Code Orange. Or is it pale grey?

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, as a rule; in my experience, the cock-up theory of history usually provides the best explanations. But ever since it became clear from the Democratic Convention that John Kerry could conceivably win the election in November, I’ve been wondering what the Bush crowd would do to top it. Now we know — the Code Orange alert, with all the accompanying solemn warnings, armed cops everywhere, etc. It’s a reflection of how comprehensive Osama bin Laden’s victory has been that one’s first thought is not about the gravity of the alleged threat, but about whether this is just a losing Administration playing on the public’s fear much as a musician might play an organ. The journalistic coverage doesn’t help one decide: all I see are hacks solemnly intoning unsourced allegations. And the fact that the alleged ‘breakthrough’ came via Pakistani ‘Intelligence’ doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either.

And now there’s this from today’s NYT:

“Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.”

The only consolation is that the Administration’s power to ramp up the threat level to meet political needs might be a declining asset. After all, if things are this bad, the Prez can’t be doing as well as he claims in the ‘war’ against terror. Maybe a new guy would do better?