For a little over a week, an eternity in news cycle dog years, the uproar over TSA pat-downs has dominated the media landscape like the bastard spawn of Rod Blagojevich, Sarah Palin, and Balloon Boy. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend news dead zone, there seems little chance its momentum will slow, but The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz may be ushering in the most welcome phase of this story’s arc: the inevitable backlash against the TSA backlash.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano may have given conservatives a great new t-shirt idea yesterday by claiming that the system “worked like clockwork” once the flight 253 incident had occurred (a disclaimer that rendered the statement meaningless), but there may actually be some truth to the notion that the system worked. Napolitano’s statement (since “clarified”) was a wrongheaded attempt at reassurance, it seems that a whole bunch of other people have an interest in making you as scared as possible.

President Obama stepped away from his Christmas vacation in Hawaii to hold a short press conference in order to address Friday’s averted terrorist attack aboard Northwest Flight 253 as well as the escalating conflict in Iran. The President appeared without tie, or teleprompter, to reassure the nation that “we will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable” and that “the American people should be assured that we are doing everything in our power to you keep you and your family safe and secure during this busy holiday season.”

This holiday weekend featured news of not just one, but two potential terror attacks. Had this happened during the Bush Administration, we would have had a steady diet of Tom Ridge and color-coded terror alert system bars. Under President Obama — we finally see him speak three days after news broke. Were we better off with or without the color bars (and all that came with it?) Or put another way, should we be freaking out right now or not?

It’s a good week to hate on the TSA. After thanking God that would-be terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab failed in his attempt to blow up Northwest Fligth 253 on Christmas Day, the focus has shifted to the colossal, multiple failures of the system on that day (Flying even though he was on a watch list? [...]

The biggest question to come from Thursday’s thwarted terrorist attack is how did someone on a watch list manage to get on a plane? This explanation from a senior administration official, via Politico, may go some ways to answering that question: There’s a lot of bureaucracy involved.

Sec. of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was on NBC’s Today show this morning, back-tracking a bit from her statements about the attempted terror attack made yesterday on several Sunday shows.

She says her comments about how “the system worked” were taken out of context – and she agrees the system actually “failed miserably.”

Where to point the finger over Thursday’s averted terror attack on Northwest Flight 253? How much responsibility for this falls on President Obama? Perhaps this is a good time to point out Obama has been in office three and a half months longer that George W. Bush was when September 11 occurred. So who inherited what?

Hot on the heels of Janet Napolitano‘s “The system worked like clockwork” appearance on This Week, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs faced questions from Jake Tapper, who got to the heart of the issue. If the flight 253 suspect was on a watch list, who was watching him? Gibbs’ response was equally on target.

Another incident has been reported on Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, CNN and BNO News are reporting. Details are still coming in, but here’s the information that’s available thus far, as gleaned from Twitter.

Jake Tapper interviewed DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano on ABC’s This Week, giving an early indicator of what the administration’s narrative on Flight 523 will be. Caught between the need to reassure a jumpy public, political opponents drooling at the chance to score points, and an unwillingness to tip our hand to those who would do us harm, Napolitano had her work cut out for her. Even given those factors, the Secretary’s overarching message was tone deaf, to say the least.

There may have been a brief reprieve because it did happen on Christmas, but make no mistake: the politicizing of the attempted attack on Northwest airlines flight 253 has begun. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) criticized President Obama on CNN Saturday, questioning the response of the administration in the aftermath of the potentially deadly incident. “It is important at a time like this that the President of the United States or someone in the administration would step forward,” said King, a congressman from New York.

Here is a lesson in how journalism (and really, life) works in 2009: the passenger on Northwest Flight 253 being billed as a hero for helping subdue Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will tell you his story – but only if you pay him money. But Jasper Schuringa was already on CNN, you say? Well, CNN paid up. And Mediaite has the full story inside!

Jasper Schuringa, a 32-year-old film maker from Amsterdam, is being lauded as the primary hero after he led the charge to subdue would-be terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Northwest flight 253 yesterday. Now, CNN has a fascinating interview with Schuringa, in which he describes the fire and tells how he subdued the suspect. Video inside!

Here’s a new, scary development in yesterday’s attempted terrorist attack on Northwest airlines flight by 23-year-old Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab: he may have had ties to Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, according to an AFP report via Politico’s Playbook. Peter Hoekstra, the most senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has a theory.

As news broke yesterday and last night about the attempted terror attack, CNN stayed live the longest, until 11pmET, FNC the 2nd longest and MSNBC stayed in doc block programming for the majority of the night.

And the person who anchored CNN’s coverage until the end, Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi, was nearly universally praised on Twitter – with the opportunity potentially signaling bigger thing in 2010.

A senior Department of Homeland Security official is telling the New York Times that yesterday’s failed terrorist attack aboard Northwest flight 253 might included an “incendiary” device as opposed to an “explosive” one, and that the suspect may have attempted to cause a fire on the plane, not necessarily blow it up. “[O]ur sense is he wanted to wreak some havoc here and was attempting to do just that,” the official said.

The availability of breaking news online is at an all-time high as Twitter streams, email alerts and RSS feeds blast headlines to millions, who in turn retweet, reblog and recite as fact. But as the progression of Christmas day’s Northwest Flight 253 news perfectly demonstrates, speed is the new accuracy. And it’s always interesting to trace the correcting of a story with the hindsight a few hours provides.

After yesterday’s failed bombing of a Northwest airlines flight, new details are beginning to emerge, both about the suspect — confirmed as 23-year-old Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab — and what exactly occurred in the cabin of flight 253. CNN is reporting that the man is “talking a lot” to the FBI. Plus, firsthand accounts are beginning to surface!