the context of her comment has become totally irrelevant and even dem talking heads on cable accept the notion that she made a terrible gaffe, but this is still a ridiculous reason to call for her resignation.

It was a dumb thing to say.

Steve, about halfway through you started referring to Burton as Barton, presumably the Texas whacko.

I'm in my early 20s and have lived most of my life in Dan Burton's district. It almost makes me cry thinking about that...

[I think I got all of them. Thanks. -Mod]

But Republicans know that if they just keep demanding that a Democrat resign, or that his or her nomination be withdrawn, they will get their way. The Democrats always cave to right wing hissy fits. They never stand up for each other, they never tell the wingers to go to hell, and they never never never never counter-attack.

In contrast, the only people who lost their jobs during the Bush/Cheney Junta were those who failed to show absolute fealty to the Bush/Cheney Junta. Complete fuck-ups were rewarded (Cf. Wall Street.)

If we're gonna start getting rid of people because one in a while they say something STUPID then I believe we can get rid of Congress...beginning with every gopper that compared the President to Hitler...then we can start whittling down on 'stupidness'...OK?

I said it a long time ago...you keep this crap up and you only get mediocre people to run for office...yes, it's happened.

Oh, but I've upgraded! I left Dan Burton's district for college, which just happens to be in Mike Pence's district. And that does make me cry.

And he's my congressman. What a fucking disgrace.

God help us.

And Michael, you must be at Ball State. Though we were very impressed with the place, my daughter is off to Purdue.

Though we've got a bunch of backwards redneck hicks here in Indiana we do have some fine upstanding public universities.

I was in the car a lot today listening to right-wing radio (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity shows -- all guest hosts) and this was definitely the topic. They smell blood but I doubt they'll get any.

jharp,

Yep, I'm here at Ball State. I have a lot of friends at Purdue. Nice place. I hope your daughter gets out of there before Mitch Daniels cuts even more higher education funding and makes it too expensive.

I'll never understand how we have such a good educational system here given the political climate of the state.

Ms. Napolitano wasn't fibbing anyway when she said "the system worked" and implied the public action was part of that success. As I said, "the system" really does incorporate the public, and they did "work." Note the public involvement to the workings of the criminal justice system, public health, traffic safety, and so on. Soon after 9/11 citizens were told to be on watch, how to notice and report suspicious activity etc. Many events were foiled by citizens in places "authorities" could not act. How odd, that conservatives who allegedly so value the people and disdain the government, wouldn't want to include the general public as part of "the system" that protects us from attack. Let's *us* stop acting like they were right to pick on Napolitano, imperfect as she may be.

tyrannogenius

Not a single official resigned or was fired over the fiasco that occured on Sept. 11, 2001. Instead, we were assured by the Bush administration that nobody was to blame for its total failure to anticipate, pre-empt, or respond to the highjackings of three airplanes and the disasters that followed. But let an attempted highjacking under a Democratic president fail, and Bush loyalists will demand resignations as if on cue.

This stupid meme was in the editorial in today's Santa Fe New Mexican! I don't know why Napolitano's feet are being held to the fire over a comment, while the entire Bush administration was given divine absolution after 9-11 when they allowed the attack to actually occur, whether by incompetence...or, as I am beginning to belief, by design! NO! NO! NO! The wingnuts do not get to be critical over this!!!!!

Good points just above. Re Napolitano, I meant her comment per the involvement of the public once the attack started, but of course there was failure about letting him get on to start with.

Note Obama's maturity in admitting failures occured, versus BushCo and supporters never admitting wrongdoing - REM Bush being asked about ever making mistakes, and his defenders saying he should say "no" (he followed their advice) because see, that just rewards the anti-Bush gotcha press! Pathetic people, their successors *must* be stopped

[I think I got all of them. Thanks. -Mod]

nope. you missed at least three:

Barton called for Napolitano's ouster because, as he sees it,

Think about that. A high-ranking cabinet official should quit, Barton believes,

Americans have every reason to have lost confidence in Barton,/i>

your pal,
blake

If only a dem with some guts would say what many of these GOPers are thinking-- dammit, if only the bombing plot had succeeded we could be planning for Obama's impeachment before the new year starts.

I'm being glib, however, but I think we need to keep this in mind-- the GOP doesn't just want to defeat Obama's agenda, they want to take him down and will use any opportunity to do so. At this point I wonder how many so-called lefties/PUMAs would join in.

The failure of him getting on the plane is the same root problem re 9-11: airport security checks. The guy had the materials stashed IN HIS UNDERWEAR! Like how hard is it to find that? People can argue about this 'watch list' or that 'watch list,' but was this simply a failure of privatized airport security, and if so, when I hear the word privatization...it leads back to CONSERVATIVE philosophy.

Hi Blake - Try hitting refresh. I went back and double-checked, and all those examples have been corrected. Thanks. -Mod

Obviously, calling for her resignation is wacked. However, when I heard Napolitano say that the system "worked," I wondered what system of airline safety requires passengers to jump a guy with a bomb. That was a Bush type thing to say.

Maybe Joe Lieberman, head of the Senate HS Committee, should resign also. What has he been doing with that committee?