Opinion:

Howard Dean should be rebuked by John Kerry

Howard Dean was completely out of line in questioning the timing of the announcement on Sunday regarding intelligence on terrorist threats to specific buildings in the United States. I'm also not happy with the reaction of the Kerry campaign to the announcement or to Dean's remarks. The fact that Mr. Dean is not being excoriated up and down from people on both sides of the political spectrum shows how bad things have gotten, illustrating perfectly the loss of trust that our political opponents are acting in what they believe is the best interests of the country, even if we disagree with their actions.

The fact that the Department of Homeland Security chose to give a reasonably detailed accounting of the intelligence regarding the threats is an unalloyed Good Thing. I am very glad that they have realized that an informed public is an aware and ready public that can be mobilized to assist in counter-terrorism (which I have mentioned more than once here). As has been pointed out by Glenn Reynolds, more often than not the public can act against terrorists faster and more effectively than the authorities as was proven on September 11, 2001. As he quotes a law enforcement official saying, "You can deputize a nation," but only if you disseminate the relevant information. The announcement on Sunday was a great stride in moving towards the goal of "acting as a pack, not a herd."

Having said that, it was also disingenuous at best for Tom Ridge to say during his briefing on Sunday that we can attribute our increased preparedness to the leadership of President George W. Bush. Not only did it give moonbats like Dean ammunition to say the announcement was political rather than real, but also a briefing on intelligence regarding specific terrorist targets is no place for sound bites to be used in political campaigns.

As the news conference played live on CNN International here in France yesterday, I was mentally preparing a post with unstinting praise for the Bush administration in being so forthcoming with the specific intelligence they have regarding these attack plans. As I was getting ready to write, Tom Ridge made his statement praising President Bush. The anger that arose in me surprised me. I didn't realize how strongly I feel that we should focus on getting the message out on the intelligence and not dilute it with political statements, no matter how much in passing. I know, one could argue that President Bush is showing leadership in combating terrorism, but there is a time and a place for Mr. Ridge to express his opinion on that, and announcement on intelligence on potential attacks is not the time or the place.

I fear for our democracy, because similar to the time immediately before the Civil War we are losing sight of one of the fundamental principles upon which our Constitution is based. This principle being lost is that people of good conscious and good faith can have different fundamental philosophies of society and government and still accept that their opponents also want what is best for the country. All semblance of respect or even crude attempts at understanding has been thrown by the wayside in the past several years, and now anyone who disagrees is called a "moron" or a "traitor" or worse. Read your history, see how divided the country was before the Civil War, and the climate is markedly similar to what we have now. At that time, the nation was divided along lines where geography matched culture and political alignments. We are no longer divided in that way, but unfortunately we also have external enemies that we did not have at that time, enemies with access to insidious techniques to create fear, a fear that is greater than any since the 1950s when fear of "Communist fifth columnists" was at it's height, a fear that was exacerbated by the development of the H-bomb by the USSR. If we do not overcome this fear, it will destroy us.

Despite the remark by Tom Ridge regarding the leadership of the President during his briefing on Sunday, I feel that both Mr. Ridge and the administration in general are honestly doing what they feel is best to ensure the safety of the country and its citizens. The remarks of Mr. Dean questioning the timing of the announcement were completely unjustified, and the Kerry campaign should be taking the lead for all Democrats in condemning both the remarks and the attitude underlying them.