QandO

August 06, 2004

9/11 now "fair game" in race
Posted by McQ

Remind me, wasn't it the Democrats who made the point that 9/11 shouldn't be politicized? That no politician should use the events that transpired for poltical gain?

Well then, what's this?

Meanwhile, his opponent in the presidential race, Sen. John Kerry, criticized Bush's performance in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and told journalists that America remains a nation divided along racial and economic lines.

[...]

On another topic, Kerry said he would have reacted much more quickly than President Bush did on Sept. 11, 2001, when he learned of terrorist attacks.

The president spent seven minutes reading to Florida elementary school children after learning that hijacked planes had been flown into the World Trade Center in New York.

“Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whisper in my ear that America is under attack, I would have told those kids very nicely and politely that the president of the United States has something that he needs to attend to,” Kerry said.

As I understand those 7 minutes, Bush was first told that something had happened concerning an aircraft flying into the first WTC tower, not that "America was under attack". That came later. But regardless .... if this isn't 'politicizing' 9/11 I don't know what is. And its Kerry doing so.

Just like his record in Vietnam is now fair game, I would assert that the use of 9/11 in this campaign by the Dems to advance their candidate make it fair game as well. Since it has been used negatively by the Democrat candidate to attack his opponent I see no reason why 9/11 can't now be used by Republicans to advance their candidate's agenda. Fair's fair, wouldn't you say?

It also appears to be a sign of increasing desperation when the best headline a presidential candidate can come up with for the day is second guessing the actions of his opponent in the first 7 minutes of a day in which a tragedy occurred.

In reality he has no idea how he'd have reacted, nor what he'd have done. But apparently its worth the cheap political points to denigrate his opponents actions by claiming his would have been far superior.

Yeah, and he'd have probably written himself up for a medal afterward.

UPDATE: What did Kerry do on 9/11. Well apparently unlike the 7 minutes he accuses Bush of doing nothing, he did nothing for 40 minutes per a conversation he had on "Larry King Live".

KING: Where were you?

KERRY: 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.

"...we just realized nobody could think". Ah, but had you been in Florida, Mr. Kerry, things would have been different?

As to the time involved, the second plane hit the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., and the plane hit the Pentagon at 9:43 a.m. Apparently Kerry "couldn't think" for 40 minutes.

Boy this record thing sure keeps biting Kerry in the ass, doesn't it?

H/T to my bro for this.

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