THE PATTERN BECOMES FAMILIAR

First the scary words from overseas, then the scary words from the Bush administration:

The nation's top law enforcement officials warned today that al Qaeda may have plotters already inside the United States.

"We have to assume that there are persons out there that want to attack us," said FBI director Robert Mueller.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said police chiefs have been told to review all the intelligence the federal government has given them in the last two years about al Qaeda tactics.

Chertoff told ABC News: "We've seen them attack in London, for example. We've seen them attack in Spain. We've seen them attack elsewhere, so I think we have to operate on the assumption that they do have some capability and they certainly have the intent." ...

But they're not raising the alert level -- yet. Let's see: the Patriot Act is set to expire on February 3. The State of the Union address will be January 31. I'm betting we go to orange on January 30.