The thing about Bush and 9/11 that I don't get...

[WI_DEM]

is that every pundit says it is his crowning achievement. Let me see, The most deadly attack on American soil and it's that president's crowning achievement? Oh, I know--they say how he responded to it...but is it ok that it happened at all on his watch at all?

[BrklynLiberal]

1. It's called Rovian spin. "Don't look at the man behind the curtain"

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Bill Maher's New Rule: You can't run on a mistake.

New Rule: You can't run on a mistake. Franklin Roosevelt didn't run for re-election claiming Pearl Harbor was his finest hour. Abe Lincoln was a great president, but the high point of his second term wasn't theater security. 9/11 wasn't a triumph of the human spirit. It was a fuck-up by a guy on vacation.

Now, don't get me wrong, Mr. President. I'm not blaming you for 9/11. We have blue-ribbon commissions to do that. And I'm not saying there was anything improper about your immediate response to the attacks. Someone had to stay in that classroom and protect those kids from Chechen rebels.

But by the looks of your convention, you'd think that the worst thing that ever happened to us was the best thing that ever happened to you. You just can't keep celebrating the deadliest attack ever as if it's your personal rendezvous with greatness. You don't see old men who were shot down during World War II jumping out of a plane every year. I mean, other than your dad.

But even your dad didn't run for re-election based on a recession and his propensity to barf on the Japanese. Now, I know you'd like us all to get swept away with emotionalism and stop sweating the small stuff like the deficit and the environment, and focus on what's really important: how you look in a fireman's hat. But crying during your speech? I mean, come on! There's no crying in politics! It's not fair! That's a trick chicks use. How are we supposed to discuss this rationally if you're going to cry?! There's a name for people who exploit their participation in historical events for political gain. They're called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

So I say, if you absolutely must win an election on the backs of dead people, do it like they do in Chicago, and have them actually vote for you.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Bill Maher is my hero....... n/t

[progressiveBadger]

11. That was one of the finest bits from last season

That or Andrew Sullivan's melt down.

[Comicstripper]

19. On "Real Time," Aaron McGruder said:

"September 11th was the best thing that ever happened to George W. Bush."
I've said this to people in public before. Oddly enough, it doesn't strike anyone as shocking...

[ThorsHammer]

23. IIRC, his approval ratings were in the tank

Pre 9/11, I think he was somewhere around 40-50%. Post 9/11, he jumped to 85%+ or so. I'm not in the MIHOP/LIHOP crowd, but do think that it was what saved his political career.

[Debs]

47. Aaron McGruder

Had one of my all time great Realtime lines. Bay Bucchanon had just said it was up to the president to decide what intelligence to listen to so Aaron said "In that case the CIA cost too much. Lets fire them all hire Hollywood screenwriters and call it the dept. of making shit up" Also loved DL Hugley telling ANN (the woman whose name I simply will not say) Look I believe in God, I just dont believe all the people who say they are working for him really are

[Zookeeper]

12. LOL! Well said! n/t

[Richard Steele]

48. Attn: BlueEyedSon:

That's just about the best 5 paragraphs I have seen in a long while!

[BlueEyedSon]

51. Thx. Maher does have a way with words.... nt

[BrainRants]

3. E.J. Dionne Jr. in todays WaPost

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25277-2005Jan20.html

"And then there is the profoundly uncomfortable question: Do we want Sept. 11 to dominate how we define ourselves indefinitely? The president seems to think so."

"But I do not want our nation to be defined for decades by what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. I want a nation that loves liberty so much that it can move beyond tragedy and embrace not only the call to battle but also the promise of peace."

Amen!

[RevCheesehead]

4. I was amazed at his concentration skills in that Florida classroom.

I mean, ANYBODY ELSE would have jumped up and left the room. But no, the Chimperor remained on his throne. Truly, his crowning moment.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Of course. Any other President would have...........done pretty much

the same thing. Accept, any other President would have taken the threats seriously and stopped the attacks before they occurred. Why anyone would think his reactions on 9/11 were anything more than cowardly, I'll never know.

Amazing how one's actions can be spun into a myth when you have a corporate broadcast media acting as an unindicted co-conspirator in their enabling of these criminals to take this country down.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. I don't think his actions were cowardly...

...I think they were conspiratorial.

[fooj]

17. Hmmmmmmm...

Interesting.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

24. I do too Blue. He was biding his sweet time.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

25. Question! How many of you know that Jeb put Fla under martial law

on September 7th,2001????? Raise your hands if you do.

[Old and In the Way]

41. And what was Jeb doing taking records out of Hoffman Air the day after

9/11? Was he deputized as an FBI agent that day?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

46. Ain't it amazing how much people don't know about circumstances

surrounding 9/11???? It's all out there, in plain site, and most people don't have a clue.

[jackster]

7. there MIGHT be an even more sinister reason....

I'm still NOT convinved that this administration didn't have some part in 9/11. Is it just coincedental that the PNAC was looking for a "new Pearl Harbor" in order to implement the Bush Doctrine of perpetual wars in order to "spread" their version of democracy?????

it was either planned, allowed, or bushie is the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

[rzemanfl]

14. My personal feeling is that Bush felt an attack on the country

would bloster his legitmacy after stealing the election in the Supreme Court, so he did nothing to stop it. The deer in the headlights look was because he was expecting something much smaller.

[Clark2008]

21. This is exactly what I think, too.

They were expecting maybe a couple of hundred people in cars on a bridge or soemething. NOTHING like nearly 3,000 people.

[rzemanfl]

22. Glad we agree, but I think I should tell you that I heard that

little sponge guy on your message is queer...

This is the kind of crap so-called religious leaders spew when we are causing people to die for a lie in Iraq every day.

[Clark2008]

26. LOL!

Did you read the words in between the flashing Bob?

It says, "Martyr," and "Victim of the Right."

However, you're exactly correct. It's a diversionary tactic, as in, "Hey! Look over there! (Don't look at all these deaths we caused). LOOK! There's a CARTOON character who is a HOMO! Oh, what a SII---EENN!"

[rzemanfl]

27. When I hit reply, the message stopped flashing.

Just saw sponge faggot square fruit.

[annabanana]

38. This is also my personal, reasoned ,opinion.

(except on days when I'm especially depressed, then I'm MIHOP all the way)

[tenshi816]

49. Deer in the headlights

Yeah, when I saw the video footage of him in that classroom with that look, my first thought was "he knew". Maybe not all of it, but no one will ever convince me he didn't know something.

Bet he had more thoughts racing through his poor little brain right then than he ever had before or has had since. He looked like he was thinking "now how do I make myself look like I didn't expect this to happen".

[Zookeeper]

9. I can't even figure out what they admire about his response....

He sat with his deer-in-the-headlights look for over five minutes instead of getting up and finding out WT Heck was going on. Then he disappeared down his rabbit hole for hours instead of immediately addressing (and reassuring) the American people. When he did finally show up in NY, his handlers chose an off-duty firefighter, who wasn't actually volunteering at the time, to pose with Smirk for the photo-op. And apparently, that particular man was chosen because he was shorter than Bush, which made Bush look bigger and more powerful (isn't that heart-warming and sincere?).

And BushCo has continued to exploit the tragedy ever since.

AND, yes....it all happened on his watch!

[rzemanfl]

16. Remember that his first comment, when he briefly stopped

running away, was "we are going to get the 'folks' that did this," like they'd keyed a car in the parking lot or something.

What a disaster this yokel has been for our country.

[arewenotdemo]

45. yeah...the "folks" that did this

what a nitwit.

But it doesn't surprise me that he never really seemed to want to find UBL. How would he break the news to the bin Laden family?

[seemslikeadream]

10. At BEST, Bush's incompetence enabled 9-11

from my friend
Octafish

BFEE Allowed 9-11.


At BEST, Bush's incompetence enabled 9-11. That makes him criminally derelict in his duty as commander-in-chief, an impeachable offense.

There is no doubt the former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and President Clinton personally warned the incoming administration of the dangers posed by bin Laden and Al Quaeda.

Later that summer, DCI George Tenet's hair was afire with all the warnings he was getting. How come he didn't get the info about the flight schools from CIA? Perhaps he'duh warned the airlines or even the flying public?

It's most LIKELY Bush's incompetence was the result of willfull ignorance. That requires no stretch of the imagination. Consider the following evidence, from JUNE-JULY 2001:

Plot to assassinate Bush - reports

Bin Laden: Believed to have a network of guerrillas

July 9, 2001 Posted: 9:23 AM EDT (1323 GMT)

MOSCOW, Russia -- Osama bin Laden has threatened to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush at a G8 meeting in Italy, the head of Russia's Federal Bodyguard Service has said, according to reports.

The Associated Press said Yevgeny Murov was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying: "Bin Laden is threatening the American president, but we know what international terrorism is today and therefore all the bodyguard units concerned are preparing for this.

"We view the threats as totally serious, but hope that with joint efforts we can solve all the problems."
The Group of Eight summit is meeting between July 20-22 in Genoa, Italy. Leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States are expected to attend the summit.

Murov -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief bodyguard -- did not elaborate on the threats. He said agents from Russia's Federal Bodyguard Service have travelled to Genoa to coordinate with their counterparts from the other nations taking part in the summit to investigate the threats.

CONTINUED...

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/06/20/russia.binladen/

Missiles to protect summit leaders

Special report: globalisation

Rory Carroll in Rome
Wednesday July 11, 2001
The Guardian

Italy has installed a missile defence system at Genoa's airport to deter airborne attacks during next week's G8 summit, fuelling hysteria about looming violence.

A land-based battery of rockets with a range of nine miles and an altitude of 5,000 feet has been positioned in the latest security measure against perceived threats from terrorists and protesters.

Unidentified planes, helicopters and balloons risk being shot down should they drift too close to the heads of state from the group of seven leading industrialised nations and Russia.

Colonel Alberto Battaglini, of the ministry of defence, said the precaution was not exces sive. "The measure, which was planned by the previous government, may seem open to criticism, but in reality it is merely to act as a deterrent against any aerial incursion during the summit.

"They are little missiles ... which only have a deterrent function to discourage any aerial-led attack and they do not present any danger to the residents of the city," he said.

CONTINUED...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,519925,00.html

Then there's John Ashcan who stopped flying commercial in July 2001.

Ashcroft Flying High

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001
CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports on Aschcroft's travel arrangements.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines." -- FBI spokesman


(CBS) Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

A senior official at the CIA said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat.

CONTINUED...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml
And then what did BUSH DO POST-9-11?

HE BROKE INTERNATIONAL LAW TO INVADE A NATION WITH WHICH WE WERE AT PEACE TO STEAL THE OIL.

[No Exit]

13. He escaped blame for it... that's the "crowning achievement".

Considering that it is VERY plausible that he and (even more so) Cheney were actually INVOLVED in what happened, escaping blame is one hell of a crowning achievement.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

15. The thing I love about the "pundits" is this BS they

keep spewing about how Chimpy responded to 9-11.

Excuse me, but how did he respond? He sat in a classroom in Florida for 20 minutes after he was told "the country is under attack". Then he decides to fly to Barksdale AFB in LA for whatever reason I do not know and then he flies to Offutt AFB in NE so he could have a secure video conference. He didn't return to Washington until what 5:00 pm EDT that afternoon. Hell the FAA had all the planes accounted for and landed by what time, about 11:00 AM EDT. Give me a break...

Then he gives a speech to the nation that evening looking like a proverbial "deer in the headlights". After that so-called speech, I was more terrified than I was that morning watching the second plane hit the WTC and seeing both towers fall. Jaysus, by the time the second tower fell, I even knew it was Bin Laden that was behind this and believe me I don't have a PhD or access to PDB's.

Bill Clinton was in fricking Australia and made it to NYC before Chimpy did.

This moron is truly "all hat, no cowboy". He is a lazy, spoiled fratboy SOB. He's never had to truly work for anything in his life and never been made to be truly responsible for his actions and/or mistakes.

Crowning achievement, my ass. If this had happened on Clinton's or any other Democratic President's watch, they would have literally been hung.

[theresistance]

18. The "response" to 911 they keep lauding

are the invasions of countries to spread American power and "free markets" around the world. They don't care about Chimpenstein's reaction on the day, they love the wars that have ensued etc...

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

20. Then they are all sick f**ks as well. n/t

[Old and In the Way]

42. And tops it off by observing that evening.......

"It was an interesting day"..........No, it will be an interesting day when he faces justice for the deaths of 3000 people that died because he let it happen.

[EVDebs]

28. No one dares mention wargames on 9-11 Vigilant Warrior or NORADs

standdown. We really got our 'moneys worth' that day, huh ? Read "Crossing the Rubicon" by Michael Ruppert of www.fromthewilderness.com and also check out www.oilempire.us for stuff on the wargames. Ptech, the Saudi software firm with FAA and intell computer access is mentioned at www.madcowprod.com in the archived stories.

MSM will not be reporting on ANY of this.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. There was also Vigilant Guardian and the one that Rudy

Giuliani particapated in a biowarfare Tripod III excercise with FEMA. His headquarters was at WTC 7, which was later deliberately razed that day in a controlled demolition by Silverstein, the landlord of the Trade Center.

Excellent links, thank you!

Here is another one.
http://nuclearfree.lynx.co.nz/wargames.htm

Here is a link to ** claiming he saw the first plane hit.

http://thewebfairy.com/killtown/sawplane.html

[atommom]

29. This has been driving me mad ever since 9/11. I just don't get it.

Did nothing to prevent it, did nothing spectacular in response except to use the disaster as a ploy to attack Iraq. Even though evidence to the contrary was already out there for anyone to see and hear, the media backed him up and worked the Murkan people into a froth over Iraq. So inexcusable, so infuriating, and most of all so effing stupid that I can't see how he got away with it!

[Lisa]

30. he finished reading that goat story! Which is very ironic ...

... because, after examining that particular storybook, I found that the goat's owners overlooked the mess he made, because he protected them from criminals.

So the moral seemed to be, people will forgive your greed and destructiveness if you will keep them safe. Something which Bush clearly violated.

[EVDebs]

34. Lisa, watch "Three Days of the Condor" and pay special attention

to the dialog at the end of the flick with Redford and Robertson. All about seizing oilfields in Saudi Arabia...very prophetic. Also, love the Poisson artwork in the spooks' office, an added delightful touch !

[seabeyond]

32. and then ran away and hid for all the day

four days to get to new york for his cutsey speech. ya........crowning moment, three thousand deaths and his failures

[leesa]

33. He responded by waiting until it was over..spectacular!

But that was his job...to allow it to happen so that we could get our wars on in Afghanistan (pipeline rights) and Iraq (oil and military control)

[Hissyspit]

40. Bush vs. Giuliani

Giuliani runs down to the site of the attack and is a hero for it (what he should have done anyway). Bush runs around different places and not to the site of the attack and is a hero for it (maybe what he should have done anyway). People will make their heroic behavior criteria fit their conception of what they want their leaders to be. Maybe some psych majors in the audience can come up with the terminology used to describe this behavior.

[Sparkly]

35. Exactly!!

The RNC convention practically celebrated the thing.

[Lone_Wolf]

36. On 9-11, Chimp flew around the country on AF1 like COWARD

There was nothing honorable in his actions. When the country needed a leader, he flew around like a chickenshit. I guess this went down the country's memory hole.

[tenshi816]

50. Flying chimp

That's what people started saying over here as well (England). We were seeing Rudy G. every few minutes (and yeah, he damn well was supposed to be there) but the Chimp was nowhere to be found. It was only, I suppose, when word got out that lots of noise was being made about the president not rushing to NYC that he got out of his rabbit hole and put in an appearance.

Of course, it was an anticlimax by then, and anyone with two eyes and a brain could tell that his words were meant to glorify himself, and himself alone, there in his defining moment.

God, I loathe that man.

[CBHagman]

37. I think he gets away with it because...

*He does that "Strict father" thing George Lakoff talks about. He talks a lot about security and invades a few countries. Never mind that what he's done has almost certainly made the world less safe. He's done the requisite macho posturing, and of course the media and the party will back him on it.

*People are led to believe that because we haven't had a second 9/11 in several years, Bush's strategy is working. But there's no guarantee that it will work.

The thing that has made me particularly sick to my stomach is finding out that pollster Frank Luntz came up with the GOP mantra "September 11th changed everything. It's better to fight the terrorists in Baghdad than in New York or Washington, D.C." As if Iraq had anything to do with 9/11 and as if there are a finite numberf of terrorists, who will then conveniently descend on Iraq for us to catch them (and we all know how brilliantly THAT has worked).

But people buy all this stuff, mostly because they aren't clear on the facts. Meanwhile, only 25 percent of New York city voters supported Bush. That says it all.

[Hissyspit]

39. Complicit or Incompetent

Admin either wanted to let it happen for political capital and therefore deliberately ignored the signs OR was criminally negligent and incompetent in letting it happen. I can think of no other possibilities which fit the facts. DISCUSS...

[Old and In the Way]

43. Either way.......why wasn't he impeached and made to stand trial?

They spent $70MM investigating Clinton for 8 years and impeached him for having consensual sex. What does Bush have to do to get impeached? Kill 300,000? 3,000,000?

Anyone who supports the Republican Party hates America.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

44. Chimpy will never be impeached as long as the

Republican Party holds a majority in both Houses of Congress.

The only way it will ever happen is if someone comes forward with clear and convincing evidence of election fraud or that he personally knew that the intelligence leading the country to war with Iraq was bogus and lied to Congress about it.

Quite frankly I don't think either scenario is ever going to happen, but maybe there is someone from this Administration that really does have morals and a conscience. But I'm not going to hold my breath.

What everyone needs to do is get out and get organized and lets try and take back both Houses from the Republicans.

Turn off your TV's and computers. There is a lot of work to be done.