(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
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[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Monday, July 22, 2002
How spin works:
Bush Administration floats a trial balloon on amending the Posse Comitatus Act so that military personnel can perform (more) police actions stateside. A few Democratic saps (Biden, Lieberman) express support for similar ideas.
Administration takes care to maintain (mildly) plausible deniability: Tom Ridge tells Wolf Blitzer, "The fact that you might discuss it does not mean in any way that you would use it. "
FreeRepublic, normally rabidly anti-gummint, opens forum devoted to the subject. Oddly, responses seem to mildly favor an "ah, they don't really mean it" interpretation of the PCA flapdoodle.
Meanwhile even Right-leaning non-lunatics denounce the Administration's idea. Instapundit says, "Soldiers make lousy police... That the idea comes from the unimpressive Tom Ridge doesn't make it any more, er, impressive."
Early-rising FreeRepublic member opens a related forum at FreeRepublic bearing WashTimes' headline. Early posts very hostile toward Biden, the EPA, and, of course, the gummint, now wearing its more familiar Democratic face.