So, that “isolated extremist” isn’t so isolated after all.  Fox News is reporting that the Embassy in Yemen has been closed “in response to ongoing Al Qaeda threats to attack American interests in the Arabian Peninsula country.”  I hope this is just a precaution against retaliation due to upcoming drone strikes.  And I hope our personnel get out of there safely.

Update: Fox is also reporting that the UK has joined the US in closing its embassy as well.

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’.

Unbelievable.  So much for not wanting to live in the past.  The Obama administration released years of Bush administration documents regarding the war on terror. 

Attorney General Holder was quoted as saying, “Too often over the past decade, the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our civil liberties.”  While this might be true, and some of the things revealed are scary, this premature release does nothing but fuel the anti-Bush fire only weeks after he left office.

This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of my ire toward this action.  How dare the administration claim Bush’s fight against people willing to do anything to kill us as a “zero-sum battle with our civil liberties” on one hand then turn right around and back legislation such as card check, the fairness doctrine, increased rendition, and enslavement of the upper-middle and upper classes to confiscate wealth to fund their populist agenda. 

At least if Bush did violate civil liberties, he did it to protect Americans from being killed by fanatics; Obama’s administration is only trying to do it to crush dissent and retain power.

Update: Ace agrees, at least with my first rant.   Redstate also has links to the documents released.

Update II: Ed over at Hot Air gives his take on at least one of the scary possibilities the lawyers thought up to get around the Fourth Amendment.  He also points out, something many are NOT reporting, that these “loopholes” the lawyers thought up were never implemented by Bush.

I’ve been following the attacks all day, and Hot Air has collected a lot of the information in one good post, so I thought I’d link it.

This is what happens when you elect a Harvard lawyer instead of a man tested by war as President.  Wanna make a bet all of them get released on bail pending trail because some judge feels sorry for them due to their long-term imprisonment without a trial?  I bet they ALL show back up for their court dates. Hopefully, we’ll have courts that will have the balls to block these pending releases like this one did.

Bonus: Read through the first link.  Notice the “give an Obama administration the benefit of the doubt” statement near the end?  Sound familiar?  This cult-like atmosphere is getting a little scary.

Update: Heh, I guess the inner lawyer might be giving way to the inner politician.  It’s a whole lot different when you actually have to make a decision, huh, Mr. President-Elect Obama?

The polls open around the country in roughly 24 hours.  If you haven’t voted, will you?  Lines will be long, but it is IMPORTANT.  Do you know who you are voting for?  Are you just voting against someone?  Either way, do it. 

You know who I voted for.  And I did vote FOR him.  I believe John McCain and Sarah Palin are right for this country now.  I firmly believe they will do everything in their power to cut wasteful government spending.  That is my biggest concern.  If the government is smaller, we all do better. 

My second biggest concern is our national security.  McCain is KNOWN.  Our enemies know he’ll respond if attacked.  Obama has pretty much allowed for a free shot or two, and Biden assured us it would happen.  Obama also has no real plan for energy independence, which goes directly to our security.  He recently said his policies would bankrupt coal companies and allow energy prices to skyrocket. 

Another huge concern of mine is payback.  Obama has $600 M worth of favors he will owe to his donors.  And McCain?  He owes $84 M worth of favors to his donors, too.  The difference?  Obama owes big unions, lawyers, Soros, and other big contributors.  McCain?  He owes US.  WE financed his campaign, just as he promised to let us do.

Not enough?  Here’s the link to the comprehensive case against Obama.  Read it.  Watch the videos.  Look at my more recent posts for information on Khalidi, coal, and other items that have cropped up since the original case was made. 

You’ll know who to vote for after all of that.

Iran has threatened the US with suicide attacks.  Maybe McCain hasn’t seen that yet, because he did not bring it up at his rally this morning.  He needs to bring it up at the next one. 

Remind voters that the economy is not the only issue in this nation right now, and here’s a new threat of suicide bombers by the country Obama wants to invite to the White House for a nice social dinner.  McCain needs to show people that this is the proof that what Biden said WILL come true if Obama is elected.

You gotta love that Joe!  First, he says Obama is “articulate and bright and clean.”  Then, he says that Obama is not ready to be president and also questioned his policy to talk with Iran without preconditions.  He also questioned Obama’s plan to leave Iraq.  And that’s just before he was named VP.

Afterward, Biden said that Hillary would have been a better choice for VP.  He also called one of his own campaign ads referring to McCain’s e-mail abilities “terrible.” 

Yesterday, Biden told a group in San Francisco Seattle to prepare for Obama to be tested during his first six months.  He warns of an “international crisis” that will require their supporters to stand behind them no matter their decisions, a caution that suggests he’s worried about how The One will handle the situation.

The timing of this statement is curious, seeing as how it was reported over the weekend that intelligence officials began briefing the campaigns, and the FBI has begun vetting aides to help with a smoother transition (many of Bush’s aides had not yet been vetted by 9/11).  I wonder if Joe is letting a cat out of the bag?

Update: I misread the article.  I saw San Francisco instead of Seattle, thinking San Fran just brought out the worst in the O-B team.  It has been corrected above.

Update II: Ralph Peters agrees.  Let us count the ways we’re screwed!