Fear and loathing in Houston. MSNBC is reporting the obvious: Security will be tight for the Superbowl

If a terrorist was going to attack in a spetacular manner, ala 9/11, then the extra security might actually prove its mettle.

If a terrorist, or terrorists were to perform an insidious attack, then all this extra security would be for naught. This is all to calm any jittery fans, it would not hinder in the least a chem, bio, or even a common bombing - provided that the bomb casing(s) were made of a non-metallic material.

We are at the mercy of the terrorists. That is the message out government wishes to convey. With a background alert color of yellow(elevated), the government has condittioned much of the populcae to be fearful. This is the only explanation for GWB's apparent popularity. He's the dry drunk dad that'll beat those bad children should they act out.

If anyone can effectively move the dialogue away from a faux national security, towards what our TRUE threats are, Bush has nothing. NOTHING.

I'd say he has nothing at present. The attack occurred under his watch, and depending on what the 9/11 Commission is able to uncover, he may have a lot of explaining to do.

The NYT article Contains this nugget:

"The White House confirmed news reports last year that an Oval Office intelligence summary presented to Mr. Bush shortly before the attacks suggested that terrorists might be planning an attack using passenger planes."

Of course the GOP is accusing the Democrats of playing politics. This is not a political issue. It is one of responsibility and of getting to the truth about any and all items that have any bearing pre 9/11, or post for that matter.

The Commission must be allowed all the time it needs to do a thorough job. If the Bush administration has an issue with that, it should have released the materials when the Commission first requested them. Someone IS playing politics, but it is not the Democrats.