There is NO connection at all between the following two stories:
#1
TalkLeft: Nat'l Guard May Return to FL Airports
Florida's National Guard patrolled Florida's airport terminals for a few months after 9/11. Now the National Guard troops have received “warning orders” advising them that they may return to that duty later this month.
“Several law-enforcement officials said there is no specific threat to Florida.” So why return the troops to the airports after nearly a three year absence? A cynic might suspect that the administration is trying to scare voters, or that it wants to create the illusion that the government is working to protect voters from a specific threat.
and, #2,
First Draft, Manipulating the Public through Terror Warnings: Empirical Evidence,
Noting that a study shows that, “When the federal government issues a terrorist warning, presidential approval ratings jump, a Cornell University sociologist finds. Interestingly, terrorist warnings also boost support for the president on issues that are largely irrelevant to terrorism, such as his handling of the economy.”
yeah, i thought this just this morning.
I heard somewhere Rove said something about unleashing the “doomsday machine”.
Terror level system=”doomsday machine” ?
Ed
Yesterday Arianna Huffington offered insights on the psychological effects of fear mongering in her column “Appealing To Our Lizard Brains: Why Bush Is Still Standing”.
Of course you know that OBL will be ‘captured’ (or maybe killed) on Nov. 1.
However, after the amazing display of security I saw while leaving MIA on Wednesday (security guard let multiple people walk through the detector without stopping them while the light at the top was blinking that too many people were going through) I woudln’t mind someone actually doing something to secure flights in this country…