Free Republic

If Republicans are afraid of being slammed for playing politics with the attempted Christmas Day bombing, they’re not showing it. In fact, they seem to be spoiling for a national security fight. Democrats have called the Republicans “giddy” over the attempted plot and have blasted them for playing “crass political” politics with national security, arguing that the American people will hold them accountable for the gross display. “It’s just shameful and pathetic that Congressional Republicans continue to put their beloved GOP ahead of the country no matter the issue, even in the immediate aftermath of a terror plot to blow...

Political furor over the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 has thrust national security back to the center of American politics, with Republicans and the White House scrambling to blame each other for intelligence lapses and present themselves to voters as tougher on terrorism. Strategists in both parties believe that terrorism and, more broadly, foreign policy could emerge in the November midterm elections and in President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign as key issues for voters who have been focused primarily on the economy. GOP opinion leaders such as former Vice President Dick Cheney have seized on the attack to...