He later flew back to his ranch here, and aides said there were no plans for him to cut short his stay....A day after Bush was briefed on the "imminent attacks," last Friday, he stayed on vacation and went bike riding. Our first ever Code Red, and it's a week later, people are busy pouring out possible explosives in airports, and Bush is STILL on vacation and not coming back.
Several senior Republican strategists were also uneasy with the possibility that images of President Bush’s activities in the past week, including bicycle rides in the 100-degree Texas heat, could be used to accuse him of being too casual about the potential terrorist threat....
“A policy of casual nonchalance is not a winning strategy,” said one Republican close to the White House, who suggested that the president should, at the least, deliver a primetime television address from the Crawford ranch.
Instead, Mr. Bush stuck to his schedule; after Thursday’s metal plant tour, he attended a fund-raiser for John Gard, a candidate for an eastern Wisconsin Congressional seat; the event raised $500,000. On Friday, he will travel down the road from his ranch, Prairie Chapel, to the Broken Spoke, a neighboring ranch, for another fund-raiser.
He didn't cut his vacation short when Katrina wiped out New Orleans. He didn't cut it short when the tsunami wiped out Asia. And God help him, he's not going to cut his vacation short for an imminent threat of a massive terrorist attack on thousands of Americans.
