President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time Warp Again

[understandinglife]

Ever since the terrorist attacks, the main thing Americans have wanted from Washington is a sense of safety. That takes more than hyperalertness to suicide bombing threats, important as that is. No matter what the terrorists are up to, it is not possible to feel safe if the federal government does not appear to know what it is doing on so many different levels.

Yesterday was an ideal moment for Mr. Bush to demonstrate that he was really in control of his administration. He could have taken any one of a number of pressing worries and demonstrated that he was on the job, re-examining the problems, working on answers. For instance, he could have addressed the crisis facing the overstretched military due to the endless demands made by Iraq on both the Army and the beleaguered National Guard.

The speech came one day after the White House threatened to veto a bill onto which the Senate added a ban on the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against prisoners of the American government. This president could not find the spine to veto a bloated transportation bill that included wildly wasteful projects like the now-famous "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska. What kind of priorities does that suggest? If we ever needed the president to demonstrate that he has a working understanding of exactly where he wants to take this country, we need it now.

The president's inability to grow beyond his big moment in 2001 is unnerving. But the fact that his handlers continue to encourage him to milk 9/11 is infuriating. For most of us, the memories are fresh and painful. We mourn the people who died on Sept. 11, as we mourn Daniel Pearl and other Americans, not to mention innocents from other countries, who were murdered by terrorists. The administration's penchant for using them as political cover is offensive. It threatens to turn our wounds, and our current fears, into cynical and desperate spin.

October 7, 2005

President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time Warp Again

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/07/opinion/07fri1.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

Now, maybe they can start telling the truth about Judy. Seems we'll all find out on Sunday:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/memo-to-the-timesem_b_8476.html


Peace.

[Raster]

1. bush* is the epitome of one trick pony. And please, stop calling

9/11 his "defining" moment. It was a bullhorn, a pile of rubble and shameless milking of public emotion. 9/11 was only defining for the bush* administration in that it temporarily stopped the slide of a mediocre president into history as the worst president ever. Sorry to say bush* is back on track and sliding lower every day. Defining? Nope. Convenient? Far too coincidental. I put ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING past bush*, bushco*, and the petro/military industrial complex that put them in power.

[fleabert]

10. was I the only one who watched that moment live and thought...

"what an asshole!" ?

defining moment my ass. well said Raster.

[texpatriot2004]

2. Put your hands on your hips and pull your knees in tight...it's

just a pelvic thrust it's gonna drive you insane...let's do the time warp again.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. The asshole was laughing and smirking during the whole exercise.

HE is the absolute bottom of the barrel.

[mestup]

4. Wasn't this the speech originally planned for the 9/11 anniversary?

This speech would've made more Bush-sense if it had been given pre-Katrina/Rita. It seems odd to do all this terra/communism stuff so close on the heels of a devastating natural disaster. It sounded more like a rallying point for the next strategic military move (into Iran).

Maybe Katrina just temporarily got in the way? And maybe that's part of the FEMA/Homeland Security debacle after the hurricanes. They'd been busy planning to "respond" to something else.

[paineinthearse]

6. Another indication that Rove is on ice

Rove, had he been in an operations management position, would never have allowed this speach to be given when it was.

oops.....

[mestup]

7. So true. He's a terrible figure skater. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

8. Pretty soon he'll be thawed out,

inside someone's belly. :D

[6000eliot]

5. "Threatens to?" Are they kidding?

These clowns have been feasting on the corpses of the 9/11 dead since the day it happened!

[radfringe]

9. two reactions

Yesterday morning -When I first read the story about bush* giving a "major speech" on "terra" - my first thought was "uh-oh - his REAL-internal poll numbers must be in the crapper and it's time to drag out the boogie-men."

Yesterday afternoon - flipped on the news when I got home from work and saw the NY Subway Terror story, and immediately thought "Uh-oh - his 'major speech' must have tanked..."

My partner gets home from work shortly after and says "did you hear about the NY subways? a$$hole's speech must have flopped..."

[Disturbed]

11. Osama is now suddenly relevant?

Bringing Osama's name up several times only reminds people of the failure of the Bush Admin. to catch this man. Whoever wrote this speech is stupid.

[paineinthearse]

12. .

:kick: