I was with Lowry and Ponnuru in the “let the man golf” camp but we’ve clearly lost that debate with the public, which is A-OK by me. Consider this LC’s version of the “now watch this drive” clip of Bush that Michael Moore immortalized in Fahrenheit 9/11, never to be repeated for the simple reason that The One will never again drag his feet on addressing a terrorism crisis the way he did last week. Which solves one political problem for him — but others remain:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of adults say factors such as race, ethnicity and overall appearance should be used to determine which boarding passengers to search at airports. Twenty-six percent (26%) say these factors should not be used to determine which passengers to search. Another 15% are not sure.

Interestingly, however, even more Americans (71%) believe such profiling is necessary in today’s environment. Eighteen percent (18%) disagree and see profiling as an unnecessary violation of civil rights…

Nearly half of likely voters (46%) believe current airport security measures are not strict enough.

Two clips for you here, one of Cheney’s ad and the other of Ted Koppel advancing the counterthesis that effective counterterrorism can be done without a lot of security theater. Note how blunt is he about The One scrambling to reassure the public for purely political reasons. Exit question: Given the fact that American intelligence agents evidently now need to be explicitly told to follow-up on terrorism leads, how exactly does Koppel see this as a case of overreaction?

Update: Seems the White House thinks public testimony from someone who’s surprised to find Al Qaeda a determined bunch might not go well.

First, they may shield her from the Senate Judiciary Committee, keeping conservative senators like Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and others from bashing her in a major public forum. She may instead appear before the Senate Commerce Committee, where some expect her to receive gentler treatment.

Next, the White House is working on Sen. Joe Lieberman, the mercurial chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, to avoid an ugly clash in his hearings. Lieberman will grill the secretary but won’t call for Napolitano to resign, and he could reiterate his support for her remaining at the DHS post, Senate aides say.

“To some extent it’s going to be a free-for-all; we are as angry as anybody about this,” said an aide to a senior Senate Democrat. “But apart from saying the wrong thing early on, the breaches aren’t really the fault of Napolitano and DHS, so she’s not going to be the target.”