The arrests of the terrorists in England yesterday has once again brought home the danger we all face from fanatical Muslim killers. Now an intense debate over your security has broken out between the left and the right in the USA.
The left wing New York Times editorialized today: "We want to understand as much as possible about what the terrorists were planning. It would be a blessed moment in modern American history if we could do that without turning this into a political game plan."
It is understandable why The Times doesn't want to get into a partisan debate over the issue, because that newspaper and the left in general opposes most information gathering techniques used by the Bush administration. Things like spontaneous phone surveillance by the NSA of suspected overseas calls, and coerced interrogation of captured terror suspects.
Indeed, the right wing editorial page at The Wall Street Journal said this, "The [London terror] plot was foiled because a large number of people were under surveillance concerning their spending, travel and communications. Which leads us to wonder if Scotland Yard would have succeeded if the ACLU or The New York Times had first learned the details of such surveillance programs."
That sarcastic reference is, of course, about The Times exposing an entirely legal financial terror monitoring program the Bush administration had in place. That controversial decision by The Times has badly damaged the paper in the court of public opinion. Because of things like that, the left is with a decision. Either change its policies on terror or go on the attack against the Bush administration. Guess what [DNC Chair] Howard Dean has decided to do?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: The president, his team out there, Karl Rove and all those folks, they're trying to scare people again. They're trying -- you know, you hear what they said about [Conneticut Senate candidate] Ned Lamont's [primary] win? Oh, well, that's a good thing for Al Qaeda. That's what Dick Cheney said. I'll tell you what the best recruiting tool for Al Qaeda has been, and you know who that is. If you want a real change in this country, we have to stop trying to scare people in order to win elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now there is no question that Iraq remains the weakest part of the Bush anti-terror strategy, leaving Americans with the same old question, which party will protect us best against the Islamic fascists?
And that's "The Memo."
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
Another big thank-you to all "Factor" viewers. Yesterday was a big news day as the terror plot was smashed.
"The Factor" beat its four cable news competitors combined with more than 100,000 homes to spare. Incredible, not ridiculous. We really appreciate you guys watching us.
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