A prime example is one I was reminded of by blogger Craig Chelsock, who wrote about my view on misplaced federal priorities at the time:
Talkleft's Jeralyn Merritt points out another example of misplaced federal priorities:
At 2:00 PM today, Attorney General Ashcroft announced a new and major effort to crack down on online drug paraphernalia sales, along with major criminal indictments. Ashcroft criticized former Attorney General Janet Reno for not enforcing the laws with the same zeal that he possesses.
Can he be serious? We are on the precipe of war. The American public is constantly reminded we are under high to very high terror alerts, and Ashcroft and Bush want to go after bong sellers?
And now this law enforcement officer wants to carry that tune? At some point you think it is going to turn out to be a satire. Alas, it is true.
Falkenrath Complaint Item #2: If there's an acquittal, the defendant adjudicated not guilty might end up released in the U.S. despite being dangerous. His assumption: the prosecutors blew a good case. Aside from having no support for such a proposition, he ignores the fact that the accused, if not a U.S. citizen or here on a valid green card, would immediately be transferred to ICE custody for removal. Nor does he acknowledge that President Obama has refused to rule out the possibility of continued detention for those found not guilty whom the U.S. believes to be a danger. All Obama promised was not to call label them "enemy combatents. A rose by any other name...as the saying goes.
Item #3: He's worried that grant money is going to emergency preparedness (as in first responders) instead of programs designed to prevent terrorism. I hope Former Sen. Gary Hart chooses to respond to Falkenrath's specious argument, as he has before, such as in this response to former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani. It is equally applicable to Falkenrath:
The first date was when the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century issued its final report warning, as did its previous reports, of the danger of terrorist attacks on America. The George W. Bush administration did nothing about these warnings and we lost 3,000 American lives. What did you do during those critical eight months? Where were you? Were you on the defensive, or were you even paying attention?
Before you qualify to criticize Democrats, Mr. Giuliani, you must account for your preparation of your city for these clearly predicted attacks. Tell us, please, what steps you took to make your city safer.
Until you do, then I strongly suggest you should keep your mouth shut about Democrats and terrorism. You have not qualified to criticize others, let alone be president of the United States.
See, I knew Hart could say it better than I could.
