Obama accussed of failure to properly vet Richardson

Where is that headline? Can't find it? See... that headline criticizes the vetted, as well as the vettor. We did see this headline when the teenage pregnancy story broke after Sarah Palin was picked by McCain to be her running mate. The headline in that case was complete fiction, because McCain had been told about the pregnancy during vetting, and picked Palin anyway. Yet for weeks the story lines questioning John McCain's vetting process kept coming. The mythology once created, is treated as fact by news and entertainment media to this day.

In this case of course, well Bill Richardson was kind of an "odd" fit anyway. That's NBC's cover story. Evidently, according to NBC, he was just picked because he was Hispanic. Golly, I must have missed it last week when NBC was reporting that!

All of the discussion will be about Bill Richardson. This morning Obama gave a press conference with Nancy Pelosi on unrelated issues, but no questions were allowed. I didn't even hear questions shouted out to Obama. My... the press is so well mannered around him. The press may ask Obama, later today, about his vetting process. If they do, it will be only to put their own stamp of approval on it. There will be no lingering questions about Obama's vetting process.

I guess this is prediction #3 for 2009.

Predictions for the New Year

The new year doesn't start for another 3 weeks of course. Sure it's 2009, already Jan 3 in fact, but nothing really changes until Obama swears in as president. Then things will change. Overnight.

Here are one or two predictions to start with. The Guantanamo thing will suddenly become more complex. Well, we can't just release them... because some of these people are hardened terrorists sworn to kill Americans! Oh sure.... it was handled wrong by the Bush Administration, could have been handled differently. Oh and the torture.... the torture!

Torture at Gitmo of course consists of a marine touching a copy of the Koran in full view of a Muslim prisoner, or I suppose, in full view of another marine who happens to be Muslim. Liberals believe the prisoners should have been charged with crimes or released, you know... like on CSI:Miami. They do it twice week on CSI... why not Gitmo? I really never saw the left explain how we go about charging people from the middle east with breaking the law as it's written in New York City. But that was the problem with Bush, evidently. Enemy combatants indeed!

All that changes when Obama becomes president. Suddenly the media starts to have an honest discussion about actual terrorists being held in Guantanamo. Instead of worrying about holding them illegally, the left will worry about what would happen if just one of them made their way to Manhattan.

The discussion changes from "What ARE YOU going to do with them President Bush", to "what SHOULD WE do with them". It's about time.

On a related note, the country will experience it's first serious thwarted terror attack in 2009 or 2010. Up until now, of course, the last 7 years, attack plans have been drawn up by Keystone Terrorists. The plans are laughable, simple minded, fantasy laden, amateur hour attempts that sources say were not to be taken seriously.

The media, including the NY Times, has minimized and ridiculed every attack plan. In every case the plan is derided as being a pipe dream of a lone nut wannabe terrorist that could never have succeeded. High school kids drawing up an attack on home room are treated with far more seriousness than terrorists by our media. Had the CIA or FBI been able to ferret out the 911 conspirators and prevent that attack... that plan would have been just as ridiculed by the NY Times. Imagine the absurdity... cutting through cable to topple the Brooklyn Bridge,,, running planes into buildings as if they were missiles.

The next thwarted plan will be big, big news. Page 1 Headlines. Like coach Jimmy Johnson once said... print it in 3 inch headlines. We will be treated to what Obama is doing different that allows us to catch the "real" terrorists now, instead of the Keystone Terrorists. The media will paint him such a hero, it will almost embarrass him. When reporters in New York decide that Obama has personally saved their lives, well, look out. They could go overboard. Just a bit. They could make Chris Matthews' leg tingles sound tame.

Well that's just two glimpses into the future. When the new year starts, just three weeks away, look for these and other non-subtle changes in news coverage, as the American press demonstrates that they are the ones with short memories.