Granite State Doings

According to the New York Times, New Hampshire gets another dance at this year's ball. Usually, after the early-year primary, the presidential campaigns and the national press forget about the small New England state, which traditionally votes Republican. The Republicanism of New Hampshire, though, is unlike the sort that dominates the GOP--in keeping with the New Hampshire motto ("Live Free Or Die"), Granite State Republicans are interested in smaller government, not the crazy fundamentalist agenda of Southern Republicans, nor the even crazier PNAC dreams of empire. They tend to be of the old "cloth-coat Republican" variety--the variety that was sold down the river by the Reagan Revolution, and are completely out of touch with the Bush II agenda.

All of which makes a New Hampshire Republican, on average, more "liberal" than an Alabama Democrat.

And, though it's pretty unusual, living in a state with no sales tax is nice (they do have a "restaurant meals tax," which isn't that bad of an idea, and they tax the piss out of liquor sales). It's fun to watch people from Massachusetts pour across the border to shop without paying sales tax, too.

Anyway, back to the article at hand.

One of these voters still on the fence is Tina O'Toole, a waitress from Bedford and a registered Republican. She said she was "not happy with the war situation" but liked what she saw as Mr. Bush's tough policies against terrorists.

I don't know Ms. O'Toole, but I question her reasoning. Mr. Bush has been tough on terrorists the way Major League Baseball has been tough on steroids. Which is to say, of course, that he's not at all tough on terrorists.

The latest bit of blundering/incompetence/political machination involves the outing of an al-Qaeda double agent.

Let me say that again.

We had a mole in the al-Qaeda organization. The value of that intelligence asset is absolutely incalculable. So what does the Bush Administration do?

As any student of "Dubya" Bush's business or political career would assume, they fucked it up. Pardon the profanity, but they really, really fucked it up.

In case you haven't heard about the unfathomable outing of double agent Muhammad Naeen Noor Khan, check out Juan Cole, who's been all over this since the beginning. You really need to read this story--and inform any friends or relatives you have who think that the Bush people are anything approaching competent as regards to pursuing al-Qaeda.

Honestly, I don't understand how people can support Bush because of this "war on terror" thing. There actually does exist a shadowy group that is committed to killing and maiming people, and destroying symbolic and important buildings in this country. That group, for those of you who have just awoken from a coma, ain't in Iraq.

But to out a double agent? A double agent? The coup of all intelligence coups is to have a double agent. With one in place, you can get inside your enemy's decision cycle. I'm sure there are FBI guys who've been working in organized crime pulling out their hair when they read about this.

It doesn't matter whether this was incompetence of political calculation--the people who have been in charge simply aren't capable of handling actual threats, and do not deserve to be given any more chances. The stakes are just too damn high.