What Could Bush Have Done? (9/11)

[ThomWV]

I had felt anger at Bush since the mobs stormed the voting places during the Florida count (it was not a recount, in order to recount you would have had to count in the first place). That anger exploded as the morning turned into afternoon turned into evening on 9/11 and the chimp had disappeared into the sky as the coward went west while the attack was in the east.

So when I see his appologists ask, well, what could he have done in Washington, or New York, or whereever? They mean of course that there really was nothing he could have done. I never bought that. He's the Commander In Chief, after all. But then it occured to me, they're right. There is nothing he could have done, not a single thing.

George W. Bush is devoid of any talent what so ever that would have served the nation in any useful way on that terrible day, or any other day for that matter. For all the value he could have been in Washington or New York he may as well have been on the moon. His presence at best is a henderance to progress on any front at any time.

How did it come to this?

[grasswire]

1. sorry

He knew something was coming, and he knew it would be inside the U.S. and it could involve airplanes. He could have hardened targets. He could have alerted FAA, INS, customs, etc.

If he couldn't handle the job, he could have done this:

RESIGN.

[MajorFlaw]

7. Any President with balls would have gone to the WTC site . . .

on 9/11/01. The suggestion that his personal safety superseded his obligations as Commander in Chief smells like cowardice. Pres. Clinton would have been here before the sun had set, as I would expect of every other President.

It strikes me as peculiarly unfair that we should have such a inept President at a time when we dearly need a strong President. Unless you're living off your Halliburton dividends, I can't imagine a reason for voting for Bush lite.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. You're probably right

only because he's and incompetent fool.

[ThomWV]

4. Exactly My Point.

---------> . <------------- Point

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. LOL

...

[moremorfordplz]

3. Bush knew

he has no shame. I am not religious of course I am a strident atheist, but his madness is such that i do sometimes wonder if he is possessed by some kind of demons. I don't know that someone NOT in the grip of some devil figure could be so evil and get so much pleasure from exercising hatred, unchecked power and destructive influence on the world.

If you think you are safe from his reach, you are dead wrong, my friends. Operative word probably being 'dead'.

[Paul Hood]

11. It's strange to think that

a strident atheist is thinking about demons and devil figures. God knows whats become of atheism.

[stepnw1f]

5. He is a Born again Christian..

That places his views over all others because some nut case Christians told him he is doing God's will. For him to do otherwise would be a sin. He will never bend these views. We all noted how inept he was for such a role. I had worse suspicions however, when the voting went ery. After the election, I was even more concerned. A nightmare appeared over the horizon. Interestingly, Clinton warned us of how important the 2000 election was...ooops he was right once again. Politics is a dirty career. It's hard not to get soiled there when wallowing in dung. Hope people are willing to overlook some of this dirt. If Bush is re-elected again I am leaving the US. I'm already in the process of attaining my dual citizenship for Germany. People can live and die with their principals.It's one thing seek perfection, however looking for imperfection so that one doesn't vote at all is foolish. I am voting for Dennis, but you bet your ass I will swallow my pride and vote for anyone of these other candidates.

[Lisa]

8. I'm still amazed -- not at him, but his advisors ...

... hours and hours went by, and nobody from the White House was on TV, trying to calm the nation. Sure, the Bush cabal couldn't have done much to help people (not least because that's not something that comes naturally to them). But I would have thought there was someone in that lot who wasn't so frightened or clueless as to lose track of the President's job description. Saying comforting words isn't the same as clawing at the rubble with your bare hands trying to get people out of there, but it's a lot better than nothing.

I'm an agnostic, and I wouldn't have said a harsh word about W if he'd suddenly gone on-air that day and asked the audience to pray along with him, if it made people feel calmer and safer. (He's evidently not shy about being shown doing that ... they've plastered the WH website with photos of him in mid-prayer.)

Knowing how suggestible Bush is, if Karl or someone had said that he had to get to a location with broadcast capabilities (or even done it from AF1, which is crammed with technology) -- he'd have obeyed. In retrospect they try to make it sound like Bush was yelling at everyone to get him back to DC so he could talk to the nation, but he was ignored in the interest of "security" ... even as they laud him for a take-charge attitude. (You can't have it both ways, guys!)

Was writing a few words and shoving Bush in front of a camera just too much to handle?

[Sapphocrat]

9. He could have bloody well...

...paid attention to the previous admin's recommendations instead of scrapping anything "Clintonesque." He could have been on the job instead of clearing brush in August, 2001. He could have actually read his PDB of August 6th. He could have gotten off his ugly ass in Florida instead of letting hijacked planes run wild all over the eastern skies. He could have ordered F-16s scrambled when it became apparent that NORAD was falling down on the job. He could have bloody well returned to Washington instead of running like a chickenshit...

And if anybody says he would have served no purpose in Washington, just think back to how you felt (not what you thought) on 9/11. Even I, with no love lost for that little worm, was actually rooting for him, waiting for him to take control of the country for once, and prove me WRONG about him.

All I wanted that morning was a real President I could believe in. Even if we had to wait an hour, two hours, for his speechwriters to throw together something that even he couldn't screw up, I just wanted a leader I could believe in, even only momentarily.

I was scared. You were scared. And that little prick bailed on all of us. All 275 million of us.

You remember the scene in "Jurassic Park" where the T. Rex attacks the car with the kids and the lawyer in it? You remember how the lawyer panics and runs, leaving the kids to the monster?

You remember what the little girl says, in utter disbelief? "He left us! He LEFT us!"

What could the lawyer have done to protect the kids? Not a goddamned thing. But he was supposed to be the adult. And he left them.

Bush* failed on all accounts. "Miserable failure" doesn't even begin to describe him.

[Valerie5555]

10. As one who was occasionally still in to anything to do with that time when

the Shah fell, and the Ayatollah took power in Iran, I at times, couldn't help but find that a certain then final American ambassador to the Shah's court seemed way more Presidential than the Shrubbery, since he did things like calmly "facing down" the Iranian terrorists, the first time the Iranians discovered that the American embassy was a "spy den."

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. He could have done his job

On the morning of 9-11 when Bu$h arrived at Booker Elementary he already knew that one jet had hit the first tower. It is probably safe to assume that unlike the rest of us, he also knew that there were at least 3 other hijacked planes in the air. He also knew based on his intelligence briefings that al Qaeda was planning a major attack that involved flying airplanes into buildings.

Under the circumstances what does the Commander in Chief do? Nothing. Bush entered the school telling reporters that he would be making a statement later.

Then at 9:06 AM, Andrew Card informs Bu$h that a second plane has hit the WTC. What does Bu$h do? Nothing. He friggin sits there reading a book about goats with a group of 2nd graders instead. Within the half hour the Pentagon would be hit.

If Bu$h got up off his butt and had a normally functioning brain he would have been working the phones as soon as he found out about the first plane and trying to find out what the hell was going on. Even if he didn't do anything until the second plane hit and was absolutely certain that the US was under attack, if he had acted at that moment and gave orders to scramble fighter jets and shot down if necessary a few hundred people at the Pentagon probably would have been saved.

Unfortunately, Bu$h was only concerned about himself and preparing his lame brain statements to the public and then getting out of harms way, to hell with everyone else. This is what he has done his whole life, how could we possibly expect anything else from him, even if it was a national emergency?