You're Doing a Heckofa Job Janet

Janet Napolitano, lacking the cover that comes from a fawning local press corps, has managed to make a fool of herself in Washington.  We all recall last week's "returning vets as right-wing terrorists report.  Now, Canadians have found her recent statements about 9/11 terrorists coming to the US from Canada to be both ignorant and offensive. Drudge is pointing out that the National Post is openly questioning her qualifications.

Can someone please tell us how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job? She appears to be about as knowledgeable about border issues as a late-night radio call-in yahoo.

In an interview broadcast Monday on the CBC, Ms. Napolitano attempted to justify her call for stricter border security on the premise that "suspected or known terrorists" have entered the U. S. across the Canadian border, including the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack.

All the 9/11 terrorists, of course, entered the United States directly from overseas. The notion that some arrived via Canada is a myth that briefly popped up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and was then quickly debunked.

Informed of her error, Ms. Napolitano blustered: "I can't talk to that. I can talk about the future. And here's the future. The future is we have borders."

Wow, George Bush couldn't have said it better.  Next Janet will be saying that she's been misunderestimated. 

The Canadian press is woefully naive.  We know how she got her job.  She endorsed Obama early enough that he needed to pay her back but she wasn't qualified to be Attorney General.  Of course, she's rapidly proving that she's not qualified to run DHS either, but that's beside the point. 

At least she hasn't burned anything down yet.

Comments

[copyeditor]

In your headline: it should be You're not Your.

[Jim Torgeson]

Do I have to confess my sins here? I briefly supported Manet. I'll repent, say a ton of Hail Mary's (I'm not Catholic), and publicly apologize if necessary.

[Steve F.]

The more she opens her mouth, the dumber she makes Obama look.

That's a career-limiting move right there. I bet Rahm is drafting both her resignation letter and Obama's "I regretfully accept her resignation.." response, even as I type this.

And here I was, after some initial skepticism (including "You're doing a great job, Nappy!"), thinking that she might make a decent DHS chief after all.

Oops.

[Dave]

Lets hope she is able to land some even more obscure position within the Administration so that she isn't tempted to come back to Arizona!

[Matt Sh.]

Advice for Noah Kroloff - watch out for that bus....

[SonoranSam]

You'll enjoy this:

Conservative reps. want Napolitano out
By PATRICK O'CONNOR | 4/22/09 7:07 PM EDT Text Size:


A controversial DHS memo has sparked indignant battle cries from conservatives and some veterans.
Photo: AP

House Republicans are calling on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down or be fired in the wake of a controversial department memo that has sparked indignant battle cries from conservatives and some veterans.

“Singling out political opponents for working against the ruling party is precisely the tactic of every tyrannical government from Red China to Venezuela," said Texas Rep. John Carter, a member of the party's elected leadership who has organized an hour of floor speeches Wednesday night to call for Napolitano's ouster. “The first step in the process is creating unfounded public suspicion of political opponents, followed by arresting and jailing any who continue speaking against the regime.”

In particular, conservative members of the Republican Study Committee raised repeated concerns about the report and Napolitano's subsequent defense of its findings on Wednesday, calling on party leaders to raise the issue with President Barack Obama during a White House meeting on Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a report earlier this month warning federal, state and local law enforcement officials that the slumping economy "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past."

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Conservative bloggers and talk radio hosts immediately seized on the report as evidence that the Obama administration was trying to marginalize its critics on the right.

Veterans groups also complained that the report singled out "military veterans" returning from war who face "significant challenges reintergating into their communities," leading to the "potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone-wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."

Napolitano has since apologized to veterans.

[Jack]

It's a small point but there is at least one well documented situation in which a terrorist did attempt to come through the Canadian Border. This was the so-called Y2K bomber who tried to enter into Washington State, but was caught, at the very end of 1999. And then, there was that terrorist cell in Buffalo. Isn't that in Canada?

[Andy]

Yea, Janet's fast track to the Supreme Court may be just a bit slower.