanders (I), who caucus with them.  They needed 10 more votes in order to move forward with the bailout bill.  They got exactly that.  So why did the cloture motion fail?  Four Democrats voted against it (Baucus, Lincoln, Reid, and Tester), and four didn’t vote at all (Biden, Kerry, Kennedy, and Wyden).   Commenters at Patterico propose Reid voted against it for procedural reasons since it wasn’t going to pass.

I would give Kennedy a pass, except that he made a very public return to the Senate not too long ago, so he could have made it for one vote.  Kerry? He was worried about the carbon credits he’d waste flying back from chiding Bush over the Endangered Species Act at a global warming summit in Poland.  Biden? Well, if he’s not tied up in a closet somewhere to prevent him from a gaffe during this Blagojevich mess, the VP-elect decided he didn’t need to vote because his vote wouldn’t have mattered.  Sen. Wyden claims he was on his way back to D.C. but since his vote wouldn’t have mattered either, Reid didn’t hold the vote for him.

The Democrats, bought and paid for by the UAW, couldn’t get their house in order, but they continue to place blame squarely on the Republicans.  The Dems continue to spin it that way, and the LAT has no problems following right along.

Update:  We finally know what Biden was doing.  He was in PA keeping a campaign promise to buy a German Shepherd puppy.  At least he was advertising for the Big 3, as the story mentions the SUV he took to get to PA.

Michelle Malkin has a great post about how the economic crisis is affecting newspapers.  She offers that wealthy conservatives could swoop right in and buy a couple of these ailing conglomerates and at least even out the coverage provided by those papers. 

I think making some of these militantly liberal local papers more even-handed might improve circulation.  I don’t subscribe to my local newspaper (the Austin American-Statesman) because of the lopsided coverage it provides.  I have to find out about local issues through other means.  A lot of conservatives feel the same way. 

Could the economic crisis improve the influence of the GOP in other media?  As circulation of newspapers falls, many turn to the internet for news.  There is a better representation of unfiltered conservative voices available online.  I believe that those who read newspapers are more likely to find their alternative news online than turn to the television, so we could see a rise in conservative influence that way.  Let’s hope so.

Again, the adage “the media giveth and the media taketh away” is proven with the hubbub about the Big 3 and how they are going to get to D.C. for the follow-up hearings on their bailout.  First, they were railed for flying by private jet to D.C. with tin cup in hand.  The Congressmen made a big deal of it, but the media really hammered the CEOs for their audacity. 

Now, after the Big 3’s bigwigs announced they would be driving hybrids for the second round of begging, the media puts out an article on how flying commercial would provide better MPGs.  Ugh.

I’m a firm believer of the adage, “The media giveth and the media taketh away.”  Look at the countless celebrities that are built up only to be pounced upon at the slightest misstep.  And what about people like Joe the Plumber who was thrust into the spotlight after asking a simple question?  Or Ashley Smith, who was torn down after it was learned she gave her captor meth as well as prayer during her hostage ordeal to calm him down.  And we can’t soon forget the excitement of Sarah Palin’s pick as VP nominee followed by the assassination of her and her family’s character. 

This happens to most newly-minted media darlings.  Well, except one.  Barack Obama.  None of the MSM cared to look into his past very thoroughly.  But I think his fall from grace is coming.  First, he appointed numerous throwbacks to the Clinton era to his cabinet.  Then, he said the tax hike on the rich will probably be delayed.  Now, he says that he’s keeping Gatesas SecDef. 

The MSM LOVED Obama precisely for his anti-Iraq war stance.  Keeping ANY remnants from the perceived war-mongering Bush administration is bound to piss them off.  This on top of his going back on the “change” and “tax the rich” mantras with his pronouncements so far has gotten them whispering, “Maybe he isn’t The One.”  Just wait ’til he breaks the news on universal sick care.

I think once we get through this economic meltdown, which is being worsened by governmental actions, we’ll see a gradual flow of anti-Obama stories coming on the scene from the likes of MSNBC and the NY Times.  We’ll see someone dig up his Columbia thesis and grades, or maybe that anti-Israel tape will surface.  If he doesn’t do what he was selected elected to do, I see the MSM unleashing their wrath on him around midterm elections.