8/1/2004

On August 1, 2004, after Department of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge’s decision to raise the threat level in specific locations from yellow to orange, former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean (D) spoke with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Dean “said he was concerned ‘that every time something happens that’s not good for President Bush, he plays this trump card, which is terrorism. …It’s just impossible to know how much of this is real and how much of this is politics, and I suspect there’s some of both in it. …The question is, do I believe this is being fabricated? No, of course I don’t believe that. But I do think that there is politics in this, and the question is, how much is politics and how much is a real threat?’ “

 – Ian S. Lustick, Trapped in the War on Terror, Page 111