How well did Bush actually handle Sept. 11?

[Mean_Mr_Mustard]

It is a common tactical argument that Bush handled Sept. 11 well. Compared to other options, is this true, false, what?

[BigMcLargehuge]

1. handled what? He was in Air Force One

on his way to a bunker in Wyoming... what did he handle?

[Mean_Mr_Mustard]

4. I am

Talking about the days and weeks after and if the war in afghanistan was successful or not?

[devilgrrl]

35. yes. Rudy Giuliani acted brilliantly.

So much so, that it nearly erased his dismal record as mayor of NYC.

[mr blur]

66. Was sound asleep by 11pm, I hear.

Sleeping the untroubled sleep of the truly ignorant.

[Liberal Gramma]

2. Depends on your definition of "well"

If you define it as sitting for 7 minutes, paralyzed with fear, and then flying all over the country looking for a safe place to hide, then he did well.

[puddycat]

15. what? I thought "My Pet Goat" was standard reading for war presidents!

[TimeToGo]

3. Good question

I never quite figured out why everyone said he did such a good job. I mean, did he do anything more than a normal person? I don't get it.

I do know that he didn't do well the first couple of days. Do you remember his speeches on that day??

[Mean_Mr_Mustard]

5. I just

Remeber he adressed the nation that day and then went to the wreckage nothing more.

[Ladyhawk]

6. He let bin Laden get away in the Battle of Tora Bora. nt

[gulliver]

9. Shaky voiced bunny hopping on the 11th. Cried in the Oval

Office (first president ever to do so) on live TV on the 12th. "I'm a loving guy," he told us.

[MisterP]

33. I think I remember Imelda-Marcos-esque crying

[TankLV]

22. Umm - no - he flew around in a panic and hid out for a few days.

CLINTON beat him to the site of that catastrophy.

He didn't show his repuke ungly pug until about 3 or 4 days later.

[drdtroit]

42. Actually he didn't show up at the wreckage until

3 days later.

He did such a great job that day i couldn't stop screaming "where the fuck was NORAD???" Handled it perfectly for the PNAC.

[July]

52. He went to the wreckage later in the week, NOT that day. nt

[dogtag]

7. He did a photo op on Sept. 14. That's all he did.

"Strong leader" is not only a myth, it's a joke.

[merh]

17. Are you sure it was the 14th? He said in NJ yesterday that it was

on the 4th :shrug: You never know what to believe when it comes out of the weed that would be king's mouth. Damned typist - if it weren't for their typos, he never would be wrong! :silly:

[leftofthedial]

8. grossly false

even if you do not believe LIHOP or MIHOP, in which case the question is absurd, he froze. Then he ran away and hid. He never issued orders that could possibly have minimized the damage and the casualties. He came back to Washington long after the main issues were decided. Then he gave that deer-in-the-headlights, stammering tele-address that was almost scarier than the attacks.

He was awful. That he was a good leader regarding September 11 is a total myth.

[Booster]

38. If he had gotten up off his fat ass and declared a

National emergency like he was supposed to do (Hell, even I know that) the people in the Pentagon would have certainly been saved and if he had declared an emergency when he heard about the first plane hitting, the people in the 2nd tower would not have been told to go back to their offices - maybe half of them would have been saved. No he didn't handle his job at all on that day, or since.

[Nile]

43. Did you understand what was going on until the second plane hit?

I doubt it, and nobody else did either. Most thought it was just a terrible accident when the first one hit.

[Bridget Burke]

46. He & his people knew what was going on in advance.

His August 6th Security Briefing was called "Bin Laden Determined to Strike In U.S.". But Bush took a month's vacation.

The morning of 9/11, he knew the first plane had hit before he entered that classroom. Then he proceeded with the photo op & continued even after he was informed of the second impact. By that time even housewives in Peoria had figured out that the US was under attack. But the so-called President sat there like a stunned ox.

Finally, he departed on a craven flight across the USA, while everybody wondered what was going on. He gave a silly speech that night & made it to NYC days later. Where he proceeded to stage a pep-rally on a still smoldering funeral pyre.

[Nile]

49. Time to break out the tinfoil.

:tinfoilhat: Nobody knew ahead of time.

[Bridget Burke]

56. Please explain, then....

The meaning of "Bin Laden Determined to Strike In U.S."

Is your first name "Dee"?

[qanda]

58. We weren't in charge of thinking or understanding

On September 11. They knew what we didn't know, that there were hijacked planes in the air and I would think that even my six year old could put those facts together and make an informed decision. They had enough time to save the majority of the people in the second tower and they failed miserably.

[kayell]

61. My uncle, who was at the WTC, knew exactly what was up

He was in the Plaza when the first plane hit. NYers remember the first bombing of the WTC, and most realized quickly that it wasn't "a really bad pilot".

And that was without the intelligence reports that * was given and ignored.

Despite your odd beliefs, * does not represent the level of thought of most Americans.

[nyhuskyfan]

69. None of us work with intelligence agencies

The intelligence systems were blinking red all summer. Bush himself received a PDB on August 6 that said Bin Laden was determined to strike in the United States. So then, on September 11, a plane (which terrorists love to use) flew into the World Trade Center (a building terrorists had attacked before), at a time when intelligence agencies were all on ultra-high alert about a terrorist attack.

That morning, in a classroom full of second graders, our president was probably the only one who didn't know how to play "connect the dots".

[proud patriot]

10. Horribly IMHO

I kept asking myself that horrible
day "where is the president" I felt
leaderless . Gulianni and Dan Rather
helped me stay calm more than bush did.

our country was under attack and I felt
No one at the helm ..Very Scary .

[acmavm]

11. bush* USED the 9/11 tragedy to give his pResidency a much needed

boost. There was some serious unrest amongst the American people, and serious anger at bush* because, as always, everything he touches turns to crap. And he had started to go back on his campaign promises (lies) and people were starting to see him for the incompetent fraud that he truly is. Then comes 9/11 and he got a huge boost from that event. Like his Poppy did from Operation Desert Storm. But bush* being the miserable little jackass that he is, he used that event, made up stories about it, and basically did nothing while Cheney was in Washington giving orders. He sat there looking like he'd been hit in the head with a ball peen hammer for seven minutes, then he got up and ran for cover. Hid out like the little weasel he is.

[Tesibria]

12. How well did WE handle Sept. 11???

ok -- first:
The answer depends on your perspective. From the PNAC-group's perspective, he handled it perfectly. They knew they could do nothing for a while absent a "Pearl Harbor" -- the "Pearl Harbor" landed in their laps -- and Bush very effectively leveraged it to further their agenda.

From the REST of the Nation's (and world's) perspective, he handled it poorly. His first Executive Notice to Congress under the War Powers Act was NOT, as many people believe, to notify Congress of his war plans for Afghanistan, but rather to notify them that he was taking unspecified actions in the "war on terror." Afghanistan (i.e., Al Qaeda/Bin Laden) came second.

And therein was the pattern set. PNAC agenda first; fighting terrorism second.

Now ------------ how well did WE, the PEOPLE, handle 9/11?

My "verdict" is POORLY. Unpopular, I'm sure -- but we did. Frightened, we (or too many of us) reacted. We didn't think. We just bought flags and decided to "unite" behind our President (instead of behind our country/fellow countrypeople).

There WERE, absolutely, a few lone voices calling out from the wilderness, even in the early days after 9/11 (thank you ACLU).

But -- most of "us" ... fell right into the trap. We were willing, in a reactionary way, to give up some of our liberties for security.

NEVER AGAIN. Let that be our mantra.
NEVER AGAIN.

[TankLV]

25. I certainly never did - I was never fooled by this incompetant criminal!

Not for a split second.

Back then, my partner and I thought we were the only 2 persons in the entire country that hated his guts even more!

[greatauntoftriplets]

55. I was never fooled either....

...and instinctively knew that he would leverage the tragedy to push through his agenda. The look on his face during the Friday memorial service backs that up...the smirks, the triumphal look. That was not the expression of a man who was overly devastated by events.

[The empressof all]

13. Well.....

He did raise a bull horn on Sept. 14th.

I never understood why there is this general concensus out there that he was a great leader after 911. I thought he was a MISERABLE FAILURE. Not only did he sit in the school putting lives of children at risk, he went AWOL flying around the country hiding from the evil terrorists.

[Art_from_Ark]

30. I think that the "general consensus" about his "leadership"

may have derived, in part at least, from some bullshit 9-11 movie that conveniently left out his odd behavior in the classroom. And then, there was the official sanitized version that he "leapt into action", or whatever, immediately upon hearing of the second attack. That myth took on a life of its own. And the 9-11 story has become so confused and garbled that even an anti-bu$h video I saw placed him with his bullhorn at the WTC site on 9-11, when he didn't stop by until 3 days later.

Then, there was that "get this picture for a $100 donation" that showed bu$h on the phone on Air Force One on 9-11, supposedly barking out orders. Of course, who knows when or where that picture was taken, or what bu$h was saying-- it was the image that was important, and that helped reinforce the myth.

[StClone]

14. The big deal to his supporters was that he

- Stood on a pile of 9-11 rubble with a bull horn

- Invaded Afghanistan - like he thought of that and he would be the only Prez to commit to attack where Ossama was -- pfffft!

- Invaded Iraq!

Not to impressive unless you love the lemming thing.

[proud patriot]

20. But that was 3 days later

that was not on the 11th

[TahitiNut]

16. I give him an 'F'

It takes nothing but a rabble-rouser to yell "Go get 'em!" at an angry mob. Rather than demonstrate the courage of civilized people, faith in the "rule of law," and the common interests of human beings world-wide, he used the most expensive military in the the world on a 4th-rate power weakened by years of conflict with the Soviet Union and civil strife, wasted the lives of America's young men and women, murdered thousands of Afghan civilians, committed war crimes on hostages, cozied up to one of the world's military dictatorships, and went on to piss in the face of people world-wide who were joining us in mourning the loss of nearly 3,000 lives to a criminal act.

I don't know how anyone could have done worse.

[dave502d]

18. Bush

He was looking for a hole to climb in.

[IdaBriggs]

19. "They hate us for our freedom!" He was/is an idiot.

I went into the "support our country shock" just like everyone else. Want to know what snapped my brain back into reality?

Rumsfield on the Sunday morning show (the one Stephanoplis does now) explaining how it was going to be okay for us to drop nuclear bombs on countries "pre-emptively" if we wanted to.

The fact this was even an issue shows they were/are insane.

And "hating us for our freedom"? Give me a break. That's an argument a third grader could dissect in a three paragraph paper. Nobody runs around killing people unless they are either a) insane or b) desperate for something important. Insane people can be treated with medication; desperate people mean you actually have to figure out what their issues are, and then work on solving them.

Blinky did neither; he gave some excuses why nothing was his fault (or ours, for that matter), and then used 9/11 as an excuse to implement some demented policies to make his buddies richer.

And the only reason we haven't been attacked since is because the MORAN re-implemented the anti-terrorism systems he DISMANTLED in February of 2001. (See the CRS Report for Congress on "Terrorism and the Military's Role in Domestic Crisis Management" page 6 http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL30938.pdf)

The man is a traitor, and if he'd been a Democrat, he'd have been tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail. Instead people actually "question" whether he's competent to play at being president. How the mighty have fallen....<grieve>

[TankLV]

21. "Well" would not be among the words in the universe I would use to

describe the treasonous and cowardly way he was derelict in his duty as "President" - definitely solidified his "pResidential" status - illegally occupying Al Gore's House!

[Doctor_J]

23. esp. considering he had a month warning,

not too well.he headed for NE and got his fundraising photo taken aboard AF1. then it took his handlers 3 days to get him propped up in front of the camera and teleprompter.

[ComerPerro]

24. He has exploited it masterfully

But that is all.

He ignored intelligence warnings all summer and took a monthlong vacation.

The morning of 9/11, he sat on his ass after the second plane hit for seven minutes, and even after finally leaving the classroom he didn't act at all.

Then he spent the day running and hiding.

[bvar22]

26. While REAL American heroes were dying in the ashes ...

...and rubble of the WTC, bush* was in a pee dribbling panic running from one bunker to another in order to <quote>, "Get out of harm's way!"

His (bush*) behavior on 911 was so shameful that his Republican handlers were forced to create a bogus cover story. The bogus cover story stated that Air Force One had been targeted by terrorists, and that bush*s erratic and confusing mad dash across North America was to evade missiles. This cover story was later debunked as a TOTAL LIE created in the bunker under the White House. At no time was Air Force One in ANY danger, and there was NO REPORTS from ANYONE that mentioned terrorists targeting Air Force One. This embarrassing episode was soon overlooked by the docile Media in favor of the more exciting multiple replays of the collapsing towers.

Bush*s confused panic and obsession with only his personal safety while America burned on 911 earned him several nicknames that have persisted throughout his failed presidency.
Bunker Boy and Commander Bunnypants are a couple that remain in common usage today.

[Ima]

29. I remember

All the news people were asking when the* would address the nation. It was hours and hours later before he said a few short words. The nation was in a panic with no leader present.

[Spiffarino]

27. He couldn't have screwed it up worse

...if he'd tried. First by running away, second by delivering a shaky speech to try to "calm" the nation.

The only person who seemed to have his head about him in Washington was Cheney. Bush was nowhere to be found, and I expect it was because he was completely frozen.

I don't know if it was fear or incompetence, but there is no doubt he ran and hid. It may have been the most cowardly act ever committed by a sitting President of the United States. It is only because of the evil genius of Karl Rove that the myth of Bush's "leadership" and "strength" still remain.

[Radio-Active]

48. Cheney also did poorly, IMO

Why weren't fighter jets dispatched to intercept the hijacked aircraft in time? Cheney was also asleep at the wheel.

But yes, Bush was a complete (and complicit?) failure.

[Spiffarino]

65. Oops! Did I forget

...to add, "Dick Cheney, Bush' basso-profundo evil liar of a VP...?"

My bad. :evilgrin:

[Chelsea Patriot]

70. Cheney was watching Hell unfold on TV + His Bitch was hanging up the phone

...To make sure no one could get through to The Impotent Dick to find out if what was unfolding was a real attack or simply the War Games featuring hijacked planes crashing into buildings that Sneer was holding that morning.

The Dick, The Bitch and The Queer, for good measure, should be facing charges of Treason.

[cally]

28. The man tried to hide

I remember my relief when he finally spoke to the nation. Why did it take so long? He was running and hiding. That's why we call him bunnypants.

[porphyrian]

31. Fantastishittily? Magnifitardedly? Incompetently? - n/t

[Unstuck In Time]

32. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Bush was almost...

... completely overshadowed by Rudy Giuliani, the sharp-edged mayor of New York who was suddenly transformed into exactly the sort of wise, steady, caring yet resolute figure the country needed.

Say what you will about Giuliani before and since, but in those moments he shined. He provided leadership and presence to the nation in a way that can only be described as 'presidential.' Making Bush's brief appearances to stutter his way through a few scripted lines just all the more pathetic.

Poor George. The grown-ups were in charge that day, those days, leaving him no choice but to be exposed as the superfluous little incompetent he truly is.

[Nordic]

34. he acted like a fool, put all those schoolchildren in danger, then

ran away like a scared little girl.

Used the photos of him on the phone to his dad going "Daddy, what do I do?" to raise money for his reelection.

He's a loser and a coward and a liar. The man has absolutely no character whatsoever.

[LiberteToujours]

36. It wouldn't have mattered who was president on that day

The people would have rallied to him. I remember for that first day, before Bush spoke, Giuliani was our national leader. Everyone was looking to him, and kept glancing over in Bush's direction waiting, hoping for him to say something. When he finally responded, people were so relieved that they were eager to rally to him ... they had been terrorized.

[LiberteToujours]

37. PS

No, he didn't handle it very well, but he could have done worse. I don't fault Bush so much for Sept. 11 (as some do here) as I do for how he took advantage of it after.

[GreenPoet64]

39. Reading "My Pet Goat" was hard work--even with a wire in his ear.

[donheld]

40. You mean in allowing it

or the aftermath?

[drdtroit]

41. "Bin Laden determined to strike within the US"

Please refresh my mind on what he handled.

You meant how well did he LIHOP.

[Keirsey]

44. Sinclair advertisers' penance

Best Buy and Circuit City should put Fahrenheit 9/ll on their master DVD player, so that it is playing on all those tv sets, and leave it on the menu.

Let everyone in the stores watch * just sitting there in that classroom.

[wickerwoman]

45. I first noticed America's deep schizophrenic break on 9/11.

I watched Bush fumble, shake and stutter his way through a half-assed five minute speech 10 or 11 hours after the tragedy and then went back upstairs to listen to the radio where callers were saying that his speech personified "fierce resolve". I remember thinking ":wtf: are you on lady?" Unfortunately, she was not alone.

I remember hours and hours of commentators wondering whether Bush was going to address the nation at all. Apparently no one else remembers the mass confusion and speculation that he wasn't going to address us at all.

Ever since that day the media has been working overtime to override our sense perceptions, but be damned if I'm going to let them convince me of something I saw with my own eyes.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

54. Was it Jennings that questioned El Chimpo the Great's courage...

...by pointedly asking where the heck he was on the day of the attacks?

[ogradda]

47. he could have stopped it

then, unbelieveably, it got worse from there.

[Walt Starr]

50. He ran for the first bunker he could find like the coward he is!

Clinton was in Australia when 9/11 ocurred and he STILL BEAT THE CHIMP TO GROUND ZERO!!!!!

[July]

51. Every time that claim is made, the bullhorn on the rubble is mentioned.

As far as I can tell, that moment is the sum total of Bush's "courageous" response to 9/11 (three days later).

In my view, he did nothing but take advantage of the nation's grief.

Never forget that Bill Clinton got to New York from Australia (with the skies shut down) BEFORE Bunnypants.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

53. The "common tactical argument" is patently FALSE. Who or what....

...has been saying this? Got a link, or is this something you dreamed last night?

Why don't you do some basic research on this topic and get back to us with your findings.

Buh-bye.

[Deja Q]

57. He broke our legs and told us to lean on him.

9/11 happened on his watch.

Nothing more need be said.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

63. Fantastic phrasing.

[Deja Q]

72. Thanks. I must admit, though,

that I paraphrased it from "Blake's 7" - a late-70s sci-fi drama. It's hard to watch today because of the parallels to fascism and (seemingly) the * administration.

[Trajan]

59. Your question is weak ...

You ask about 'September 11th', the day ... THEN you qualify your question as how he reacted against being ATTACKED by terrorists, NOT specifically what he did on the DAY September 11th ....

Its a bit confusing, and a possible equivocation fallacy ...

On 9-11: Goerge Bush was a fucking coward, choosing to hide in a midwestern cave instead of meeting the enemy head on: The Coward From Crawford ....

His behaviour afterwards has been spotty and ineffective .. driven by ideology and greed as opposed to a desire to be 'successful' against 'Terrorism' ...

[sherilocks]

60. I remember so well how poorly * did that I still get angry

1. During and immediately after the attack * sat for 7 minutes.
2. He went outside and had a 20 minuute photo-op.
3. No sightings of * for several days.
4. Began making well-scripted threats about OBL and Al Queda for weeks. Thus giving OBL and Al Queda plenty of time to get away and hide. Took advantage of every photo-op to make more threats.
5. After weeks of threats, we invaded Afghanistan. Of Course OBL and his followers were long gone, never to be found.

Everytime some talking head talk about how well AWOL handled 9/11, I want to scream: AWOL was and is a miserable failure.

[ScreamingMeemie]

62. All I can remember is sitting with PassingFair in her living room wonderin

where the heck all of our leaders were, and why no one was making a statement. All we witnessed were former aides, former A/G, former this, ex that. It gaves us the very freaky feeling that we were sitting ducks while the powers that be went underground...which makes me have to say, not very well.

[kayell]

64. Most of us didn't even realize we had a president on 9/11

He was no where to be found after leaving the Pet Goat photo op. I remember occasional mentions that his plane had touched down and taken off again for parts unknown. But no words of support, of calming, of letting us know what he was doing. Meanwhile, NY burned, filled with toxic smoke, people died horribly, no one could reach their loved ones by phone...

Total failure.

[vetwife]

67. Before or after the event?

[onecitizen]

68. IT HAPPENED ON HIS WATCH!

It happened cause he refused to listen to his advisor's(too many to mention individually here). It happened because he was on vacation and did not take seriously the PDB that TOLD him OBL was going to attack inside the US (the longest vacation of any US President,BTW). It happened because he's a dolt that doesn't ever read. It happened because his only guiding compass is the Lord (not bad to consult with him but you need other input when you are President of a Nation). It happened because he refused to listen to Clinton and Clinton's cabinet upon arrival in DC. It happened because he was and IS an immature know-it-all. It happened because he had a Justice Dept that was pre-occupied by pornography as opposed to terrorism. It happened because his VP had financial dealings with Military- Industrial Complex. It happened because he is good friends with the Saudi government from which 15 of the 19 hijackers hailed from.

I guess if you can get over the fact that he let it happen to begin with, once he got over being catatonic, I guess he did what any other President would have done. But nothing special.

[leesa]

71. Go to the 9-11 section and READ. Paul Thompson's timeline should be

required reading. In short Bush did nothing but manufacture the culprits out of thin air so they could invade Afghanistan to install the pipeline (to capture the booming Asian market) and to reestablish the opium trade that the Taliban had dismantled.

Do you know that many of the alleged hijackers are still alive?

They have no idea who did 9-11, it has never been investigated. And if Porter Goss is successful in his job, we will NEVER find out what Bush/Cheney's actual role in 9-11 was.

[onecitizen]

73. I always wondered

how they had the list of the perpetrators so quickly. Remember? It was like a few days later there was that list with pictures of the people they said did this. How did they know that so surely? And so quickly?