The most widely debated issue of the 2002 campaign will be that natural tendency by Democrats toward treason-a tendency that is so second-nature to them they don't even notice it in themselves. The shock of the 2002 Congressional results will wake up the few among them who are still salvagable...
<<It's Terrorism, Stupid
by Dick Morris
Rarely has there been more of a disjuncture between the real feelings of most Americans and the focus of the liberal mainstream media. While The New York Times is preoccupied with the "swirling" investigation into the warnings about 9/11 and liberal commentators zealously focus on potential invasions of our civil liberties, voters are solidly behind tough measures to combat terror even at the expense of an erosion of certain civil liberties. The danger they see is another terrorist attack.
The Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll of June 6 reflects the true priorities of most Americans. By 63 percent to 24 percent, they support "expanding law-enforcement powers to catch suspected terrorists, even if it requires sacrificing some personal civil liberties." Indeed, by 64 percent to 21 percent, they would be willing to give up some of their own "personal" liberties in order to fight terrorism.
While the liberal media scrutinizes all government measures to fight terror, the public remains largely trusting of the government to do what is right. Asked what they worry about more, "the FBI spying on you or the FBI not doing enough spying on potential terrorists," only 13 percent are looking over their own shoulder, while 71 percent are concerned about possible FBI inaction.
Polls also indicate that most Americans have had enough of watching 80-year-old ladies being searched for weapons at airports while strapping young men pass, with only cursory inspection, onto the aircraft. They agree that political correctness, in its most ridiculous manifestation, is hampering our ability to stop terrorism.
By 54 percent to 34 percent, voters approve of "using racial profiling to screen Arab-male airline passengers." They recognize the vast difference between profiling the description of suspects of a specific crime and generic racial profiling for traffic stops to turn up drugs.
We know that a long and depressing list of terrorist attacks - culminating in 9/11 - have been executed by Arab men between the ages of 17 and 40. There is every reason to stop all such men who seek to board airplanes and subject them to intensive searches.
If a tall, blonde, Caucasian male is seen robbing a bank, there's nothing wrong with stopping each such man nearby to check if he has the stolen cash in his car. The past activities of Arab males have made it appropriate and reasonable to single them out for special inspection at airports and elsewhere. That this will inconvenience certain innocent people is too bad. It is necessary to prevent terrorism.
A very real and specific fear of new terror preoccupies America's mind. Half of all Americans believe that "terrorists will detonate a nuclear device on U.S. soil" within the next 10 years - and 16 percent expect it within the next 12 months. With the threat of such devastation hovering overhead, people are a lot less interested in the Washington effort to apportion blame for 9/11.
To read the media is to see an America turning on itself frothing with questions about who knew what and when did they know it. To read the polls is to find a nation united and committed to taking the next steps to battle terror. Largely trusting of the government, it is quite willing to see common-sense actions to fight and prevent terror, even if they outrage the civil libertarian purists in our midst.>> |
