Kerry Criticizes Bush For 9/11

[Annie]

Wonder how this will play out? Probably not well, didn't see it in Yahoo! Headlines.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20040805/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_rdp

Kerry Raps Bush on Initial 9/11 Inaction

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer

WASHINGTON - John Kerry (news - web sites) said Thursday he would have jumped into action more quickly than President Bush (news - web sites) did on Sept. 11, 2001, raising the stakes in the political fight over terrorism as Bush warned that the United States can't afford to "grow timid and weary and afraid" in Iraq (news - web sites) or elsewhere.


The Democratic challenger said he'd never waver — "I can fight a more effective, smarter and better war on terror that actually makes America safer," Kerry told Missouri voters.

Disputing that vow was a group of Vietnam veterans who unveiled a television ad challenging Kerry's medal-winning service in the war. Another veteran, Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), put the president on the spot by urging the White House to condemn the "dishonest and dishonorable" commercial.

Bush's spokesman declined to do so.

Again, war and terrorism dominated a campaign day, with Bush trying to rekindle the rally-around-the-president passions that pushed his popularity to record heights after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Kerry, tied or slightly ahead of Bush in most polls, hopes to erase the president's advantages on issues of terrorism and national security after making gains during last week's Democratic National Convention.

Before leaving the White House for Ohio and Michigan, Bush signed a $417.5 billion wartime defense bill providing an additional $25 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites), body armor for troops and reinforced Humvee vehicles. Kerry, a four-term Massachusetts senator, missed the votes on the bill.

Thrusting the administration's terrorism-fighting efforts into the spotlight, the Justice Department (news - web sites) announced that two leaders of a mosque in Albany, N.Y., were arrested in an alleged plot involving a scheme to buy a shoulder-fired missile. Some Democratic critics have accused the administration of orchestrating the release of terrorism alerts and arrests to maximize their political benefits, a charge denied by the White House.

Addressing minority journalists in the nation's capital, Kerry was asked what he would have done as president the moment he received word of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Bush spent seven minutes listening to "The Pet Goat" being read at a Florida elementary school after his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered, "America is under attack," as televisions cameras recorded the anxious scene.

"I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to," Kerry said before flying to Missouri to resume his cross-country campaign trip. "And I would have attended to it."

 

[dilloduck]

YA right! and he woulda jumped up in the air and caught both planes in his bare hands and squashed all the terrorists with his bare hands but saved all the passengers and pilots and------------------- :gross2:

 

[Annie]

YA right! and he woulda jumped up in the air and caught both planes in his bare hands and squashed all the terrorists with his bare hands but saved all the passengers and pilots and------------------- :gross2:

Aaacchhh, that smilie! Had to go to reply to read what you had written, :bat: sure he would have batted them! :teeth:

 

[krisy]

What a pathetic statement. How dare he judge anyoones reaction to 9-11. It's not like Bush sat there for hours and ignored it.

 

[tim_duncan2000]

I also think this is odd when he was the one who always thought the US should cut the intelligence budget. Of course, there was also the vote against funding the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (the one he voted for before he voted against it).

 

[5stringJeff]

I wonder if Kerry would have not acted before he acted... or acted before not acting... or act and not act at the same time.

 

[Annie]

I wonder if Kerry would have not acted before he acted... or acted before not acting... or act and not act at the same time.

Definately the last!

 

[Palestinian Jew]

Kerry is just trying to seperate himself more from Bush, though if I were him I don't think I would have answered the question as it puts him in a bad place where he is trying to criticize Bush on his strongest area, the day of 9/11.

 

[britinusa]

I wonder if Kerry would have not acted before he acted... or acted before not acting... or act and not act at the same time.

Kerry would have declared "This is a job for Flip-Flop Man!" Unlike Bush, he would have taken immediate, decisive action and heroically consulted Jacques Chirac.

Seriously, Kerry's comment yesterday was such a cheap shot. I hope he keeps it up. Every time that arrogant, pompous, narcissistic blowhard opens his mouth he loses 100,000 votes.

 

[Annie]

Kerry would have declared "This is a job for Flip-Flop Man!" Unlike Bush, he would have taken immediate, decisive action and heroically consulted Jacques Chirac.

Seriously, Kerry's comment yesterday was such a cheap shot. I hope he keeps it up. Every time that arrogant, pompous, narcissistic blowhard opens his mouth he loses 100,000 votes.

Welcome! Let me catch my breath here! You did say you were from Britain? Well hit me! Talk about preconceived ideas!

Nice first post! Even if you are for Kerry, good attitude! (While sincere, it's easy to guess with: arrogant, pompous, narcissistic blowhard). Didn't you forget, French looking?

 

[Democrat4Bush]

Interesting that Kerry criticizes President Bush for 7 minutes delay while he sat speechless for 40 minutes by his own admission.

Kerry: "...And as I came in [to a meeting in Sen. Daschle's office], 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..." (emphasis added).

It should be noted that the second plane hit the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., and the plane hit the Pentagon at 9:43 a.m. By Kerry's own words, he and his fellow senators sat there for forty minutes, realizing "nobody could think.


In other words: Sen. Kerry, who criticized President Bush for not rushing out of the Florida classroom for seven minutes, sat paralyzed with his colleagues for a full forty minutes. He is hardly in a position to criticize President Bush for "inaction

http://www.redstate.org/story/2004/8/5/113357/2243

 

[freeandfun1]

Interesting that Kerry criticizes President Bush for 7 minutes delay while he sat speechless for 40 minutes by his own admission.



http://www.redstate.org/story/2004/8/5/113357/2243

Actually, I think Kerry talked everybody to sleep - including himself. They then WOKE UP 40 minutes later.

 

[insein]

Beat ya again, Kathi.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10013

 

[insein]

Interesting that Kerry criticizes President Bush for 7 minutes delay while he sat speechless for 40 minutes by his own admission.



http://www.redstate.org/story/2004/8/5/113357/2243

Exactly what i was going to bring up. He sat for 40 minutes not thinking. Bush sat for 7 calculating his next moves.

 

[britinusa]

Welcome! Let me catch my breath here! You did say you were from Britain? Well hit me! Talk about preconceived ideas!

Nice first post! Even if you are for Kerry, good attitude! (While sincere, it's easy to guess with: arrogant, pompous, narcissistic blowhard). Didn't you forget, French looking?

Thank you, Kathianne (lovely name, by the way)

Yes, I was a card-carrying member of the UK Conservative Party before I jumped across the Big Pond in 1999.
No, I'm not for Kerry. He and his party are an absolute disgrace. I'm far more pro-American than they are! By the way, I don't think Kerry is French-looking. He looks like a Slav, maybe Bosnian or Serbian.

 

[Annie]

Thank you, Kathianne (lovely name, by the way)

Yes, I was a card-carrying member of the UK Conservative Party before I jumped across the Big Pond in 1999.
No, I'm not for Kerry. He and his party are an absolute disgrace. I'm far more pro-American than they are! By the way, I don't think Kerry is French-looking. He looks like a Slav, maybe Bosnian or Serbian.

Ok, so he just wants to appear to be French! Glad you returned!

 

[britinusa]

Ok, so he just wants to appear to be French! Glad you returned!

Thanks

Kerry acts like a Frenchman!

 

[britinusa]

I just want to expand on Kerry’s cheap shot. Does it not occur to him or the liberal media that the Secret Service needed to secure the location before Bush left the building that day? The nation was under attack; they must have been concerned about a possible assassination attempt on the president.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the secret service have the authority to override the president’s wishes in situations like this? If they wanted to take Bush to a secure location in Nevada or wherever, he damn well had to go!
I believe these changes were made after the Kennedy assassination. JFK didn’t want the hard top installed on his limousine. He wanted the people of Dallas to get a good look at him. Unfortunately, Lee Harvey Oswald also got a good look.
Kerry knows this, as does the media. But that doesn’t stop them insinuating that Bush lacked leadership, even courage on that terrible morning.
I’ll never forget the way Peter Jennings made such a big fuss about Bush’s movements that day. It was a low point, even for the super-biased Jennings.

 

[Annie]

Britainusa, I think all the points you made were valid. I also think that decisions had to be made at various locales, by various departments and people. Many of us were stunned for a time when these events were unfolding-as Kerry himself admits. Seven minutes is not very long and really isn't worth the time we're taking-Thank you, Michael Moore. :finger:

If not at the time of the first tower hit, certainly by the second: NYC, DOD, NORAD, FAA, all had to start taking action, based on very little information. The President, which we often forget, is the Chief Executive whose job it is to make the decisions, after he has received the information needed to do such. In this case, it was complicated by it's being a precedent, nothing to really fall back on.

7 minutes-what a joke.

PS Thanks for the earlier compliment on the name.

 

[adamsimpire]

I hope he [John Kerry] keeps it up. Every time that arrogant, pompous, narcissistic blowhard opens his mouth he loses 100,000 votes.

What an awesome statement!