Feeding Paranoia -- Over Incompetence

So now Bush officials are backing off Monday's backing off over the urgency of the terror alert and saying, um, actually, we have very current scary information about a possible terrorist attack and that's why we raised the alert level to orange. So why the hell did they send mixed signals on Monday?

Rule #1: Don't make political plugs for the President's reelection when announcing a terrorist alert! It undermines your authority and makes reasonable people question your motives.

Rule #2: Don't back off from the seriousness of the alert if you have compelling, current information. If people realize some of it is old, just say there is also information that is separate and very current and compelling. This threat should be taken very seriously.

End of story. And then we wouldn't have had three days of back and forth and confusion.