Here are today's topics:

1. Kos Asks: Why are Conservatives So Afraid?
2. Bush answers his critics, again
3. Couric Pimps for Risen
4. Williams sets Matthews Straight

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Kos Asks: Why are Conservatives So Afraid?

Byron York in The Corner on National Review Online read the Daily Kos to discover the latest lefty spin:

...blogger Markos Moulitsas attacks the very basis for the war on terror, attributing American efforts to prevent future terrorist attacks not to national security concerns but to...conservative cowardice. In a piece entitled "Why are conservatives so afraid?", Moulitsas argues that conservatives simply aren't man enough to stand up to another terrorist attack, and therefore infringe on American civil liberties to save their own skins. "These blowhard pretend to be macho," Moulitsas writes, "even as they piddle on themselves in abject terror from every 'boo' that comes out of Osama bin Laden's mouth."

This is not the statement of some fringe blogger. Moulitsas is closely connected to the Democratic party leadership; according to a recent article in the Washington Monthly, Moulitsas speaks regularly with the staffs of Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (and occasionally with Reid himself). Moulitsas also, shortly after the 2004 election, addressed the Senate Democratic caucus on the issue of making blogging part of the Democratic political strategy. He is not speaking as an outsider when he writes:

When our nation was founded, we had men of real character and courage fighting for their nascent America, one in which liberty and freedom trumped the authorative tendencies of the monarchy. Patrick Henry gave words to those efforts:

"Give me liberty or give me death!"

My, how far we have fallen, with an administration that parlays the incessant fear of its supporters into increased authoritativeness [sic] to the point where he now resembles the very despot we fought in our war of independence.

And his supporters bellow, as they cower under their beds:

"Here's our liberties, just spare us from death!"

These blowhards pretend they are macho even as they piddle on themselves in abject terror from every "boo!" that comes out of Osama Bin Laden's mouth. They like to speak about how tough they are, even though they send others to fight their battles and couldn't last a day in places like Iraq, or Sudan, or the El Salvador of my youth, or any other war-torn nation....

The breathtaking cowardice of the 101st Fighting Keyboardists knows no bounds. They hide behind the American flag and our genuinely brave men and women in uniform. It's bad enough that they wouldn't deign to join the boots in the ground in Iraq. But now they make a mockery of our Constitution, for the very values that motivated our Founding Fathers to put their lives on the line to combat the unchecked powers of the British monarchy.

Moulitsas's statement drew a positive response from his readers, some of whom see a useful political strategy in it. "Oooo, I LIKE this meme!" one wrote:

It has a Wesley Clark flavor to it. If you guys are so tough, why are you prancing around looking for a place to hide from the big-bad terrorists? Ooooo, SCARY! Poor little Americans, pissing themselves because some guys took out a couple of buildings. We all have to get our survival plans ready in case they attack again. Let's give all our hard earned Freedom to Big Daddy George so he can tell us when we can use the john. Geez, Louise, you'd think Katrina would have snapped them out of it but the fraidy cats are still scared of those brown people with box cutters. You're more likely to get swept away by a hurricane and where will Big Daddy George be then? Clearing brush on his ranch.

So I guess we now understand the objective of the left. Vulnerability is good. An occasional 3000 dead Americans is just the price we must pay so that some people are allowed to take a phone call from an Al Qeada member in Pakistan. As Powerline commented:

Kos mindlessly invokes the American Revolution but forgets that one of its slogans was "Don't Tread on Me." This quintessentially American sentiment explains why Americans are unwilling to tolerate future attacks on the scale of 9/11, much less the far more deadly attacks that al Qaeda has in mind. The sentiment is not a conservative one either; it is still shared by the vast majority of Americans, though not by the left. That's why the Patriot Act passed so easily and why Democrats have taken too straight beatings since 9/11.

The desire for liberty is also quintessentially American. But most Americans understand the absurdity Kos's cheap claim that President Bush has reached "the point where he now resembles the very despot we fought in our war of independence." How? By listening to the conversations of al-Qaeda operatives? By extending to terrorists the investigative techniques used to fight organized crime? Or are there American soldiers being quartered in Kos's house in Berkeley?

When he's not emulating Patrick Henry, Kos fancies himself some sort of new-age Democratic operative. But Dick Morris, a real operative, argues persuasively that if the Democrats are seen as not serious about protecting the homeland, they will remain in the wilderness. Thus, Kos performs a great service by revealing the nonchalance of liberal Democrats when it comes to this core issue.

Bush Answers His Critics, Again

While paying a New Year's Day visit to wounded troops at Brooke Army Medical Center, the President took a few questions from the press. Here's a clip commenting on the NSA surveillance. Thanks to MSNBC for the audio.

Play clip.

I agree with Dick Morris that it only hurts the Democrats to be seen as caring more about the civil liberties of terrorists than the safety of Americans.

Couric Pimps for Risen

Michelle Malkin noticed Katie Couric on the Today Show throwing softballs to James Risen, the NY Times author who's book on the NSA spying came out today.

Risen gave his first TV book interview this morning to the Today Show's Katie Couric (of course!). Channeling Chuck Schumer, Risen cast his anonymous sources as "whistleblowers" motivated "by the purest reasons." How do we know that's true? Because Risen says so.

Play clip

Tim Graham on the Corner on National Review Online saw it too.

Risen spent five minutes vouching for the patriotism and public service of his anonymous sources, and denouncing how the moderate career people were cut out as the neocon radicals made foreign policy.

I do wish Couric and others would push harder on the anonymous-source question: how do we know these sources aren't members of MoveOn.org? How do we know they aren't die-hard Hillary Clinton fans, or long-time Bush haters? Just because they're career government officials tells us nothing about their anonymous motivations.

Now that the Justice Department has initiated an investigation to determine who leaked the national security secrets to the New York Times, Michelle adds:

I guess we'll see if and how long Risen is willing to stay in jail for his patriotic illegal leakers.

Indeed we will.

Williams sets Matthews Straight

Michelle Malkin also caught Chris Matthews being corrected by Pete Williams on Hardball recently.

MSNBC's Hardball show actually delivered some interesting news for once tonight, despite Chris Matthews' anti-Bush spin and uninformed sputtering over the NSA counterterrorism program. NBC's DOJ correspondent Pete Williams corrects Matthews' assertion (borrowed from the New York Times yesterday) that top Justice Department officials opposed the NSA program.

This is in reference to the Times report that James Comey, former Deputy Attorney General under Ashcroft voiced concerns about the NSA surveillance, which forced the administration to visit Ashcroft in the hospital to get approval to proceed.

Play clip.

That's it for today Podcatchers.