9/11
On its website, CNN is playing its coverage of 9/11/01 as it happened that day. I've been watching it for a bit since I didn't see it live that day five years ago. I saw video of the second plane strike and I remember saying, to a co-worker, "They just changed the world." I followed most of the morning on the radio as I took a train back home. I didn't understand when Peter Jennings said "the building has collapsed." It didn't compute. I didn't have the capacity to imagine what I saw later on cable after I got home. I saw Gen. Wesley Clark on CNN saying, only a couple of hours after the Twin Towers fell, that it was probably Osama bin Laden who was behnid the attack. Pretty good call. I saw Tom Clancy being interviewed claiming "self-preservation is the first rule of nature and there aren't a lot of people out there willing to give up their lives in suicide missions like this." Pretty bad call.
I also got angry. When you see the video coverage of the jet striking the tower and you see the collapse of the buildings you want to enlist and go kill someone. Too bad Bush and Rove were more interested in winning elections than actually killing someone like Osama bin Laden. Five years later and I'm not sure if Bush wants him "dead or alive" or whether he doesn't think about him too often or isn't concerned about bin Laden. I'm also angry at the historically disgraceful way Bush, Rove and the Republicans have politicized 9/11 while saying they aren't. We sink or swim together. We are in the same boat but the Republicans treat it as if we are in two boats and they are going to swiftboat all those who don't slavishly follow their party line. Surfing the net while watching the five year old CNN coverage I saw something that made my argument of Republicans politicizing 9/11 seem entirely understated.
A new ad set to be placed in key markets by a neoconservative think tank will tell Americans that they will likely die in a terrorist attack if they vote Democratic. Over images of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, an off-camera narrator will tell voters in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia and Vermont that "the world is a dangerous place. Islamic terrorists hate us for who we are and what we stand for." The Center for Security Policy, linked to a number of well-known neoconservatives, produced the ad. Though it claims to be nonpartisan, it centers around the widely-used Republican "cut and run" talking point. After conflating 9/11 and Iraq the narrator asks over a picture of the Earth, "The next time someone suggests America should cut-and-run from the war on terror, ask them, 'run to where?'" A final on-screen graphic tells residents of those states to "vote as if your life depends on it. Because it does."
So there you have it. All the talk of sadness and grief and loss and security and justice and freedom is packaged by Republicans as a tag line in a political ad. "Vote Republican or you'll die a fiery death." Pretty much sums up today's Republican party and why I remain angry and cranky five years after 9/11.
I also got angry. When you see the video coverage of the jet striking the tower and you see the collapse of the buildings you want to enlist and go kill someone. Too bad Bush and Rove were more interested in winning elections than actually killing someone like Osama bin Laden. Five years later and I'm not sure if Bush wants him "dead or alive" or whether he doesn't think about him too often or isn't concerned about bin Laden. I'm also angry at the historically disgraceful way Bush, Rove and the Republicans have politicized 9/11 while saying they aren't. We sink or swim together. We are in the same boat but the Republicans treat it as if we are in two boats and they are going to swiftboat all those who don't slavishly follow their party line. Surfing the net while watching the five year old CNN coverage I saw something that made my argument of Republicans politicizing 9/11 seem entirely understated.
A new ad set to be placed in key markets by a neoconservative think tank will tell Americans that they will likely die in a terrorist attack if they vote Democratic. Over images of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, an off-camera narrator will tell voters in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia and Vermont that "the world is a dangerous place. Islamic terrorists hate us for who we are and what we stand for." The Center for Security Policy, linked to a number of well-known neoconservatives, produced the ad. Though it claims to be nonpartisan, it centers around the widely-used Republican "cut and run" talking point. After conflating 9/11 and Iraq the narrator asks over a picture of the Earth, "The next time someone suggests America should cut-and-run from the war on terror, ask them, 'run to where?'" A final on-screen graphic tells residents of those states to "vote as if your life depends on it. Because it does."
So there you have it. All the talk of sadness and grief and loss and security and justice and freedom is packaged by Republicans as a tag line in a political ad. "Vote Republican or you'll die a fiery death." Pretty much sums up today's Republican party and why I remain angry and cranky five years after 9/11.
posted by Crankyboy at 11:16 AM
4 Comments:
That the entire world of Republican shenanigans revolves around 9/11 is a clue. Sure it might simply have been serendipity but it might also have been a plan. Bush simply suspended the hunt for Osama and either gagged or ignored anyone in the administration who called his attention to him or called his attention to the need for attention.
Afterwards he did everything in his power to stifle or delay investigation and slant the results.
Bush just let it happen and that it happened had so much to do with his policies and his actions that I can't dismiss the likelihood that it was a conscious decision.
Think of where Bush would be today if it weren't for 9/11. Odds are it's not in the White House.
Well said Captain.
The republican disinformation machine is alive and well: their continuous loop based on 9/11 is, however, even starting to sound like an farce to some of the faithful.
I didn't see the Russert interview of Cheney, but I read some of the transcript... Some say he asked some tough questions: I still say Cheney got away with spewing bullshit.
Someone in the media needs to get these clowns on tape and REALLY ask the hard questions.
I saw the Cheney interview - it's a sight to behold. Cheney has no shame and smirks and says he hasn't read the Senate Intelligence Committee report and hasn't read the IAEA report on Saddam. It's sickening. Russert asked a few good questions but the end of the interview says a lot. He laughed and joked with Cheney about the hunting incident. I have little respect for Russert anymore. He is just an inside baseball guy now in D.C. He wants to be invited to all the parties and events so he ultimately wants to be friends with his guests. It's a joke.
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