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Thursday, June 26, 2003

Decisive Leadership. On September 11, 2001, George W. Bush was told by chief of staff Andrew Card that America was under attack after the second plane hit the WTC. Bush responded, with that famous moral clarity, by sitting there listening to children read for five minutes (we've got the video), and apparently for several minutes after that. Trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, I think, well, reading is important--maybe some of those kids will read about how W's brother disenfranchised many of their parents, aunts and uncles prior to and during the 2000 election, which is the only reason why what W does makes any difference at all. But then, I think--if America is under attack, it seems to be a reasonable possibility that the president might be a target, and his visit to the school was known publicly. Proper respect for the children and teachers would have been to evacuate the building immediately in case an airplane might just happen to crash into it. We now know that Osama (if it was Osama) was smarter than that, knowing that Bush would be a willing participant in the destruction of America, as he has turned out to be, so the school wasn't targeted. But clearly something huge was happening, and decisions needed to be made, including perhaps shooting down airliners, that only the president could make. But he just sat there. Watch the video!

Bob Harris has more on this.