FINALLY! Norm Mineta Leaves Bush Administration

Oh man, the longest serving Transportation Secretary in history will at last be history himself. Look, I'm sure he's a nice guy and all but could there really be any reason the Bush hired him in the first place other than he wanted a Democrat in his cabinet to reinforce his "uniter, not a divider" image?

Norm Mineta was fine in his office until 9/11. Then he instituted the "search everybody at the airports" rules that wasted valuable resources in identifying possible terrorists. Mineta is the reason the average air traveler - who in no way fits the profile of an Islamofascist terrorist - has to be pulled out of line and searched. STUPID PC BULLSH*T!

And why? Because when he was a kid his family, which is of Japanese descent, was interned during WWII. So because he was still smarting from that experience, he made sure that we avoided any appearance of ethnic profiling. Rich Lowry of National Review wrote about this ridiculous policy back in 2002:

Asked on 60 Minutes if a 70-year-old white woman from Vero Beach should receive the same level of scrutiny as a Muslim from Jersey City, Mineta said, "Basically, I would hope so." Asked if he could imagine any set of circumstances that would justify ethnic and racial profiling, Mineta said "absolutely not."

I can think of a justification for focusing on Arab men aged 25-40. All of the terrorists have been Arab men aged 25-40! Any 70-year old ladies? Umm, NO! Duh.

Bush has replaced so many other cabinet members in the last five years, yet he kept this guy hanging around. Mineta should have been shown the door years ago.

Unfortunately, this policy - his legacy - is still in place. Hopefully, his replacement can make some changes. But I'm not holding my breath.

Posted by: Gary at 08:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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