The Bush 9/11 Hero Myth

Bob Cesca mentions Mark Halperin's continual ass kissing of George W. Bush and the success that his administration has been, specifically in regards to the 9/11 response. How Bush responded is better than others would have done in Halperin's warped imagination. Because that's all it is: imagination. There's absolutely no way you can claim that one person would be better or worse in a certain situation than another unless you can repeat it. Although judging by Bush's record, I don't doubt many of us would have preferred someone else in his position... almost anyone else. Halperin is just spewing more Bush Legacy bullshit. If you can stomach it, here's a short clip of Halperin's rectum spelunking.

This "9/11 Hero" myth is the same myth of which Rudy Giuliani was the lucky recipient. I watched those towers fall as we were all trying to evacuate lower Manhattan. And believe me, had "America's Mayor" not been stupid enough to place the Emergency Control Center in the same location that was bombed in 1993, he would have been nowhere near the site.

It seems that hero status is automatically assigned to the leaders in charge (or rather elected officials who happen to be in office) in situations like this when it is those same leaders' negligence or indifference that helped to create the disastrous situation in the first place. I've been saying the same thing for years in regards to Giuliani. George W. Bush did absolutely nothing differently than what any other elected official would have done faced with the same scenario. Except maybe freeze in terror in the first 10 minutes after hearing the news. And starting an illegal war.

And the amazing thing is that nine months into his presidency, Bush mistakenly thought that a photo-op was the way to show his leadership. He learned nothing as time went on and continued that method for the rest of his time as "leader" of the free world.