What is the difference between an 'attempted' terrorist attack and an actual attack?

Carol Brown

The White House has labeled the terrorist attack on the free speech event in Texas as an "attempted terrorist attack."

"Attempted."

The Hill reports:

The White House on Tuesday called a shooting outside a "Draw Muhammad" contest in Texas "an attempted terrorist attack" but said it was too early to say whether the incident is tied to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

I guess the bullet that hit the guard was just an attempted bullet.

Press secretary Josh Earnest said the shooting is still under investigation by the FBI and intelligence agencies, and it's premature to say ISIS has reached U.S. shores.

Earnest said the Obama administration is "very vigilant about the efforts" of extremist groups to recruit Americans to carry out attacks in the U.S.

Not to worry.

And, if I might add, this short excerpt from The Hill article highlights so much of what is wrong, wrong, dangerously wrong about the Obama administration's policies on Islam, national security, and liberty. Here we had, once again, the administration (via its main mouthpiece, Josh Earnest) taking about the ever vague and ambiguous "extremist groups." No member of this administration dare name the enemy: Jihad.

Asked whether it was appropriate to draw depictions of the prophet Muhammad, which Muslims find offensive, Earnest said it's not a judgment for the administration to make.

The answer should have been an unequivocal, resounding, yes to free speech. Instead, Mr. Mouthpiece sidestepped and took the cowardly road.

Of course.