Bill Maher article/Bush on Larry King

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-28-2003
Bill Maher article/Bush on Larry King
66
Fri, 08-13-2004 - 8:35am
Did anyone know of the 20 minute photo-op AFTER the seven minutes and "My Pet Goat"? Saw Bill on Larry King and he made a great point that's not in his article. There is a guy who's sole job is to tag along with the President with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. The briefcase holds the "Big Red Button" that could launch US nuclear missiles should we be attacked. This is to save time in the event of a strike. Bill said "Is Bush the guy we want in charge of those nuclear codes?" He did nothing on 9/11. I say, apparently the guy with the briefcase can be 7 minutes and a photo-op away and still have time to spare.

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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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2003
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 7:18pm
Bush's staff WAS determining the extent of the attack.... when and if they needed him he was less than a few seconds away. As it turned out he wasn't needed immediately, and continued to operate with great grace in a difficult situation. Unlike Coma Kerry.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-2003
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 11:50pm
I think at a time when planes were hijacked and buildings were hit we needed the president not his aides. We were under attack. Although it does show who really runs this country.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-2003
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 11:52pm
I could answer that with how could anyone vote for Bush? The war president. What a joke.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-2003
Tue, 08-17-2004 - 11:53pm
We both know the answer to that. Hardly.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-2003
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 12:00am
Bush should have also been determining the extent of the attack. Why is that so hard to understand. << If they needed him>> He is the president of course they needed him.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 2:45am

Hello nat_claire_emma_mom!


Welcome to the board!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-16-2004
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 10:14am
For God's sake! We ALL KNEW the scope of the attack when we saw that second plane hit the towers! Ever heard of CNN???? I find it totally incredible that anyone could say that it was OK to do nothing for half an hour in a time like that! The NY mayor didn't do nothing for half an hour! The chief of police didn't either, nor did the chief firefighter of NY. Are you saying they should have all continued with whatever silly photo-op opportunity they were in and let 'their people' gather the facts while they wait for the information? If they had, they would have been fired!
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2003
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 10:32am
On 9/11, I remember watching tv as the second plane hit. I started getting a little nervous then. Shortly after, the Pentagon was hit, and then the last plane crashed into a field. In between these events, there were some untrue rumors rolling around on tv. I remember wondering where our President (or anybody in charge) was? No one was telling us anything. Should we hide in our basements (shelters if we had 'em). Where was the Emergency Broadcasting System? There was nothing but almost hysterical tv personalities talking among themselves with us watching. WHERE WAS BUSH? WHERE WAS CHENEY? WHERE WAS ANYBODY IN CHARGE? Flying from bunker to bunker trying to save their own butts, that's where. That day showed what our leaders were worth in a pinch. Nothing.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-05-2003
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 12:10pm

Thanks for the welcome!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 12:21pm
LOL!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

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