Slate: What is so great about Bush's response to 9/11?

[BurtWorm]

Saletan takes un uncharacteristally skeptical view of Bush's reputation as a "great" war "president." Uncharacteristically worth reading, considering the source. Every journalist should have been asking this question from the start. Is late really better than never?


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

Being There
What does 9/11 tell us about Bush? Nothing.
By William Saletan
Posted Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004, at 11:19 AM PT



It's not what you do, it's how you look

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?

...

[Kimber Scott]

1. I've been wondering this for a long time. I thought it was just me

who couldn't see the emperor's clothes.

[BurtWorm]

5. The whole article is worth reading, if you want your doubts validated.

Of course you weren't alone, though. But we haven't had our skepticism reflected in the major media (except by Krugman and Hertzberg, and I can't think of anyone else). But it's interesting to see the ultra whores at Slate suddenly ask an INTERESTING question about Bush for a change, a relevant question, a BASIC question. It's irritating that they're asking it NOW! :grr:

[BootinUp]

2. TRAITOR! How dare you question his imperial heinous.

[Thor_MN]

7. It's spelled A N U S not H E I N O U S....

[opihimoimoi]

3. The only OUT for the Bush Team is to disparage Kerry

Attack his Credibility and Stature.

They did it to McCain/Gore/Cleland..... its win by playing dirty and fuck the Truth...They treat Truth like she comes from the other side of the tracks and lives in a trailer....

[iwantmycountryback]

4. Good question

Saying you are going to bring down the people who did this (i.e. Bin Laden) than going into Iraq and admitting you don't care about Bin Laden anymore isn't exactly all wonderful.

[BurtWorm]

8. I always start with 9/11 itself. Remember how "great" Bush was then?

Neither do I. Does the phrase "skedaddle down the rabbit hole" come to mind?

[homerthompson]

6. good point.

makes me realize that the rethugs are really good at talking shit, and even congratulate each other for it.

such illogic - if he placed confidence in * when * SAID he would do something, then what about when * didn't end up doing what he said he would do? * didn't get bin laden. do you still have confidence mccain?

[BurtWorm]

12. Another good question.

:toast:

And welcome to DU!

[Clinton Crusader]

9. AMEN!

As a NY-er, who lost friends there, I am ALSO wondering what the fuck is so "heroic" about blathering about 'finding the folks who took down these towers', whilst standing on the dead bodies of the victims, mind you. Now, 3 years later, where are the aforementioned "folks"?

He's done fuck all since 9/11 that has ANY basis in truth. Oh sure, he'd like to tell you that Iraq and al Queda are in it together (wink wink) and he righted this terrible worng, but Iraq had nothing to do with it, he knows it, they all know it, and inside the bowels of their meetings, they know WE know it's all crap.

So I ask anyone to tell me what exactly these overboard mea culpas are about at the RNC this week re: 9/11. WHAT are they SO proud of??? I want to hear ONE thing, JUST ONE that he did in regards to 9/11 that makes him a fucking hero or even just a decent president. Just one.

He took the entire globe's sympathy and turned it into rage, anger and hatred towards the US and he invaded a country that had done nothing to us. That about covers it, me thinks.

Sorry, but it angers me beyond any reasonable measure to see them exploit 9/11 and for this asshole to use it as political platform, when in reality he's done shit about the WTC. I hope the ghosts of the victims of the WTC haunt his sorry ass for the rest of his miserable life.
:kick:

[BurtWorm]

11. Well said, CC.

:toast:

And welcome to DU!

[Placebo]

10. Great article.

Nice to hear some reasonable thought in the midst of all this right-wing propadanda.

[moondust]

13. It has always been a mystery to me.

It was the media that started pushing the "strong leader after 9/11" meme and they never let up on it. They spoke of it matter-of-factly as if it had been carved in stone and handed down to Charlton...er...Moses. They never explained why but of course they didn't have to. It is purely a (Rove-assisted) media invention as far as I can tell.

[BurtWorm]

15. It was a misreading of the polls.

The people were supporting the nation, not Bush. They were approving of each other, not Bush. They barely knew Bush. Now that we know him, look at how favorable people find him.

[moondust]

16. They extrapolated THAT from those polls?

Misreading is putting it mildly.

[Old and In the Way]

14. W - aWol from the NG; aWol on 9/11...........

See a pattern? I'll bet he'll be aWol on the debates, too.