Janet Napolitano

Jack Cafferty Slams Obama, Mexico's President For Arizona Law 'Whining'
By Matthew Balan | May 20, 2010 | 6:42 PM EDT
Jack Cafferty, CNN Commentator | NewsBusters.orgOn Thursday's Situation Room, CNN's Jack Cafferty blasted President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon for their criticism of Arizona's new anti-illegal immigration law, stating that the two were "whining" about the law. Cafferty singled out Calderon for having "a lot of nerve...complaining" about the Arizona law and labeled Congress's standing ovation for the Mexican leader "disgusting."

The commentator devoted his Cafferty File segment 13 minutes into the 5 pm Eastern hour to slamming the two leaders' criticism of the Grand Canyon's State's newly-passed legislation. Cafferty wasted little time and targeted Calderon first for his criticism of the law on American soil: "Mexican President Felipe Calderon has a lot of nerve coming into this country and complaining about Arizona's immigration law, when all the state wants to do is protect itself against a flood of illegal immigrants from Calderon's country." He continued that "Calderon and President Obama are both whining about the Arizona law. Calderon, who also took the message to a joint meeting of Congress, is calling Arizona's law discriminatory."
CBS's Harry Smith to Napolitano: Are We Mentally Prepared for a Successful Terrorist Attack?
By Tim Graham | May 3, 2010 | 11:00 PM EDT

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was interviewed on the morning shows of ABC, CBS, and NBC on Monday, but the strangest questioning came from CBS's Harry Smith. In discussing the Times Square car bomb, Smith implied to Napolitano that terrorists were inevitably going to win one of these days, and it was important to prepare the American people for government failure:

SMITH: This has been described as sort of amateurish, almost Rube Goldberg-like. We think about Najibullah Zazi, who was planning a terrorist attack for the subways of New York. Had there been a little more planning; had there been a little more forethought, one of these is going to be successful. Is a successful terrorist attack inevitable in the United States?

Norah Defends Napolitano
By Mark Finkelstein | April 30, 2010 | 8:23 AM EDT

How should MSNBC supplement its income?  Have the DNC underwrite part of Norah O'Donnell's salary.  She's certainly earning it . . .

Yesterday, as noted here, a giddy Norah enthused that Charlie Crist's vote-splitting independent run gives the Dems "a real shot" to win the Florida Senate seat.

O'Donnell was back on the Dem ramparts this morning on Morning Joe, defending Janet Napolitano's execrable record on border security, leading Joe Scarborough to mock the Homeland Security secretary with some effervescent imagery . . .
WaPo's Anne Kornblut Touts Napolitano As She 'Reemerges Strong' from Christmas Day Failure
By Tim Graham | April 22, 2010 | 12:33 PM EDT

Washington Post reporter Anne Kornblut issued a gushy article on Janet Napolitano on Tuesday, headlined "The crisis management expert: Homeland security secretary reemerges strong after the Christmas Day bombing." Kornblut quotes only Napolitano-praisers in her story, including aides and her colleagues at the White House. Kornblut praises her "encylopedic knowledge of pop culture" and tells of her always thinking of others, stopping to buy "an assistant of 11 years" a blue scarf in Madrid, complete with her security detail. Hyperbolic praise is the point of the piece:

Senior administration officials describe her as one of the most astute members of the national security team, some in hyperbolic terms. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, in a recent interview, declared himself as "head over heels for her," which doesn't happen often. White House terrorism adviser John O. Brennan hails her as "passionate" and "formidable."

How Napolitano, 52, won over hard-to-please heavyweights while managing the most unwieldy department in Washington is a testament to her relentless persona. The tough and stocky former prosecutor once climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and even delivered her speech at the 2000 Democratic convention three weeks after a mastectomy.

Dowd Wishes Homeland Security Could Be More Like 'Avatar'
By Lachlan Markay | January 7, 2010 | 4:27 PM EST
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd really wants a national security system that looks really nice and has lots of fancy bells and whistles, but is, beneath the shiny exterior, quite mediocre and extremely expensive.

Dowd implied as much when she asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in a New Years Eve interview, "Why is it so hard for those charged with keeping us safe to be as imaginative and innovative as filmmakers like James Cameron?"

Yes, Cameron is so imaginative that he managed to spend $400 million on what amounts to a visually dazzling remake of Disney's Pocahontas (see plot summary below the fold - h/t Big Hollywood).
Olbermann Turns To Conspiracy Theories to Absolve Obama of Underwear Bomber Blame
By Lachlan Markay | January 6, 2010 | 6:14 PM EST

Sometimes being such fans of President Obama makes liberal media types tie themselves into knots.  As I documented earlier today, the New York Times went to great lengths to insist America's rising debt is not the administration's fault.

MSNBC ranter Keith Olbermann decided to try his hand at the absurd apologetics Tuesday by concocting a wild vision of intelligence officials who care nothing about the country's safety, and only about their bureaucratic "turf."

According to Olbermann, this quasi-conspiracy theory is a possible explanation for how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board a plane bound for Detroit. (video and transcript below the fold - h/t Hot Air's Allahpundit).

David Broder: Bumbled Terror Attack Showed Napolitano's Competence and 'Almost Unlimited' Potential
By Tim Graham | January 3, 2010 | 8:19 AM EST

An airplane didn’t explode over Detroit because the Islamic jihadi was incompetent. But Washington Post columnist David Broder decided he would start the New Year by making a fool of himself. He suggested on Friday that the incident showed Janet Napolitano’s excellence.

Maddow Gamely Spins Napolitano's 'System Worked' Absurdity About Flight 253
By Jack Coleman | January 2, 2010 | 11:24 PM EST

Next time Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano needs a media flack/coat catcher, I know just the right person.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow is lashing out at critics who took Napolitano to task for claiming "the system worked" in response to a terrorist with explosives boarding Northwest Flight 253 and nearly bringing down the plane on Christmas.

In the lead segment on her show Dec. 29 (click here for audio), Maddow told viewers of a "dramatic, unexpected appearance" by Obama that day, breaking from his vacation in Hawaii to make an "unscheduled statement to the press."

Pssst. What's the Password, Janet?
By Glenn Foden | December 30, 2009 | 2:35 PM EST

So, will Janet and company learn from their "one mistake," or will it be repeated until they do? I wish I knew.

 

Napolitano

Chuck Todd on Ingraham Show: Napolitano Would Step Down -- When Obama Named Her to the Supreme Court
By Tim Graham | December 30, 2009 | 11:25 AM EST

NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd surprised Laura Ingraham on her radio show December 14 when she asked him which Cabinet official would leave next. He said it could be Tim Geithner, or it could be Janet Napolitano — so she can take the next vacancy on the Supreme Court!That idea might have fizzled in the last few days, although Todd insisted Obama's "a big fan of hers." Here's how the conversation unfolded:  

Mitchell Predicts: Head To Roll
By Mark Finkelstein | December 30, 2009 | 8:02 AM EST

Not a surprise, but still noteworthy: a heavy MSM hitter is now strongly suggesting that, post-NWA 253, a senior Obama admin official will be walking the plank.

Say what we will of her, but Andrea Mitchell has her sources.  So when the NBC correspondent declared on Morning Joe today that she suspects "somebody is either going to be resigning or forced to resign," we can pretty much take it to the [Federal Reserve?] bank.

Napolitano Builds Up Undie Bomber: Terrorists Went To 'Great Lengths'
By Mark Finkelstein | December 30, 2009 | 6:16 AM EST

Like a football coach trying to explain away the trouncing his team just took by building up the opponent, Janet Napolitano is seeking to diminish the Obama administration's NWA 253 failure by exaggerating the cunning of the Christmas Day plot.

The hapless Homeland Security head has a 679-word piece in today's USA Today basically promising to do better.  She begins with this line [emphasis added]:

Friday's attempted terrorist attack against Northwest Flight 253 near Detroit is a powerful illustration that terrorists will go to great lengths to try to defeat the security measures that have been put in place since September 11, 2001.

"Great lengths?" Really?  You buy a plane ticket for a kid, stick a few ounces of explosives in his nappies, then hope he'll make it onboard and remember which end to light.