By William Warren
First she defended it. Then she apologized for it.
Now she claims it was never authorized to begin with—and was sent out by some lackey employee.
For Homeland Security Advisor Janet Napolitano, the “rightwing extremism” report issued last month has been a constant drag on her brief tenure at her new post. And for good reason.
The so-called “report” warned of increased risk from “radicalized, rightwing extremists” including those who oppose abortion, those against illegal immigration, and –worst of all—disgruntled veterans. More ridiculous than the politically charged targets was the fact that the “report” pointed to no specific organizations and was based on no substantial evidence against the subversion it was allegedly reporting on.
So when the public outcry became crescendo, Ms. Napolitano naturally backpedaled. As she said last week:
“The wheels came off the wagon because the vetting process was not followed…The report is no longer out there. An employee sent it out without authorization.”
Moreover, a “Domestic Extremist Lexicon” was also released by the Department of Homeland Security and then promptly retracted. It, too, was a “mistake.”
Lying and passing the blame seems to have become de rigeur among Democrats these days. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been caught in lie after lie with regards to her knowledge of waterboarding—and has conveniently blamed the whole mess on the “lying” CIA. And, of course, President Barack Obama has blaming Bush down to a fine science.
Notably enough, the extremism memo and lexicon aren’t the only documents to be retracted on the grounds that they were “unauthorized.” A letter from the Obama Administration was recently sent to the California state government threatening to withhold California’s stimulus money if a SEIU wage cut was not rescinded. Later, however, once the unique pay-to-play tie-in had been exposed, an Obama administration official claimed the letter was sent out “inadvertently.”
Oops. No big deal.
Apparently, those in Washington think the American people are either stupid and/or not paying attention. With regard to both the “rightwing extremism” report and the extremism lexicon, Ms. Napolitano said:
“Neither were authorized products, and we have now put in place processes. And it turned out there were really no procedures to govern what went out and what didn’t before, and now there are. I do not want to see a replication of that.”
So, then, that begs the question: What other government “products”—upon reaching critical mass by the critical masses—will be similarly withdrawn on the grounds that they, too, were supposedly “unauthorized”?
Maybe Barack Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget will be withdrawn once the public realizes the economic havoc the gluttonous spend-fest will wreak upon the nation. Like Janet Napolitano and Nancy Pelosi, he could then just pass the blame along to, say, Joe Biden for instance. He does stupid, unauthorized shenanigans all the time—and the mainstream media find it adorable.
Perhaps Janet Napolitano, herself, will be withdrawn on the basis that she was not authorized? After all, to use her own words, “the wheels [have come] off the wagon,” when it comes to her own tenure as Homeland Security Secretary.
Clearly, Janet Napolitano, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and the rest fancy themselves impervious. If they can’t get away with their extreme leftwing measures, they figure they can at least get away with lying and passing the blame. Unfortunately for them, the American people aren’t as stupid as they think.
Government ineptitude is never authorized.
William Warren is a Contributing Editor of ALG News Bureau.
