The third GOP debate is underway and the subject quickly moved to Iran and nuclear weapons. Candidate Duncan Hunter stated that he believes the the U.S. has the right to preemptively strike Iran to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, using nuclear weapons, if necessary. While Rudy Giuliani thought conventional weapons would do the trick, he wouldn't take any options off the table. Rudy then jumps off into fantasy land, claiming Iran can deliver a nuclear missile even though the studies from UN inspectors who have actually been in Iran have said that Iran is years away from having that capability. Then he bizarrely accuses the Democrats of living in the Cold War era of the 1990s. (Earth to Rudy: hard to give Reagan credit for ending the Cold War if we were still living it in the 90's) Closing strong, Giuliani then attempts to link it all to the alleged "terror plots" at Fort Dix and JFK (see Keith Olbermann's commentary for how valid the threats were) proclaiming it's a real war, not a bumper sticker.

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AttyTood:

Look, what really happened at JFK was a hijacking. A chance for the potential next leaders of the United States to talk about a) real threats from bona fide terrorists, such as the unstable situation we've fostered in Pakistan and b) other issues that actually affect the day-to-day life of most Americans, like education, was hijacked by questions based around a local law-enforcement matter.

And, as Josh Marshall and others pointed out over the weekend, this is yet another time that implausible, half-baked and unfeasible plots have been trumpeted as high victories in the war in terror, including one plan to take down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch, the plot to "blow up the Sears Tower" by losers in Miami who probably couldn't find Chicago on a big roadmap, and our own inept Fort Dix crew.

Not that it will happen, but I wish the media, from CNN to Fox to the AP to everyone in between, would go to the nearest window and yell: "All 'terrorism' is not created equal."

This is so unbelievably offensive, I got to wonder what it will take to get the FCC to come down on this radio station:

Colorado Media Matters:

Discussing the breakup of an alleged terrorist plot to attack U.S. soldiers at New Jersey's Fort Dix, Newsradio 850 KOA host "Gunny" Bob Newman said on his May 8 show that "every Muslim immigrant to America who holds a green card, a visa, or who is a naturalized citizen [should] be required by law to wear a GPS tracking bracelet at all times," and that the government should "bug their places of work and their residences" and monitor "[a]ll mosques and community centers." Newman added, "If they don't like the idea, or if they refuse, throw their asses out of this country."

Audio and contact names and links available on the CMM site. Considering that Eric Rudolph *, Timothy McVeigh and Chad Castagana are all right wing Christian white men, wouldn't you think Newman would advocate ankle bracelets on all wingnuts males?

*Corrected name

Kevin Drum has his take.

Is Cohen just frustrated because he can't get any information out of Fitzgerald? I know Richard wishes Patrick would "return to Chicago and prosecute some real criminals." I wish Cohen would go back to Fort Dix, N.J and start writing some real columns for a change. Crime is crime.