Well, It's Not As If Terrorists Ever Targeted New York Before

In a perverse way, it's reassuring to see that plunging poll numbers and intra-party rebellions haven't driven the Bush administration to abandon any of their core governing principles--such as making life-and-death decisions based on patronage, partisanship, and cronyism. Latest case in point, as reported in The New York Times:

After vowing to steer a greater share of anti-terrorism money to the nation's highest-risk cities, Homeland Security officials today announced grants to New York City and Washington that would be slashed by 40 percent, while dollars headed to spots including Omaha and Louisville, Ky., would surge.

The release of the 2006 urban area grant allocations, which total $757 million, drew an immediate condemnation from leaders of Washington and New York, the two targets of the 2001 terrorist attacks, as well as expressions of befuddlement by anti-terrorism experts. . . .

And here's the part of the story that offers the unique bit of ketchup-is-a-vegetable, you-have-to-hear-it-to-believe-it surrealism that we treasure from the Republicans:

New York officials were given a one-page tally that explained, in part, how the region's risk-based standing was calculated. The document said the region had no "national monuments or icons," four banking or financial firms with assets of over $8 billion, 28 chemical or hazardous material sites, as well as nearly 7,000 other possible important, high-risk targets, like hospitals or major office buildings . . . .

In related news, the Bush administration announced plans to move the Statue of Liberty to Casper, Wyoming, the Empire State Building to Macon, Georgia, and the Brooklyn Bridge to Tallahassee, Florida.

Tags: Bush administration, Homeland Security, New York City