Being There What does 9/11 tell us about Bush? Nothing.

[seemslikeadream]

By William Saletan
Posted Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004, at 11:19 AM PT


For the past month, a group of veterans funded by a Bush campaign contributor and advised by a Bush campaign lawyer has attacked the story of John Kerry's heroism in Vietnam. They have argued, contrary to all known contemporaneous records, that Kerry was too brutal in a counterattack that earned him the Silver Star, and that he survived only mines, not bullets, when he rescued a fellow serviceman from a river. President Bush, who joined the National Guard as a young man to avoid Vietnam, has been challenged to denounce the group's charges. He has refused.

Now the Republican National Convention is showcasing Bush's own heroic moment. As John McCain put it last night: "I knew my confidence was well placed when I watched him stand on the rubble of the World Trade Center with his arm around a hero of September 11 and, in our moment of mourning and anger, strengthen our unity and our resolve by promising to right this terrible wrong and to stand up and fight for the values we hold dear."

Pardon me for asking, but where exactly is the heroism in this story? Where, indeed, is the heroism in anything Bush has done before 9/11 or since?


Two days ago at an Ellis Island rally, Dick Cheney described Bush's 9/11 leadership this way: "In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on America, people in every part of the country, regardless of party, took great comfort and pride in the conduct and the character of our president. They saw a man calm in a crisis, comfortable with responsibility, and determined to do everything necessary to protect our people."

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http://slate.msn.com/id/2105914/

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Translation:

Two days ago at an Ellis Island rally, Dick Cheney described Bush's 9/11 leadership this way: "In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on America, people in every part of the country, regardless of party, took great comfort and pride in the conduct and the character of our president. They saw a man calm in a crisis, comfortable with responsibility, and determined to do everything necessary to protect our people."<<

Finally we have a totally awesome excuse to completely blow the shit out of any country we want to.

No one will be able to tell me no, not even congress... (I may have to stretch things a little on that point)

No other country has even 1% of the power of total anhialation that we posess.

This will be a turkey shoot.

Let me see... where is the second largest oil reserve on the planet.

I have to make this look good... people have to be scared... real scared.

This is the moment I have been dreaming about... I can finally kill Saddam for threatening my daddy.

I can use the excuse of "national security" to wage preemptive war on countries that are no threat to the U.S., even on former allies that my pop helped prop up.

I can tell the rest of the world to go to hell and give all the contracts for reconstruction to my VP's buddies.

If I knew there was this much money in government, I would have gotten into it when I was still partying and drinking.

I can't wait to "democratize" another country with cruise missiles and cluster bombs....

[elehhhhna]

2. ...uh...he didn't show up in NYC until 9/14.

[rock]

3. The only kind of hero bushsucks* can be is a sandwich

Hey! He likes to dress up. How about he dress up as a hero sandwich to remind of what he is!?

[leftchick]

4. INDEED... Where the ....

Fuck is any "heroism" from dumbass*?!? He is a loser and a coward. WTF is wrong with America that they can not stop and think for ONE second and ask....
Why is * a hero? When did he show leadership? Where was he when the WTC went down? How is Amerika safer because of dumbhead*? WTF does Iraq have to do with Sept. 11?....
I live to see the day that a real journalist gets to ask stupidface* those questions and more... :grr:

[AlCzervik]

5. 911 didn't happen to Bush

it happened to the country.

[Emboldened Chimp]

6. "They saw a man calm in a crisis"

No, Dick, he was FROZEN IN FEAR. Don't confuse the two...

[grannylib]

7. Is there a specific example of LEADERSHIP the moron showed at any

point after 9/11??? NO! He showed up for a nice little photo-op (prelude to prancing on a flight deck in his Hallowe'en costume) and said some tough-sounding stuff. Then he promptly attacked people who were not even marginally involved in 9/11, and certainly no imminent threat to us, based on pretext and lies.
Fucking sneering, swaggering little pusbag.
Nothing but a puppet-whore for the PNAC.

[Catfight]

8. After the second plane hit, he STILL took 20 more minutes for a

photo op. He was in no rush even after he was out of sight of the children. He's NOT a man of action, he's a man of REACTION.

[wishlist]

9. He had supper with Prince Bandar the day after 9/11- what a stand up guy

I never heard such a huge load of BS in my life than the way the Repubs are fawning over him for doing what any politican would have done after 9/11. Although he certainly did more for the Saudis and Bin Laden relatives than any other leader would have done.

Considering how he never tried to go after Bin Laden before 9/11 and ignored the August memo, and other indicators he or people in his government had warnings and LIHOP, this praise does not pass the smell test.

[Moderator]

10. Not LBN

This is an opinion piece