« Treason and Arrogance in the MSM | Main | McCain Knifes Republican Candidate for Arizona Governor »
June 23, 2006
Mineta Leaving At Last
Wonderful news: Norman Mineta, the only Dem holdover in the Bush White House, is finally clearing out.
As Secretary of Transportation, Mineta is best known for adamantly placing political correctness ahead of innocent people's safety in the aftermath of 9/11. While everyone else scrambled for ways to defend the country from further attacks, Mineta busied himself by launching expensive lawsuits against airlines that were struggling to survive, on the grounds that they allegedly discriminated against Middle Eastern passengers by being sane enough to subject them to added scrutiny.
Did you know that Mineta was briefly in an internment camp during World War II because of his Japanese ancestry? If not, it's a sure bet you've never heard his voice.
As Peggy Noonan put it (via Michelle Malkin):
Mr. Mineta has received many awards for his sensitivity to ethnic profiling. Good for him, but I'd personally give him an award if he'd begin to act like a grownup and recognize that his childhood trauma shouldn't determine modern American security policy.
Mineta has been such an impediment to the safety of American citizens that the Instapundit (among others) called for his impeachment.
Unfortunately, his resignation isn't effective until July 7, but if we've been lucky enough to survive Mineta this long, we ought to make it a couple more weeks.
Posted by Van Helsing at June 23, 2006 1:23 PM
Comments
Only question is why did they keep this Jap around so long?
Posted by: Rooster Cogburn at June 23, 2006 1:57 PM
I also remember Mineta as the person in the administration who ordered the full stop on 9/11 -- bringing every plane in the US to the ground -- allowing the civil and military aviation authorities to get a grip on what exactly was happening that day.
This administration can't have decisiveness!
Posted by: Ronald Reagan at June 23, 2006 2:30 PM
When the san diego plan was hatched my mexicans loyal to the mexican government in 1915, the japanese in this country sided with the mexicans and the mexican government. That is of course something we've forgotten.
Posted by: Andre at June 23, 2006 4:58 PM
Mineta was the token Democrat the Bush Admin kept around in the name of "bi-partisanship." What a joke. First of all, extending the hand of compromise to Democrats got Bush exactly zero. They still savaged his administration relentlessly and often irrationally. Second, Mineta was incompetent. He fought tooth and nail the very sensible policy of letting air crews carry guns; which is a lot more effective and economical means of preventing hijackings than subjecting 90-year-old grandmas and 2-year-old girls to invasive searches in the name of "fairness." And, as mentioned, he was far more concerned with not offending Muslims than he was with securing air safety.
Posted by: V the K at June 24, 2006 9:55 AM
Oh, also, Mineta has completely botched programs to upgrade the US Air Traffic Control System. While Canada, Europe and other countries have implemented state-of-the-art technology, our system still uses 80's-era computers and wood blocks.
Canada privatized its air traffic control systems, but of course, a good socialist like Mineta could never allow that. Nor could he allow twenty-first century technology to upgrade air traffic management. Too many unionized workers might lose their jobs. (And 90% of union campaign contribs that go to Democrats, of course)
Posted by: V the K at June 24, 2006 2:40 PM
Mineta wasn't the one that ordered the airliners down. He's just the one that took the credit - after - it was seen as the Right Thing To Do.
He didn't know about it, IIRC, until *after* the order had been given, and planes were already landing.
Posted by: Unix-Jedi at June 29, 2006 10:36 AM
