My first Obsidian Wings post: Did Bushies push to flout threat alert rules on election eve?

My first post for Obsidian Wings. Tom Ridge claims that Rumsfeld and Ashcroft pressured him to raise the terror threat level to orange over the release of a new Bin Laden tape. Ridge says that Rumsfeld and Ashcroft sought to influence the outcome of the election. But how does Ridge know what their motives were? Rumsfeld admits that he pushed for an eleventh-hour terror alert, but he says that he was going on the intelligence. Ashcroft has yet to comment publicly.

I considered the color-coded Homeland Security Advisory system to be pure political theater from its inception. It was never a serious public information tool. The threat levels were too vague to be useful for anything besides provoking free-floating anxiety. The early HSA threat increases were the equivalent of screaming, "Alert: Something bad might happen somewhere in the world!"

In 2003, Homeland Security tightened the guidelines for increasing the threat level. In order to go from yellow (elevated) to orange (high), there had to be specific, detailed, credible evidence of an imminent attack in the U.S.. 

As I argue at ObWi it's very unlikely that the Bin Laden tape even came close to that threshold. Yet Bush administration officials were reportedly pushing for an orange alert anyway.

The Republicans were selling themselves as the only party capable of defending the nation against terrorism. Their ground game was all about suppressing voter turnout. So, a last-minute terror alert would have been doubly advantageous for the GOP. 

(Note: I won't be giving up Majikthise. Some of my posts will appear on ObWi and Majikthise, but there will continue to be Majikthise-only content.)

Comments

[Steve]

"(Note: I won't be giving up Majikthise. Some of my posts will appear on ObWi and Majikthise, but there will continue to be Majikthise-only content.)"

Good. This site is my only source of 'real' news, thanks.

[squashed]

there were few statistical and chart analysis on orange alert online. (yeah, they basically say the orange alerts have high correlation with Bush "political need" and always seem to show up on politically convenient time.

the big question... isn;t this illegal? like shouting fire in crowded hall?

....another one, remember that Osama time square video? (my experience says that one is CIA made tape to scare the public.) one day I will be justified.

[The Phantom]

Who is Obsidian Wings? What are the other players? What's the story?

[Alon Levy]

Democratic Underground, Squashed? Are you kidding us?

Phantom, Obsidian Wings is a blog that began as one of many left-right dialog forums, back in 2004 or so. It kept drifting left afterward, and main poster Hilzoy became a darling of the blogospheric left, so that now it's firmly a liberal blog.

[squashed]

They are thread with links plus crazy chatter. ignore the crazy chatter and go to the link. Plus all the data can be reconstructed.

no big deal.

Incidentally, another old timey. Remember PUMA? (Hillary so called supporter? Well if you look at all current PUMA site they are all republican bottom feeder talking point blog now.)

Lesson learned: It is possible to hijack entire blog scene with enough determination. (eg. PUMA vs. feminism blogs.)

This fake orange alert is just another way to manipulate public opinion. And they get away with it because nobody pay attention years afterward.