Dear Mr. Vice President,
A word if you would.
You appear to be operating under a misconception. You seem to have equated complacency and normalcy with ignorance and inattentiveness. I say this because during your debate and numerous times afterwards you have repeatedly spoken of nuclear and biologic weapons smuggled into the heartland, catastrophic attacks against the populous by terrorist cells and destruction on an incalculable scale.
Mr. Vice President, you are telling us something we already know. Those of us who lived though the days of 9/11 know full well how vulnerable we are. And that we are facing an enemy that is “fearless and inventive”. Trust me. No matter how many terrible words you string together, they are a Seuss story compared to the War and Peace scenarios rolling around in the average parent’s mind.
It also does a disservice to those men and women in airport security and other border personnel to know that the Vice President believes that no matter how vigilant these personnel are, they will eventually fail. This also we know. Again, we know security is not perfect and that a terrorist could fill a “unique” cavity with C4 and take out a plane. We understand that there are flaws in the system and they will never be truly fixed. Please, we use Windows XP. We know nothings remotely perfect.
It also is aggravating to be standing barefoot with a group of other barefoot people, waiting 3 hours for a two hour flight, having your bags searched and searched again and being told that Achmed the Religious Fanatic, with a pound of C4 up his gluteus maximus can take out a Boeing 747.
Yes, you are telling us the truth. And yes we should not be given a false sense of security, but if we know the truth and have accepted it, what’s wrong with a little fantasy, the reality we know will intrude soon enough.
IG