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A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
About Me :
I'm a grownup nerd living in the Boston burbs. I write computer programs for a living and plays for fun.
I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we share a nice little house with our daughter and our cats.
I'm a humanist, a technologist, an artist, and an idealist. I believe in reason, freedom, love, equality,
and democracy. (Did I mention that I'm
an idealist? I did, OK.)
I'm also a pragmatist and an empiricist. I reject ideology and dogma, especially when they conflict with
practical facts (i.e., pretty much always). I particularly hate willful ignorance, which tends to go hand-in-hand
with ideology and dogma.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
The Great Defender - Not
George W. Bush says that 9/11 proves that he is the only presidential candidate who can defend America. Well, since he failed the first time, why should anyone think he'll stop it again?
We will never know, but do you suppose that if President Al Gore saw a Presidential Daily Brief titled, BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE IN U.S., he would have said to himself, "You know? This is a good time to take a month off." Because that's what George W. Bush did, after eight months of doggedly ignoring Osama bin Laden and al Qaida. Didn't you know? They had a war to plan -- with Iraq. ("Bin Laden? Never heard of him. Now get out of here -- we've got a war to sell.")
9/11 happened on George W. Bush's watch. It was Bush's responsibility to stop. Had Bush not been installed in office, had someone serious been in office, the plotters might have been stopped -- the attack might have been foiled -- just like the Millennium Plot was foiled.
So who knows? Maybe it's just a coincidence. Bush wanted a war in Iraq. He was ready for it. He just needed a way to sell it to the American public. And when a devastating attack came, from people he had been warned about and ignored, he capitalized on the fear it generated in order to justify a war he had already decided upon. Is that a coincidence? It's probably a coincidence, but Bush has never shown the slightest hesitation or restraint in exploiting 9/11 as a political opportunity. If another attack happens, it's clear that Bush will exploit that attack as ruthlessly as he has the first.
So, to recap: he knew the attack was coming. He did nothing to stop it. When it came, he used it to push a disastrous, expensive war he'd already decided upon. But he says 9/11 proves that he can defend America. How does that follow, exactly? He's got a hell of a lot of nerve.
0 comments
George W. Bush says that 9/11 proves that he is the only presidential candidate who can defend America. Well, since he failed the first time, why should anyone think he'll stop it again?
We will never know, but do you suppose that if President Al Gore saw a Presidential Daily Brief titled, BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE IN U.S., he would have said to himself, "You know? This is a good time to take a month off." Because that's what George W. Bush did, after eight months of doggedly ignoring Osama bin Laden and al Qaida. Didn't you know? They had a war to plan -- with Iraq. ("Bin Laden? Never heard of him. Now get out of here -- we've got a war to sell.")
9/11 happened on George W. Bush's watch. It was Bush's responsibility to stop. Had Bush not been installed in office, had someone serious been in office, the plotters might have been stopped -- the attack might have been foiled -- just like the Millennium Plot was foiled.
So who knows? Maybe it's just a coincidence. Bush wanted a war in Iraq. He was ready for it. He just needed a way to sell it to the American public. And when a devastating attack came, from people he had been warned about and ignored, he capitalized on the fear it generated in order to justify a war he had already decided upon. Is that a coincidence? It's probably a coincidence, but Bush has never shown the slightest hesitation or restraint in exploiting 9/11 as a political opportunity. If another attack happens, it's clear that Bush will exploit that attack as ruthlessly as he has the first.
So, to recap: he knew the attack was coming. He did nothing to stop it. When it came, he used it to push a disastrous, expensive war he'd already decided upon. But he says 9/11 proves that he can defend America. How does that follow, exactly? He's got a hell of a lot of nerve.
