Bill Maher article/Bush on Larry King
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| Fri, 08-13-2004 - 8:35am |
Also, saw Bush on Larry King last night. The guy can't pass up a chance to say 9/11. Too bad he didn't have anything else to say and Larry was lobbing him softball questions with no real follow-up. Good thing Laura was there too. She made Bush's fumblings less obvious. I think overall this was a warm-up for convention or debates. Very weak interview, but it's nice to see George step out of his safe Republican scripted campiagn spots. Too bad the press can't really press him for real answers.
Bush blew it the morning of 9/11
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/221433p-190107c.html
By BILL MAHER
John Kerry has waded into an issue raised by Michael Moore in his film "Fahrenheit 9/11," namely, President Bush's sitting for seven minutes in a Florida classroom after being told "the country is under attack." Republicans are waxing indignant, of course. But the criticism is richly deserved.
The fact that Bush wasted 27 minutes that day - not only the seven minutes reading to kids but 20 more at a photo op afterward - was, in my view, the most outrageous thing a President has done since Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court.
Watergate was outrageous but it still did not carry the possibility of utter devastation, like a President's freezing at the very moment we needed his immediate focus on an attack on the United States.
This is an issue about the ultimate presidential duty, acting in an emergency. If nothing else in Washington is nonpartisan, this should be.
But it is not. Republicans are tying themselves in knots trying to defend Bush's actions that morning. The excuses they put forward are absurd:
He was "gathering his thoughts." This was a moment a President should have imagined a thousand times. There is no time in the nuclear age for a President to sit like Forrest Gump "gathering thoughts" after an attack has begun. Gathering information is what he should have been doing.
From the White House press secretary: "The President felt he should project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening." I agree that gaining a better understanding of what was happening should have been his goal. What I don't get is how that goal was reached by just sitting there instead of getting up and talking to people. Is he a psychic? Was he receiving the information telepathically?
"He didn't want to scare the children." Vice President Cheney has said of Kerry, "The senator from Massachusetts has given us ample reason to doubt the judgment he brings to vital issues of national security." So Kerry's judgment is suspect, but at a moment of national crisis, Bush's judgment was: Better not to scare 20 children momentarily than to react immediately to an attack on the country!
If he had just said, "Hey, kids, gotta go do some President business - be good to your moms and dads, bye!" my guess is the kids would have survived.
I cannot see how someone who considers himself a conservative can defend George Bush's inaction. Conservatives pride themselves on being clear-eyed and decisive. They don't do nuance, and they respect toughness.
But Bush choked at the most important moment a President could have. We're lucky Al Qaeda had done its worst by the time he pulled himself away from the photo op. Next time, it might not be that way.
Maher is the host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

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< Just for your info.... the President also travels with a secure line. >
He is the president we were under attack why wouldn't we need him??????
There was no assessment, no understanding of the scope of the threat, no unique orders only Bush could have given. What do you think, he uses X-Ray vision to ferret out terrorists after flying around earth at super speed reversing time ala superman?
Yeah, no panic, there was no urgency to evacuate, a cold resolve was developing in Bush. Kerry would have had a panic call for a hairdresser to be flown in asap! Ohh wait I forgot we already know what Kerry's reaction was from his own statements on Larry King Live... Kerry went into coma for 40 minutes. I wonder if John needed to change his pants? Freezing while under attack.... shameful coward! How could anyone vote for Kerry???
Edited 8/17/2004 2:37 pm ET ET by truemobile
Edited 8/17/2004 2:40 pm ET ET by truemobile
I get the feeling that if Bush had been in a motel room with a hooker during this time some republicans would reply he needed release to continue on with the exempary job he had been doing.
I think the point is that if 9/11 was Bush's defining moment in his presidency - Why? If you say that because it was a major event that occurred during his tenure, then I'm sure we'll all agree. But if you mean it shows him to be a great leader, then I strongly disagree. He didn't prevent what happened, even though he supposedly had information a month before that it was likely to happen. He sat in the classroom for those seven minutes and although we knew we weren't being attacked by nuclear warheads - how did he know that? Supposedly when he went into the classroom he was already informed about the first plane - so you're right, he's not thinking nukes, but if you've just been told there's a second plane, aren't your next thoughts - "How many more? Will it only be planes? What next?" As President you get daily briefings on all sorts of ways we could be attacked. The seriousness of having two planes hit large buildings wouldn't make you wonder what might be next? I would think you'd make your apologies and go seek more answers than what was just whispered in your ear.
Now we're up to the Republican National Convention. Held in NY to exploit 9/11 yet again. Have you been to NY lately? If there's a group of people that are still trying to heal it's there. Exploiting it at this time will only cause more anger. The protests will be huge, the country is divided and angry, and this is not a true leader. If it's comforting for you to think that the man in charge is capable of leading then by all means vote for Bush. I find no comfort in this man residing in the White House.
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