Not so long ago, Karl Rove said that this election would be run on 'security.' (well, what else can he say? That it would be about ethics? Iraq? Quality jobs? Health care?)

So, apparently Republicans consider 'security' to be their strong suit. And then today we learn that two teams of undercover agents smuggled dirty bomb components into the U.S. while using false documents.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two teams of government investigators using fake documents were able to enter the United States with enough radioactive sources to make two dirty bombs, according to a federal report made available Monday.

The investigators purchased a "small quantity" of radioactive materials from a commercial source, according to a Government Accountability Office report prepared for Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.

The investigators posed as employees of a fictitious company and brought the materials into the United States through checkpoints on the northern and southern borders, the report stated.

That makes you feel secure, doesn't it?

Of course, in the wake of 9/11, we were told that billions were being spent on the Homeland Security Department so that first responders and others could respond to disasters in a timely manner. Tell that to people still waiting for a FEMA trailer in Houston or Atlanta (and tell me, would things have been any different at all if a terrorist had blown up a nuke in New Orleans?) Billions spent, and when the real test came, total and complete failure.

Then we recently had the Dubai ports deal. Conservatives defended it, but even the 9/11 commission had reported that officials from the United Arab Emirates had hosted bin Laden at their hunting camp in Afghanistan six months after the African embassy bombings.

Heck, even security at airports is questionable. Last year, almost four years after September 11, Phoenix police had two shootouts within a week's time with car thieves who had crashed through barriers and driven stolen cars out onto the tarmac at Sky Harbor airport. And it happened twice, showing that they didn't bother to fix the problem the first time.

In fact, under George Bush, the zetas have been allowed to infiltrate pretty much unopposed into the United States. Haven't heard of them? you probably don't want to. And don't write too much about them, they shoot reporters who name their leadership.

And, they have forced local police departments to spend lots of unreimbursed money on overtime every time there is a terror alert (even in very underpopulated rural counties like this one), and so they have less to spend on routine patrols (meaning I have less to fear from terrorists, but more from the local hoods).

Yeah, so now Republicans want to run on security.

They've given us lots of reasons to feel secure, don't you agree?