“For instance, the plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge was a perfectly reasonable plot that would have worked,” Morris tells me. “[New York City police commissioner] Ray Kelly says the Brooklyn Bridge was in serious jeopardy. But the New York Times called the plot ‘pathetically amateurish and unthreatening … high improbable.’”

Morris continues, “A plan to invade Fort Dix with machineguns to kill as many soldiers as possible. One of the planners was a trained military sniper. But the Washington Post wrote, ‘would be terrorists … leaderless … no rigorous military training.’”

Morris also discusses the politically correct “diversity guidelines” proposed by the Society of Professional Journalists at their national convention in 2007.

Among the 19 guidelines are:

• When writing about terrorism, remember to include white supremacists, radical antiabortionists, and other groups with a history of such activity.

• Avoid using terms such as "jihad" unless you are certain of their precise meaning and include the context when they are used in quotations. The basic meaning of "jihad" is to exert oneself for the good of Islam and to better oneself.

• Ask men and women from within targeted communities to review your coverage and make suggestions.

According to Morris, “This is guiding terror coverage in this country, all of which is designed to reassure us into a fool’s paradise where we’re not subject to terror threats. That conspiracy to do that is what I am really exposing in this book.”

Asked if there are any book-related grumblings thus far from the Left, Morris says, “So far, not. I think a lot of them are disagreeing with me on the substantive issues, which is fine.”

In fact, there is much in the book that may be attractive to the Left.

“This is not what I would regard as a Right-wing book,” says Morris. “A lot of it is Right-wing, and a lot of it is Left-wing. I go after credit-card companies. I’m very critical of Halliburton for its work in Iraq. I talk about the whistleblowers who have been persecuted for their turning-in Halliburton.”

Wrapping up our conversation, I ask Morris if he believes it’s fair to say that Bush – his mistakes and his failure to stand up to his political opponents – has created an environment that is conducive to the rise of someone like Obama.

“Oh yes, I think absolutely,” Morris says. “But on the other hand, probably the single most-important factor in explaining the rise of the Democratic party is that nobody is afraid of getting attacked by terrorists anymore. And the thing that is causing that is Bush’s success in keeping us safe.”