What The Hell Am I Doing Here?

Friday, August 6, 2004

A picture named Democracycoloralert.gif Time for another Terror Alert?

Job Growth Grinds Nearly to Halt in July, Labor Dept. Reports. The disappointing numbers of the last two months have created a potential political problem for President Bush. By By DAVID LEONHARDT. [The New York Times > Home Page]
At Journalist Convention, Bush Defends Terror-Threat Alert. "I believe we have an obligation as government to share" threats with citizens, President Bush said today. By By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. [The New York Times > Home Page]
Fierce Gunbattles Rage for a Second Day in Iraq. Fierce gunbattles raged today for a second day between guerrillas loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and American and Iraqi forces in Najaf. By By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ALEX BERENSON. [The New York Times > Home Page]

12:16:09 PM leave/read comments []

A picture named approval_alert_graph2.jpg

Coincidence? I think not!

From JulisBlog:

There are few things that are quite evident from the chart:
- Whenever his ratings dip, there's a new terror alert.
- Every terror alert is followed by a slight uptick of Bush approval ratings.
- As we approach the 2004 elections, the number and frequency of terror alerts keeps growing, to the point that they collapse in the graphic. At the same time, Bush ratings are lower than ever.
Update: for the record, we are not claiming that all these alert are politically motivated. We are sure a considerable amount of these alerts were caused by real and immediate information. What is important to note is that many of these "immediate" terror alerts were later on discredited as such (in some cases they used old data, in other case the announcements were less immediate and less urgent that we were lead to believe, as the press reported.) Those are the cases that could be interpreted as politically motivated, specially when they seemed to coincide with political news and events unfavorable to the administration.