Tuesday, September 12, 2006
From Neal Boortz-The "Unified after 9/11" myth
THE 'UNIFIED AFTER 9/11' MYTH
Going all the way back to the 2004 presidential campaign between The Poodle and the president, we have often heard repeated the line that America was unified after 9/11 and Bush squandered all that goodwill. Bill Clinton repeated the line yesterday, saying "We had an astonishing moment of unity" after 9/11. It's a nice idea, but it never happened.
Oh sure...members of Congress from both parties stood on the Capitol steps and sang "God Bless America" and it made for a nice photo op. But just because politicians came out as a single force on that one day, it doesn't mean differences magically disappeared. In fact, those differences only became stronger.
Myth #1: Americans and politicians from both political parties were 100% behind President Bush in everything he did immediately after 9/11. The fact is this isn't true. While many did come together, there were differences about what we should do in response to 9/11 and whether or not the Bush Administration was to blame. There were still those who wanted to follow the Clinton approach of treating Islamic fascism as a law enforcement problem.
Myth #2: There was universal support for the invasion of Afghanistan. The facts say otherwise. There were plenty that were opposed. There were protests even as the invasion was being planned.
Myth #3: George Bush squandered all of the public and the world's goodwill by invading Iraq. This is also untrue. The invasion of Iraq was popular at the time it took place, with the public and most Democrats strongly behind the president. The idea that somehow Operation Iraqi Freedom was responsible for busting up the mythical 9/11 unification is just a fantasy.
Democratic and Republican differences didn't disappear just because of 9/11. Once the dust settled, just as many Democrats wanted to treat Islamic terrorism as a law enforcement problem as before. Many blamed Bush for the attacks and did not favor going to war. We just went back to business as usual, just like we were always going to. If there was any supposed unification, it lasted just a few days.
Because at the end of the day, Democrats believe what they believe and Republicans have their beliefs.
I would bet real American greenbacks that the Clintonistas started making a list of what they needed to cover up before noon that day.
Be sure to scroll to the bottom of Nealz Nuze. He posts a series of articles each day and even though he's no Andy he does a decent job.
