Recently in Terrorism Slander Category

Rachel Maddow's takedown of former Vice President Dick Cheney and the other Republicans who are politicizing the foiled terror attempt on Northwest 253 is a must watch segment.

As she asks throughout the piece, where was Vice President Cheney's outrage when the administration in which he was serving had a similar reaction to the shoe bombing in December 2001? And, as Maddow notes at the end of this piece, members of the media have a choice, they can "just copy down what the Republicans and Vice President Cheney are saying, and click send, and call it journalism, or you can actually fact check those comments and put them into context."

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I agree with Digby, and thank Richard Clarke for pointing out that the trauma of September 11, 2001, is no excuse for bad decisions made by government leaders. As Clarke writes:

Yet listening to Cheney and Rice, it seems that they want to be excused for the measures they authorized after the attacks on the grounds that 9/11 was traumatic. "If you were there in a position of authority and watched Americans drop out of eighty-story buildings because these murderous tyrants went after innocent people," Rice said in her recent comments, "then you were determined to do anything that you could that was legal to prevent that from happening again."

I have little sympathy for this argument. Yes, we went for days with little sleep, and we all assumed that more attacks were coming. But the decisions that Bush officials made in the following months and years -- on Iraq, on detentions, on interrogations, on wiretapping -- were not appropriate. Careful analysis could have replaced the impulse to break all the rules, even more so because the Sept. 11 attacks, though horrifying, should not have surprised senior officials. Cheney's admission that 9/11 caused him to reassess the threats to the nation only underscores how, for months, top officials had ignored warnings from the CIA and the NSC staff that urgent action was needed to preempt a major al-Qaeda attack.

Thus, when Bush's inner circle first really came to grips with the threat of terrorism, they did so in a state of shock -- a bad state in which to develop a coherent response. Fearful of new attacks, they authorized the most extreme measures available, without assessing whether they were really a good idea.

I believe this zeal stemmed in part from concerns about the 2004 presidential election. Many in the White House feared that their inaction prior to the attacks would be publicly detailed before the next vote -- which is why they resisted the 9/11 commission -- and that a second attack would eliminate any chance of a second Bush term. So they decided to leave no doubt that they had done everything imaginable.

There should be no excusing this. Nor forgiving it. And as the evidence suggests, more investigations are in order.

We must come to terms with what happened if we hope to restore our national honor.

I was just catching up on the first few parts of Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll's story of her 82-day kidnapping ordeal in Iraq.

It is a fascinating story. You can start reading it here.

The title of this post, however, is directed at I. Macias Jr., of San Antonio, Texas. The Monitor, you see, is giving people the opportunity to ask Carroll questions about her ordeal. I. Macias Jr. offered the following slanderous inquiry:

"Because of your well-known support of everything Muslim, many of your fellow Americans, including myself, believe your capture was not real, but was in fact conducted and staged with your cooperation, and, that you are a traitor to your country as well as to your family and friends. What is your response to those allegations?"

There really isn't a circle of hell low enough for I. Macias Jr.

They must not have been handing out much decency -- or brainpower -- on the day I. Macias Jr. joined the planet.

Over on Atrios, Athenae links to a post on The Poor Man blog that exposes another Republican terrorism slander:

Louisville-AP -- A Republican leader applauded a bumper sticker being circulated in Louisville that reads "Kerry is bin Laden's Man/Bush is Mine" as Democrats decried it.

Jefferson County G-O-P chairman Jack Richardson the Fourth says he didn't know the bumper sticker's origins, but agreed with its message.

Richardson says the local G-O-P had no involvement in creating the bumper stickers, but said the stickers were available at the county's GOP headquarters.

I don't think I'll hold my breath.

I normally respect Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) since we share a deficit hawk mentality, and he was one of the few members of Congress who allowed the public to access Congressional Research Reports through his web site before the House leadership ended that program.

But he committed a terrorism slander during yesterday's PATRIOT ACT debate. As reported by the Center for American Progress' Progress Report, Shays told his colleagues that:

"I have 70 constituents who lost their rights on September 11; and to hear this debate, I am not sure we seem to care about that."

One thing I am really quite tired of seeing is Republican officeholders, staff members, and operatives slandering people as being anti-American or supporting the terrorists just because they dare to disagree with the GOP talking points.

So, I am creating this new category -- Terrorism Slander -- to keep a record of these baseless claims and pathetic charges.

Oh. And we have a nominee from yesterday's PATRIOT ACT vote debate.

Justifying the Republican leadership's decision to keep the vote open for an extra 23 minutes so they could strong-arm enough vote changes to avert a loss, Stuart Roy, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told the New York Times' Eric Lichtblau for the July 9 edition that:

"We're more interested in catching terrorists who are trying to kill Americans than we are in leaving the Capitol in time for happy hour."

Feel free to send future nominees for the Terrorism Slander category to slander(at)cheslog.com. Feel free to send blasts from the past as well.