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If You Take Her Out of Context, Then Yes, Napolitano Said Something Dumb

How hard is it to watch a clip of an interview? Yesterday on ABC’s This Week, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano made the following observation

Jul 31, 20201K Shares200.3K Views
How hard is it to watch a clip of an interview? Yesterday on ABC’s “This Week,” Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano made the following observation about the aftermath of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempted detonation of Northwest Airlines Flight 253:
Once this incident occurred, everything went according to clockwork, not only sharing throughout the air industry, but also sharing with state and local law enforcement. Products were going out on Christmas Day, they went out yesterday, and also to the [airline] industry to make sure that the traveling public remains safe. I would leave you with that message. The traveling public is safe. We have instituted some additional screening and security measures, in light of this incident, but, again, everyone reacted as they should. The system, once the incident occurred, the system worked.
An uncontroversial point, no? Somehow this has rocketed around journalistic circles as Napolitano defending the system that allowed Abdulmutallab to board the plane. Marc Ambinder wrote it up that way. So did Mike Allen. Andrew Sullivan followed on Ambinder. Bill Kristol not only echoed them, he’s also saying Napolitano has now “conceded” the system didn’twork. All for sayingexactly what she saidon “This Week.”
It takes about thirty seconds of effort to watch the relevant clip from “This Week” and process what Napolitano said in context. Jake Tapper’s headline even makes it easier than that!
Hajra Shannon

Hajra Shannon

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