Code Red Confession

The cynics, it turns out, were right.

The Bush administration was trying to use terror alerts to boost the president's political fortunes, just as some skeptical journalists suggested.

Tom Ridge is now admitting it.

Which prompts two reactions on my part:

a) I'm not shocked.

b) Now he tells us?

Five years later, when he's pushing a new book, the former homeland security secretary says he was pressured by top Bush lieutenants to ratchet up the terror level -- to scare people -- in an effort to boost W.'s reelection chances.

Does it get any lower than that?

Just to remind you of the atmosphere of the time, three years removed from 9/11, here's a Ron Fournier AP story from the summer of 2004:

"The politics of terrorism has Democrats tied in knots. Each time President Bush raises fears of a possible attack, the political debate shifts from his most troublesome issue (Iraq) to one of his strongest (the war on terrorism) while Democrats fight their impulse to question the president's motives.

"The advantages of incumbency were in full display Sunday, when Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned of possible al-Qaida terrorist attacks to financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J."

So the weekend before the election, with Bush leading Sen. John F. Kerry by a couple of points, Osama bin Laden releases a videotape -- and, says Ridge, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft push him to raise the color-coded warning.