Hard-Left And Liberal Paranoia
By Gary Aldrich (07/11/03)
Two days after the Fourth of July and 663 terrorist attack-free days after September 11, yet another Liberal columnist lobs a nasty spitball at the Bush Administration.
This time the culprit is David Broder. His unfair and inaccurate assault appeared in the Washington Post, a newspaper that could never be accused of looking favorably at any Republican Administration. In his unfounded, paranoid rant, Broder alleges that our “first responders are woefully unprepared to cope with another terrorist assault.” He also complains that our hospitals “are inadequately prepared for a massive influx of injured patients.”
Exactly how did David Broder come to these terrifying conclusions? Why he consulted Warren Rudman, a former U.S. Senator from the state of New Hampshire. Although no adequately clarified, Broder accepts Rudman’s superior expertise without question. Rudman helped craft a report on the state of our first responders, and apparently his word is better than the Department of Homeland Security.
Broder confronted Gordon Johndrow, Homeland Security Department’s press secretary, about Rudman’s claims. This humble public servant defended the Bush Administration’s track record. He pointed out that Rudman’s estimate of how much money should be spent on first responders was “grossly inflated.” Because Johndrow (whose job description alone would claim a higher level of expertise) disagreed with Rudman, Broder unkindly characterized him as a lackey who was only interested in defending his boss.
Here’s the story: So far Congress has approved $27 Billion for the federal government’s perceived needs of emergency responders over the next five years. Rudman thinks it should be $98 Billion.
How Rudman disagrees with current spending – and suggests a nearly 400% increase – is anybody’s guess, and if Broder knows, he never says. But let’s be honest. Rudman’s and Broder’s logic to push federal control over local matters is downright, well, socialistic. You see, according to Rudman and his fan Broder, local firemen, police, and hospital authorities are incapable of gathering together as professionals to determine how they might better respond to a serious calamity that could destroy property or injure citizens.
Furthermore, we’re to believe that city, county, and state governments are dumb, dumber and dumbest when it comes to planning ahead for emergencies. States that routinely suffer hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes are not exempt from the presumption that only nameless, faceless bureaucrats in Washington can manage agencies that previously have performed quite well, thank you very much, when faced with human tragedy.
There is no allowance in the thinking of your average Liberal for those who would fly clear across this great land of our at their own expense to help locals involved in a massive effort to clean up after an attack or natural disaster. In fact, that’s just what happened after September 11. Thousands of trained, experienced individuals traveled immediately from all over the country to New York and Virginia to help with the rescue and clean-up efforts.
Those who could not contribute their physical presence opened up their wallets and sent millions of dollars to help. They were well aware that the federal government would do what it could, but that the size of the event on that day required that every able citizen pitch in. We did, and we would do it again in the event of another attack. That’s because we’re Americans! This is what we do!
For Broder, a typical Liberal, and Rudman, a typical Liberal-enabler, there is no problem small enough for a massive, bureaucratic solution. Never mind that the feds never do anything as well as the locals, save national defense. Never mind that it’s impossible to make every police radio compatible and insane to insist that every hospital in the United States be capable of caring for thousands of patients at a moment’s notice.
Hard-left Liberals are infamous for pandering to our fears so as to expand and bloat the federal government. They are also utterly unfair to their political opponents. They bend, twist and torture the facts in order to make Republicans look bad. How else could you explain Broder’s outrageous crack that the Homeland Security Department was recommended by Rudman before September 11, 2001, but only instituted by Bush “after the attacks”? His entire article is nothing more than the Liberals’ now-standard, desperate attempt to trash an honorable, popular President’s much-deserved leadership abilities.
In doing so, Broder completely ignores and gives a pass to Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton. Remember him? He’s the guy who gave us only an anemic “investigation on terrorism,” even after Osama Bin Laden bombed our U.S. warship, the U.S.S. Cole. Even if Clinton had realized the gravity of the threat against the United States, he would not have had the ability to properly convey that threat to an incoming president – he had no credibility.
After all, Bill Clinton thought so little of the threat to this nation that he spent his time chasing skirts around his Oval Office desk.
Hardly the behavior of a man who believes his country is about to be attacked and needs a massive government reorganization to address it. But Broder has apparently forgotten all about Bill Clinton’s appalling national security track record, and is instead content to criticize Republicans on the issue of protecting the homeland. What a crock.
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