How would have John F Kennedy acted during those 7 mins?

[gonefishing]

I am tired of hearing it's hard to judge how someone would have acted during those 7 minutes. I agree it would have been hard for me to say how I would have acted. However, its should not be hard to say how a LEADER of the free world should have acted.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[JI7]

2. he sure wouldn't have sat in a classroom for minutes

what one specifically does such as whether they would order and attack or whatever can't be answered.

but at the least when you are told the country is under attack there is on question i would have left and tried to find out as much as i could about what was going on including watching on tv or listening to radio as reports come in while arrangements were made to meet with top security and other officials as soon as can be.

[gulliver]

3. He would have been out of that chair the second he heard.

So would all of the other presidents from 1 to 42.

[Enraged_Ape]

4. This doesn't take mind-reading or alternative history scenarios

Any person of average-to-above-average intelligence with a modicum of responsibility and accountability in their history would have calmly, politely excused themselves from the room the instant they heard. Bush had none of these, and so he did nothing.

[kaos]

5. As a Senator he sat in a daze for 40 mins...

Here is Kerry's reply on July 8 to Larry King who asked him what he was doing on September 11th:

I was in the Capitol. We'd just had a meeting -- we'd just come into a leadership meeting in Tom Daschle's office, looking out at the Capitol. And as I came in, Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid were standing there, and we watched the second plane come in to the building. And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table and then we just realized nobody could think, and then boom, right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon. And then word came from the White House, they were evacuating, and we were to evacuate, and so we immediately began the evacuation.

Since the South Tower of the World Trade Center was struck at 9:03 a.m., and the Pentagon was hit at 9:43 a.m., this means that Kerry along with several other members of the Democratic Senate leadership sat together at a table in a daze for a full 40 minutes, unable to act, unable to think.

[NEOBuckeye]

7. What could they have done? Keep in mind, Congress isn't the EXECUTIVE

Branch. That's Bush's job. The most Kerry and the other Senators could have done at that point was to hold a joint session with the House and pass a resolution officially condemning the terrorist attack. It's up to the Executive Branch under the President to ACT in the interest of the nation's security.

But I'm sure that PRESIDENT Kerry would have had a far different response than SENATOR Kerry.

[foo_bar]

8. the subject is John F "Kennedy"

anyway, what would a senator do in a national emergency?

[JI7]

9. considering Senator's powers are limited unlike President's

during this time. of course it would be this way. you think they had the option of demanding a meeting with top officials in national security departments ? and option to decide on whether to attack another nation depending on who attacked us ?

[zulchzulu]

11. FYI: President is Commander-In-Chief...Senator is...um...Senator

The President is responsible for making decisions on matters of protecting the US.

Bush's choice to sit on his ass for seven minutes while thousands died at the same time shows that he is indeed a coward who doesn't know how to be a leader. The pattern has been clear all through his life and that morning on 9/11 was just a continuing consistent act of his lack of fortitude.

Hearing the defense that Bush didn't want to upset the children or didn't want to panic Americans is absolutely one of the most pathetic symptoms of moral subjectivity the Bush apologists have displayed.

America WAS there watching the second plane crash into the tower. I saw it on TV live when it happened.

Kerry was absolutely correct in saying that if he were President, he would have told the children that he has important business to attend to WHEN he heard it first. That's what leaders do.

Perhaps Kerry should have driven to the White House and taken over the helm on the morning of 9/11. That would have come over well.

Let's just say that if you were on a boat that suddenly was sinking, would you want the captain to sit on his ass and do nothing for seven minutes?

[elperromagico]

6. I've said it before, but I'll say it again.

That "he didn't want to scare the children" business is a lot of bunk. That dog won't hunt. The President of the United States does not have to explain to anyone why he suddenly has to leave a place.

It is understood by almost everyone in this country and yes, on this planet - even schoolchildren - that the Presidency is an important job with a lot of pressing responsibilities. The President need only say, "I'm sorry, but I have to go." No other explanation is necessary. And "I have to go" is not a panic-inducing statement by any stretch of the imagination.

[bluedog]

10. facts

Kerry was around the buildings in Washington that were targeted....heard the explosions..seen the Congress.big brass have to go to underground bunkers...........bush was not near the point of impact.......

The congress and others executives.thought there would be other buildings hit.....proof..protecting oneself.as the cheneys.....and riceball..........they were in a situation..of who's next

Bush in cozy classroom reading story after 1st plane hit.....he endangered the kids in that school by not leaving.......everyone in Fl knew he was going to visit there......it was in the media .........better he moved his ass than to put OUR kids as a shield to protect him...

Fact.the EMTs firemen....Police...Drs.Nurses.and normal everyday people didn't sit and figure out what to do.they reacted.........bush sat numb and dumb!

[LonghornJack]

12. If the Subject Is "How Would President Kennedy Have Act..."

...then I think that JFK, living in an era of nuclear weapons delivered by intercontinental ballistic missiles, would have likely bolted out of the room at a dead run. At that time, a response to an attack would have to be made in seconds, not minutes or hours.

Even if Kennedy were in that classroom on 9/11, he still would have realized that airliners can travel up to 600 miles an hour....that's 10 miles in one minute! Waiting 7 minutes, or 10 or 15 or 30, means that the chance of intercepting any other attacking planes runs out with each passing minute. Our military planes can reach speeds of up to Mach 2, but even those speeds aren't any good if the attacker has already closed in on its target! Maybe the other two airliners could have been intercepted, and maybe not. But, sweet Lord, somebody had to give it a shot.

Duhbya just couldn't figure out that other airliners (and there were probably two still in the air when he was told) could be en route and had to be intercepted. There was no time to be wasted...our military jets had to be scrambled to begin looking for the hijacked planes. Two National Guard jets had little trouble finding Payne Stewart's Learjet after it flew out of control over the Midwest in '99.

Duhbya just can't face up to the facts. He CHOKED! The pressure was on and he just CHOKED.

[Toby109]

13. I think most of the world

and even ardent Bush supporters(somewhere deep in their black hearts) know that how Bush reacted that day was not courageous or even presidential. I heard Peter Jennings describe his actions as "curious" on 9/11-and he was trying to be polite. The topic was muted by comparisons to Churchill and Lincoln shortly afterward. The media picked up the hint that, in a time of war, the president must appear to be up to the task, particularly when he's not.

I am glad this subject is finally being brought up. I have always felt that the video of Bush sitting in that classroom was our Zapruder film.

The war in Iraq was a way to restore Georgie's manhood as well as for oil, global hegemony and the mid-term elections. Those in Europe, Japan and Vietnam must secretly be jeering at us. They lived through years of 9/11s and worse.