Originally Posted by koop

you have to be freaking kidding me.

Bush knew about the first plane before he went into the school. He thought it was an accident, like most of us. They told him about the second, now you know it's no accident. He had nothing better to do than read childrens books?

hey if there's nothing he could have done why did he leave at all, he should have made a day of it

Originally Posted by Azimyth

I suppose he could have donned a red cape with an elephant tusk on it. What could he do that was not already in place and on auto pilot?

He left because it's proceedure. Once it was clear what was happening, he had to get airborne.

Originally Posted by koop

Big Oil needed Bush’s help. Two of the industry’s sacred cows were in danger. One was a 27.5 percent tax depletion allowance, which dated back to 1926. The allowance benefited the oil industry by removing much of the financial risk investors faced when they invested in oil ventures, which required substantial start-up capital investment. Drillers argued that the risks of hitting a dry spot would be prohibitively high for most investors and national oil production would suffer if the allowance were repealed. /QUOTE]


The 27.5% allowance was in 1926 but the whole smelly mess was first introduced in 1913 at 5%. Also in 1913 Woodrow Wilson was president and if I'm not mistaken he was a dem. He also gets credit for handing over our monetary system to the devil.

Originally Posted by Austin85

Thank you! Finally a sane person hits this thread.
Homer Simpson would have had a beer and a donut. But then even he would have gotten up and left to do something ....(-:

Originally Posted by Austin85

Thank you! Finally a sane person hits this thread.
Homer Simpson would have had a beer and a donut. But then even he would have gotten up and left to do something ....(-:

Originally Posted by Austin85

..but "Mr President ; the country is under attack."
Not even an "Oh *****." out of him????
What's up with that?

Originally Posted by Botnst

I was in an airport getting ready to fly GA when the manager came into the lobby and said that an airplane had hit one of the towers. I walked over to watch TV and saw the video of smoke pouring from the tower. We watched and talked and listened to the clueless talking heads. I remember say, "It could be an accident or it could be a nut or it could be on purpose. We wont know for a couple of hours." Then the second plane hit. At that point there was no question about it in my mind, this was deliberate attack.

So I put myself in the president's jacket. My responsibility is to protect the USA from all dangers, foreign and domestic. I get word that an airplane has hit a building. What would I do? Knowing that we have this vast military power, federal and civil police system, intelligence, etc, and knowing that we had no hostile relationships of any consequence since the fall of the USSR, I would have done nothing and let events unfold. For there was NOTHING that the president could do at that point. If there is nothing that can be done, why do anything?

Then the next one hit. Again, what could be done immediately that couldn't wait several hours? Nothing. The military and intelligence and police systems have systems to crank-up for response. Let them get warmed-up before you muck-around with the system.

Only a complete freaking dumbass would believe that the president acts like the "Independence Day" president. In reality, a president must be patient and allow things to unfold so that a rational path can be followed. Getting over-wrought, panicky responses early in a crisis panics everybody up and down the chains of command. Only a fool would risk that for no good reason.

B

Originally Posted by J. R. B.

Not to mention getting the USA into one of Europe's many tribal squabbles among princes and dictators.

Bot

Originally Posted by koop

Hey, I'm not arguing for or against a shootdown order or the morality of same. I just can't believe the self delusion and intellectual backflips people come up with to avoid the painfully obvious fact that Bush should have gotten up and said "Excuse me kids, I have to go" and gone and done his job.

Then again, I guess I should be thankful he didn't stick around for sloppy joes.

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

I find it completely unbelievable that rational people with some intelligence would give GWB any credibility for sitting there for seven minutes and doing absolutely nothing.

The point is not whether he needed to do anything in that time period. Odds are that all of the previous Bush champions are correct..........if he left immediately upon hearing the news, the events would have played out in exactly the same way as they previously occurred.

But, any person in the position of the President, who has a clue what to do, would immediately leave the children to go and get more information. The one line tidbit, provided as whisper in his ear, would leave him with a whole slew of questions that require a lot of answers. You would expect such a man to get right out and move to get that information. You would not expect him to sit there for seven minutes with a look of absolute fright on his face.

The combination of the seven minute delay, and the look on his face, tells anybody who bothers to look that this President didn't have a clue on what to do..........just like he is clueless on most every other endeavor that he ventures into.

In reality, as Koop mentioned, he could have sat there all day and had sloppy-joes with the kids.........the mechanisms in place would have dealt with the situation. That's the legacy of George Bush. Leave it to others to do the job of the President...........he's too busy cutting brush down in Texas.

Originally Posted by Azimyth

otherwise known as delegation; a key device in a leader's chest of tools.

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

I find it completely unbelievable that rational people with some intelligence would give GWB any credibility for sitting there for seven minutes and doing absolutely nothing.

The point is not whether he needed to do anything in that time period. Odds are that all of the previous Bush champions are correct..........if he left immediately upon hearing the news, the events would have played out in exactly the same way as they previously occurred.

But, any person in the position of the President, who has a clue what to do, would immediately leave the children to go and get more information. The one line tidbit, provided as whisper in his ear, would leave him with a whole slew of questions that require a lot of answers. You would expect such a man to get right out and move to get that information. You would not expect him to sit there for seven minutes with a look of absolute fright on his face.

The combination of the seven minute delay, and the look on his face, tells anybody who bothers to look that this President didn't have a clue on what to do..........just like he is clueless on most every other endeavor that he ventures into.

In reality, as Koop mentioned, he could have sat there all day and had sloppy-joes with the kids.........the mechanisms in place would have dealt with the situation. That's the legacy of George Bush. Leave it to others to do the job of the President...........he's too busy cutting brush down in Texas.