Cheat To Win

If George W. Bush is still looking for a title to his memoirs "Cheat to Win" would be an excellent title and based on recent news would be appropriate

The Washington Post is reporting that former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, the first director of the Department of Homeland Security, says that he was pressured by other agency heads to raise the national security-threat level on the eve of the 2004 presidential election -- a move he rejected as having political undertones

To supporters of Sen. John Kerry this revelation comes as no surprise, nor should it come as a surprise to those who watch MSNBC. In June 2007 Olberman pointed out in a story the Nexus of Politics and Terror the potential correlation between raising of the terror level as a way to limit positive response to Sen. Kerry. While there was no proof that there was a connection that every time Kerry was starting to get positive traction the terror level changed, one now has to wonder if there was a connection.

For example, in August of 2004 conservatives made light of Sen. John Kerry receiving a limited bounce following the Democratic Convention and the Bushies, perhaps in on the joke said at the time that " Kerry's failure to gain more significant ground from his national convention puts him at a serious disadvantage for the fall. Do you think they were able to keep a straight face when telling the Washington Post that gem?

Apparently to cement the election the Bushies felt raising the level to the highest level right before the election would solidify their "win." Now they claim the reason that there was a discussion about raising the terror level was that Osama Bin Laden released a tape just days before the election, threatening further retaliation against the U.S.

Yet only one week after the election the terror level dropped down to yellow so in effect the terror level dropped two levels a week after Kerry conceded the 2004 election.

Bin Laden's tape ended up as another terroristic feature of the campaign and CIA analysis of the video later led them to the consensus view that the tape was designed strategically to help President Bush win "Cheat to Win."