It has been amazing to me that Republican politicians somehow get a pass as members of a party that is as chicken-livered as they repeatedly demonstrate themselves to be. Reading the story, I can only conclude that the alleged - what? arsonist? - was not only "aspirational" as a member of al Qaeda, but as a "terrorist" as well. Like the so-called shoe bomber a few years back, these people are not scary, they're just not-that-bright folk, and the fact that his entire plot ended up with him getting burns on his leg and beat up by passengers should tell anyone paying attention the extent to which he represented a threat to the plane, to air travel, and to American security.
My real problem is with the only politician quoted here - Rep. Peter King (R-NY) who demonstrates, once again, that Republicans have no grasp of American power, or what demonstrates a "real deal". Some moron burns his leg and Peter King says, "it could have been devastating". In what way? That a plane might, incongruously, been brought down by this dork? While highly improbable, even if that had happened, it would have been devastating to the families of the victims, to be sure; it might have been devastating to the physical infrastructure of an airport in one of America's poorest cities, too. Devastating to American power, security, and interests? Only if one is so terrified of one plane being destroyed that it makes you run for cover.
Or perhaps King, like Republican politicians for most of the past decade, isn't so much scared himself as he is wanting the American people to be afraid. Fear is a marvelous tool for manipulating the public to do all sorts of things they might not otherwise do. Waving the bloody shirt is a tired Republican tactic - get Americans quaking in their boots at the prospect that some nasty people out there (and how wonderful it was someone from Nigeria!) might do something to hurt them - and my guess is it's just an old playbook King is using here.
Yet, by returning to it once again, all I can think is he might just be a little afraid of the nasty al Qaeda mens himself, you know? The Republican Party in general shows a tendency to quake in their boots at the thought that something bad might happen to the American people. Infantalizing the American people is bad enough. Showing cowardice like this is even worse.
Virtual Tin Cup
