The System? B+

As Gabe notes below, "The system worked" is such a fire-breathingly insane and stupid statement to make Napolitano should resign at once. Either she believes this rot, and she's too stupid and too content with pure luck being America's defense to keep her job, or she's the most viciously mendacious liar in the history of history.

And sure, I have no doubts this pap is being pushed by Axelrod, Emmanuel, and of course Captain Wonderful, who didn't feel like taking a 7 am call about what could have been a coordinated terrorist attack requiring his order for the immediate grounding of all flights.

Death Star Thermal Exhaust Port Defensive Grid? The system worked.

Hindenburg hydrogen-cell containment system? The system worked.

Delta House coordinated cheating strategy? The system worked.

Charleton "Bright-Eyes Talyor" Heston's ability to avoid being in "a madhouse"? The system worked.

League of Nations? The system worked.

Hooper's shark-cage-and-poison-spear shark-killing scheme? The system worked.

My ability to please a woman? The system worked.

Seems like the Obama Administration not only believes in Bush's statement of "the soft bigotry of low expectations," they aspire to that low bar as their standard of success.

Johah Goldberg (quoted at Instapundt) says fire Napolitano:

Understandbly, the White House is trying very hard to get out in front of the would-be Christmas bomber story. The head of the Department of Homeland Security isn't helping. I watched her on three shows and each time she was more annoying, maddening and absurd than the pevious appearance. It is her basic position that the "system worked" because the bureaucrats responded properly after the attack. That the attack was "foiled" by a bad detonator and some civilian passengers is proof, she claims, that her agency is doing everything right. That is just about the dumbest thing she could say, on the merits and politically. I would wager that not one percent of Americans think the system is "working" when terrorists successfully get bombs onto planes (and succeed in activating them). Probably even fewer think it's fair that they have to take off their shoes, endure delays and madness while a known Islamic radical — turned in by his own father — can waltz onto a plane (and into the country). DHS had no role whatsoever in assuring that this bomb didn't go off. By her logic if the bomb had gone off, the system would have "worked" since it has done everything right.

Napolitano has a habit of arguing that DHS is a first responder outfit. Its mission is to deal with "man-caused-disasters" afer they occur. It appears she really believes it. If the White House wants to assure people that it takes the war on terror seriously (a term Robert Gibbs used this morning by the way), they could start by firing this patenly unqualified hack.

By that standard the system worked fine on 9/11, too. Although there were some deadly errors (the radio system used by police and firemen was apparently bad and led to firemen's deaths), certainly "the system worked" fairly well after the carnage. Many people were evacuated, and a few even saved from the wreckage.

The system worked.

I wonder what the hell it's going to look like when the system doesn't work, by the Obama Administration's lights. If this is what they deem a "success," Good Lord in Heaven, I tremble for what will come that provokes them to concede "mistakes were made."

Adventures in The System Working: Vid of Napolitano.

I suppose one can make that argument — if one assumes that the system includes allowing a man included on a watch list onto an airplane, allowing his visa to remain in force even after his own father informs the US that he’s become a radical jihadi, assuming that any explosive said terrorist will smuggle onto the plane will fizzle out, and that only quick thinking by the other passengers on the plane kept the jihadi from trying it again while he barbecued his crotch.

Is that the actual system we put in place after 9/11? Because if it is, a lot of heads need to roll, starting with the woman who believes that this near-miss represents a validation of the system. Most of us would prefer to keep the known radical Islamist terrorists off the plane in the first place.

The stimulus? The system worked.

Appeasement? The system worked.

Diplomacy with Iran? The system worked.

Obama's got so many "successes" of this sort I don't know how many more victories this country can withstand.

Celebrity Email! I just got an email from Wile E. Coyote.

He says of ACME's various Roadrunner-destruction kits: The system worked.

He also says the system of gravity works, at least after a long enough delay that he realizes he's run out of cliff, which is unfortunate for him. But he assures me that all systems are working smoothly.

posted by Ace at 02:41 PM

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