The Solomon Scandals is fiction, but Washington is doing a great job of catching up.

The latest scandal out of D.C. is the news that the Bush White House let politics influence whether it put America on terrorism alerts. So claims former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Was the press skeptical enough? Or did the media’s chumminess with policymakers get in the way?

Update, Sept. 2, 2009: Tom Ridge is now playing down his original remarks.

(Originally published August 21. Moved back to feature other material at the top of this blog.)