Over at Hullabaloo, we are reminded (and warned) about how the Bush Administration responded to the 2004 Democratic National Convention: by sending Tim Ridge out on the Sunday afterwards to declare an orange alert:
Perish the thought. This was "specific credible information" and Sec. Ridge had no choice but to come right out that particular Sunday and deliver the grim news. After all, the information they had was, uh, three years old.Ridge hadn't exactly divulged that the information was in their possession for a long time and was more along the lines of surveillance notes rather than attack plans. But any reporter -- or citizen -- with the ability to think rationally when the government screamed "TERROR!" might have noticed that this is a strange thing to see when you bring your camera to a building that's about to be attacked by al-Qaeda:
Naturally, when there is "specific credible information" that a building is about to be attacked, the Presidential Playbook instructs him to send his wife and children to the target for a photo op with the mayor and governor. Bush's decision was textbook.
Oh yes. One cannot stop a good photo-op. Too bad few people questioned this at the time.
Who knows what it will be this year. But it is a story to watch. This Administration, as Keith Olbermann has deftly explained, has a record.
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