When Bush was riding the wave of record ratings, I was wondering why. I saw cowardice on 9/11 by Bush and then plenty of fear mongering followed by scapegoating in Iraq. Since Bush wants to make 9/11 such a central theme of his campaign, he is now opening up that period for debate. Perhaps because I live abroad and was not saturated by the full propaganda machine I didn't buy into the hero myth. It's great to see that his record on 9/11 and afterwards is now being reviewed seriously. It's time to pick apart this silly myth and bring him back to the stubborn, arrogant, little man that he is. He was not a leader on 9/11 and never will be. My Pet Goat.
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?
As Giuliani explainedto the convention audience:
When President Bush came here on September 14, 2001, the Secret Service was not really happy about his remaining in the area so long. With buildings still unstable, with fires raging below ground of 2,000 degrees or more, there was good reason for their concern. Well, the president remained there. And talked to everyone. ... [A construction worker] grabbed the president of the United States in this massive bear hug, and he started squeezing him. And the Secret Service agent standing next to me, who wasn't happy about any of this, instead of running over and getting the president out of this grip, puts his finger in my face and he says to me, "If this guy hurts the president, Giuliani, you're finished."
This is Bush's heroism? Showing up three days later, "remaining in the
area," and enduring a hug?
The only moment of physical bravery any of last night's speakers could find in Bush's life was his secret trip to Iraq. "As I think about his leadership,"Kerik recalled, "I think of the courage it took for our commander in chief to land on an airstrip in the dark of night, a world away, to be with our troops on Thanksgiving."
Thanksgiving? You mean, six months after we captured the airport and Bush declared victory? And isn't "the dark of night" normally a term we use to describe the preferred arrival and departure time of people who aren't exactly overflowing with courage?
