Learning on the job

Wall Street Journal Editorial:

In Michael Mukasey, President Bush finally seems to have an Attorney General worthy of the current moment. In Nancy Pelosi's hometown this week, the former judge who once tried terror cases told the Commonwealth Club audience that even he had no idea of the extent of the threat.

Speaking of what he hears in his national security briefings, Mr. Mukasey said, "It is way beyond – way beyond anything that I knew or believed. So, if I was picked for the level of my knowledge . . . that was a massive piece of false advertising."

As reported by the New York Sun, he also offered a perspective, partly personal as a former Manhattanite, on the necessity of warrantless antiterror surveillance. Before 9/11, Mr. Mukasey said, "We knew that there had been a call from someplace that was known to be a safe house in Afghanistan and we knew that it came to the United States. We didn't know precisely where it went. We've got" – here the Attorney General paused with emotion – "we've got 3,000 people who went to work that day, and didn't come home, to show for that."

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Do Democrats not care about what he has learned on the job? Or, do they just care more about pandering to the trial lawyer special interest who want to punish the people who help us find those making the calls? Democrats know they will be held responsible for the missed phone call but it is a responsibility they will never accept or acknowledge. Just as they still don't take responsibility for making the government jump through hoops when trying to trace those responsible for kidnapping US troops in Iraq, they will not take responsibility for the next attack. They have become the party of irresponsibility.