Yeah, being Presidential when your nation is under attack is surely moronic. Bush could've just had someone read the rest of the book to him on the plane if he was that interested.
Here are a couple of links to the debunking. http://mediamatters.org/items/200407300013 It was common for people to have 8mm cameras, and since Kerry didn't film or reenact any footage of him being heroic, there is nothing to the claim. I would take John O'Neil and Drudge with a grain a salt if you are interested in finding out the whole truth.
The biggest and best argument against this is that we keep seing the same few images of Kerry in Vietnam... photos on the boat and with crew, film of him walking with gun in hand... are there anymore? Seems if he was recreating stuff so he could one day run for President we would have a lot more images.
Kerry knocks Bush for not reacting immediately? What about this little comment from an interview with Larry King: "...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..." http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0407/08/lkl.00.html Now if you look at the times of impact, 40 minutes passed from the time of the second WTC impact (9:03) and the Pentagon impact (9:43). So Kerry criticizes Bush for not reacting for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, he was unable to think for 40 minutes.
THe information I used from Mediamatters comes from the NY Times. I don't trust anything 100%, but I will trust the NY Times more than drudge or John O'Neil. Since none of the footage shows John Kerry doing anything particularly heroic or striking any valiant poses, I tend to believe the times on this issue. When O'Neil or Drudge produces film that shows something to the contrary then I'll rethink my position. So far it's all talk from them. The one journalist who's watched the footage has spoken, and I believe he's the best source we have.
Bush's reaction for the seven minutes after the attack doesn't concern me. His reactions a few months later, and to this day, do.
The point is that Kerry did go into the office, and did sit down to start making decisions, or analyzing the situation. That's not what Bush did.
Not saying it does...the title of the thread however is "Kerry Raps Bush on Initial 9/11 Reaction" so just putting in my two cents
Actually according to him he sat fixated for 40 minutes "unable to think." Hard to make decisions when you can't think
I'm not saying he could have done anything, but it's hard to condemn someone for not acting within 7 minutes when you yourself claim to have been beyond reasonable thought processes.
That's not exactly what he said. What happened was that he and some other congressman met to get info, discuss etc...That's already more than Bush did initially. Then they sat down to discuss the matter and couldn't think, then they saw the Pentagon one. He didn't say that he was unable to think for 43 minutes. He also doesn't have access to all the cabinet heads, military leaders etc that the president had.
What gets me about liberals today is the fact that they were the same ones defending Clinton the draft-dodger all through the 90's. At least Bush signed up for something
Here's the rest... ____________ KING: He and John McCain walked out -- what did you think? Did you think... (CROSSTALK) KERRY: I knew instantaneously... KING: Clinton said he though bin Laden. KERRY: I knew instantaneously with the first. I'm a pilot, and I looked at the weather, and it's what we call in pilot lingo CAVU, ceiling and visibility unlimited. And I knew that that plane did not fly into that building accidentally, as people were speculating. It just doesn't happen, could not, under those circumstances. So I knew it was deliberate, whether it was suicide, whether it was something -- I couldn't tell. When the second plane hit, it was obvious to the world. And as we went out of the building, my immediately feeling was, we're at war. I mean, that was the sense, that we are under attack. People are attacking the United States of America and we needed to respond. KING: Were you scared? KERRY: No, I wasn't scared, I was angry. I was very angry.
Well you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who wasn't angry with what happened that day. While I admit, many thought the first plane hitting was an accident, most people I've talked to knew it wasn't an accident. Small planes "accidentally" fly into huge skyscrapers, not the huge commercial jets.
To be honest i'm just happy those school kids got to hear the ending of "My Pet Goat". Who really cares if a split second decision by the president could have saved thousands of lives --- it's a photo op with children that really matters.
