Outrageous Outrage of the Day: Napolitano Says ‘The System Worked’
In the latest nontroversy sweeping the wingnut blogosphere, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was interviewed on CNN yesterday, and said, “The system worked.”
The usual blogs are yelling and screaming and running around in faux outrage, claiming that Napolitano said the system worked because passengers tackled the would-be terrorist. Some are even calling for her to be fired.
But here’s the video clip in question, and Napolitano’s point is pretty clear: she was saying the system worked because the system-wide response following the incident worked smoothly.
Sorry, can’t join in the outrage on this one either. She definitely worded it badly, but calling for her to be fired over this? That’s ridiculous.
But outrageous outrages have their effect, and Napolitano has now taken back her initial clumsy remark.
“Our system did not work in this instance,” Napolitano told “The Today Show.” “No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way.”
Napolitano initially had said the system worked in an interview with CNN that aired over the weekend. She said Monday that her earlier comment was taken out of context.
UPDATE at 12/28/09 1:44:59 pm:
By the way, last June a majority of Republicans in the House voted against a bill that would have installed bomb detection systems at airports.
Republicans have cast votes against the key TSA funding measure that the 2010 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security contained, which included funding for the TSA, including for explosives detection systems and other aviation security measures. In the June 24 vote in the House, leading Republicans including John Boehner, Pete Hoekstra, Mike Pence and Paul Ryan voted against the bill, amid a procedural dispute over the appropriations process, a Democrat points out. A full 108 Republicans voted against the conference version, including Boehner, Hoekstra, Pence, Michelle Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, Darrell Issa and Joe Wilson.
The conference bill included more than $4 billion for “screening operations,” including $1.1 billion in funding for explosives detection systems, with $778 million for buying and installing the systems.
