Rep vs. Dem Differences

Bill Denton wrote:

There's nothing wrong with me, I'm firmly grounded in reality.

However, I would question the state of someone who believes the President
was told that "the country was under attack".

You have no idea what Bush was told...

But the guy who told him, Andrew Card, should know what he was told.
His recollection was (SF Chronicle, 9/11/02):

"So I was very uncomfortable about interrupting the president during one
of his events ... so I wanted to think, how can I convey to the
president the situation? And I made a conscious decision to state the
facts and to offer editorial comment. And the facts, as I knew them,
were -- since he knew about the first plane, I said, 'a second plane hit
the second tower.' Those were the facts. And the editorial comment was,
'America is under attack.'"

"Rosspilot" wrote in message
...

Obviously you don't have very young children...


What in the hell does THAT have to do with anything???


I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were so far out of the loop. I thought it
was common knowledge that Bush was reading to some very young children in
front of a bunch of television cameras.


So???

He'd just been told that the country was UNDER ATTACK! What is wrong with

you?

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message newsQMYc.72468
someone who's actually charge.

Er, that should be "someone who's actually in charge".

Reminds me of the joke, one with a lot of truth in it evidently:

If Dick Cheney's weak heart should give out on him during the second term,
would Jr. be capable of running the country?

--

Roger Long



"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:mjNYc.342765$%_6.30883@attbi_s01...
"Gary Drescher" wrote in message newsQMYc.72468
someone who's actually charge.

Er, that should be "someone who's actually in charge".

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
newsQMYc.72468$9d6.48029@attbi_s54...
"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
Baloney. He continued reading. What was he supposed to do, run out of
the
classroom screaming?...

Seriously, what is it that you think a President could have done? No one
knew whether it was a terrorist attack or just another airline accident.

Two off-course airliners crashed into the World Trade Towers within
minutes
of one another in clear weather, and no one knew if it was "just another
airline accident"? That's quite a spin, CJ!

Bush left immediately after being informed of the second crash. Of course
you probably knew that, so let's here your spin on that!

C J Campbell wrote:

Gary Drescher wrote:

C J Campbell wrote:

Baloney. He continued reading. What was he supposed to do,
run out of the classroom screaming?...

Seriously, what is it that you think a President could have
done? No one knew whether it was a terrorist attack or just
another airline accident.

Two off-course airliners crashed into the World Trade Towers
within minutes of one another in clear weather, and no one
knew if it was "just another airline accident"? That's quite
a spin, CJ!

Bush left immediately after being informed of the second crash. Of course
you probably knew that, so let's here your spin on that!

Not quite. He was informed of the first aircraft hitting the WTC before
he entered the classroom. It was the information about the second that
he heard while in the classroom, which should have made it clear it was
an attack. He remained in the classroom to finish the story with the
children, and did not leave immediately.

"James Robinson" wrote in message
...

Not quite. He was informed of the first aircraft hitting the WTC before
he entered the classroom. It was the information about the second that
he heard while in the classroom, which should have made it clear it was
an attack. He remained in the classroom to finish the story with the
children, and did not leave immediately.

Even if that was the case (and it contradicts the news reports I was
watching at the time), what else should he have done about it? Immediately
ask for the football and launch missiles? Hold a conference and tell
everyone who was working to deal with the situation to stop whatever they
were doing and immediately give him a report? Any action taken at that
moment would almost certainly have been the wrong one. As a pilot, one of
the first things you learn about emergencies is to wait and see what the
emergency is before deciding what, if any, action should be taken. In fact,
everything that could be done was being done.

Has Kerry said he would have done anything different? No. He just sees fit
to criticize and armchair quarterback with the hindsight of several years,
but he still can't come up with anything else the President could have done
even after all this time to think about it.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"James Robinson" wrote in message
...

Not quite. He was informed of the first aircraft hitting the WTC before
he entered the classroom. It was the information about the second that
he heard while in the classroom, which should have made it clear it was
an attack. He remained in the classroom to finish the story with the
children, and did not leave immediately.

Even if that was the case (and it contradicts the news reports I was
watching at the time), what else should he have done about it? Immediately
ask for the football and launch missiles? Hold a conference and tell
everyone who was working to deal with the situation to stop whatever they
were doing and immediately give him a report? Any action taken at that
moment would almost certainly have been the wrong one. As a pilot, one of
the first things you learn about emergencies is to wait and see what the
emergency is before deciding what, if any, action should be taken. In
fact,
everything that could be done was being done.

First thing to do in an emergency is to fly the airplane.

Has Kerry said he would have done anything different? No. He just sees fit
to criticize and armchair quarterback with the hindsight of several years,
but he still can't come up with anything else the President could have
done
even after all this time to think about it.

Someone recently made a point about the old adage that "hindsight is
20/20" -- it isn't. It's terribly myopic. It doesn't teach one to make
decisions when there are so many unknown variables afoot during the original
decision making process.

C J Campbell wrote:

Any action taken at that
moment would almost certainly have been the wrong one. As a pilot, one of
the first things you learn about emergencies is to wait and see what the
emergency is before deciding what, if any, action should be taken.

NPR recently interviewed a U.S. Army General (retired). IIRC, it was "Stormin'
Norman". When asked about this incident, he said basically the same thing. He stated
that, when he was younger, he had been prone to make rapid decisions, and they were
almost always inferior to those he would have made had he thought about them for a
while.

George Patterson
If you want to know God's opinion of money, just look at the people
he gives it to.

G.R. Patterson III wrote:

NPR recently interviewed a U.S. Army General (retired). IIRC, it was
"Stormin' Norman". When asked about this incident, he said basically the
same thing. He stated that, when he was younger, he had been prone to make
rapid decisions, and they were almost always inferior to those he would
have made had he thought about them for a while.

I'm no fan of Bush, but I think this particular issue is a little silly.
Isn't there some old story about an old airline pilot and a young examiner
of some sort where an emergency is "caused" and the pilot's immediate step
is to wind a watch, or some such? "I ain't never killed nobody winding a
watch" was the punchline.

- Andrew