Originally Posted by
Dovster
No, this is not who the TSA caters to. The TSA caters to politicians and the airlines and it is doing an excellent job in carrying out its intended task.
That task is to:
1. Provide the illusion of security in order to encourage air travel (which was a critical task post 9/11).
2. Protect politicians from possible charges of failure to protect the flying public.
If a hijacker is able to get a gun onto a plane tomorrow (and I do not at all believe that this is impossible) it will be blamed on a glitch in the system, not on politicians.
If the president (any president) were to shut it down and there were to be a hijacking, he would be impeached and possibly convicted on charges of dereliction of duty.
If Congress were to vote it out of existence, and a hijacking followed, any Congressman who voted against the TSA would have a very difficult time in getting re-elected.
If the TSA really existed to provide security, I would agree that it is not doing its job. That, however, is not the case.
(BTW, if I were running for office I would much rather have the backing of all those who believe that the TSA is protecting us than the small number of frequent flyers who realize that it is not.)
This is as good a place as any to address the issue of "getting rid of" the TSA. I don't think it's going to happen, as such, anytime soon, if at all. Instead, what about the original idea of national standardization, etc? The TSA as originally intended. The accountability issue seems to stem from frustration over conflicting procedures from airport to airport -- or within an facility itself (think: BOS). I'd like to see a procedure where a traveler can fill out a multi-part complaint form
at the airport to be signed by a supervisor, with the original being mailed to the govt in a FED BUSINESS POSTAGE envelope by the traveler, so the locals can't disregard it. In other words, before they chuck your 4 oz of saline, you announce: "I want it written up."
As for the BTW above: I would agree that applies to a Republican candidate trying to keep his sheeplebase. A Democrat would do better bashing this Administration along the lines of "We've been reduced to ferreting out toothpaste and shampoo from honest Americans (this means YOU! listener) to distract us from real threats." As of now, I believe the public is cynical enough that a majority feels this stuff is "stupid" - regardless of whose quotes appear in newspaper articles.