Ferrablog

One of the popular anti-Kerry talking points from the Republicans these days is that Kerry would treat terrorism as a "law enforcement matter", rather than a military matter. This is untrue, of course, and any effective counterterrorism approach would require both a law enforcement and military component.

In any event, the next time this charge is leveled against Kerry, keep in mind the following quote from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, from the other night on the PBS NewsHour, after being asked if he felt any responsibility for not preventing 9/11:

Well, I hate to separate myself as secretary of defense. The Department of Defense, of course, is oriented to external threats. This was a domestic airplane that was operated by people who were in the United States against a United States target, which makes it a law enforcement, historically a law enforcement issue. The Department of Defense's task is one that deals with external threats coming into the United States, and that's what the department is organized, trained and equipped to do.

So 9/11 was a law enforcement matter, not a military one. They can't even keep their own spin straight over there.