Here Comes The Boom

Steve Benen notes that James Taranto's piece in the WSJ seems to suggest that Republicans should be rooting for another terrorist attack so that A) they can blame Obama and B) they can run Dick Cheney in 2012.

If the Bush administration's policies really did keep us safe for 7 1/2 years, then it stands to reason that the Obama administrations' policies may be endangering us now. Certainly that is how the public would see it in the event of another terrorist attack.

If that happens, heaven forbid, Obama will be seen to have failed in the most basic presidential duty, and the Bush administration will be vindicated. As inconceivable as it may seem today, the 2012 election may end up turning on national security. Republicans would be wise to nominate someone with both toughness and experience. Under such circumstances, it's hard to think of a better candidate -- assuming, of course, that he could be persuaded to run -- than Richard B. Cheney.

And Benen of course is right: wingnut conservatives want to see Americans die so that Obama loses in 2012.

It's like reading a dispatch from an alternate reality. Taranto believes the White House isn't taking national security threats seriously. That's crazy. Taranto believes the Bush/Cheney team was effective in combating terrorism. That's wrong. Taranto believes Dick Cheney should be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012. I don't even have a good adjective for that one.

But it's Taranto's point about how he wants the public to react "in the event of another terrorist attack" that's especially odious here. It falls into a tired and offensive pattern among far-right voices -- laying down markers now so they can blame Obama if/when there's another terrorist attack on American soil. This has been happening pretty consistently for months, and it continues to be ridiculous.

Does anyone continue to be surprised at this after the last eight years? In all seriousness we have people taken seriously as political pundits basically saying that the best way for the GOP to get back in power is for another major terror attack on U.S. soil just to prove their theories about Obama to be correct.

Think about that.