# Bush to capitalize on 9/11 anniversary **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 23, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491 "2003-04-23T02:01:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nogginhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5e9695/32.png) [@nogginhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogginhead)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/1 "2003-04-23T02:01:26Z")
[Could anything be more offensive?](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nyt/20030422/ts_nyt/for_2004__bush_s_aides_plan_late_sprint_for_re_election) Here is a choice quote: > [@](#): > > The convention, to be held in New York City, will be the latest since the Republican Party was founded in 1856, and Mr. Bush’s advisers said they chose the date so the event would flow into the commemorations of the third anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Personally, I’m offended that Mr. Bush would stoop so low and hope this test balloon burns brighter than the Hindenberg. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/2 "2003-04-23T02:10:02Z")
Well, 9/11 was without question the absolute historical landmark in GWB’s term - we can conclude that with a year and a half to go. Why then wouldn’t he be allowed to start his campaign on that date, in that city? I’m no fan of Bush, but 9/11 is the tragic backbone of his first (and hopefully only, IMHO) term. What I DO find telling is the $200 million he might be able to get as campaign funding. With no real opposition within the GOP, they must be fearing an electoral loss pretty bad. Good. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/3 "2003-04-23T02:10:11Z")
omigod! An elected official is acting like a politician! Oh, the humanity! ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/4 "2003-04-23T02:17:08Z")
The heck with all that political stuff. What I want to know is what the hell does this > [@](#): > > The convention, to be held in New York City, will be the latest since the Republican Party was founded in 1856, _mean_? The 2005 Mustang, the latest since Ford introduced the model in 1964 1/2… I’m lost. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/5 "2003-04-23T02:19:00Z")
This kind of shit is less repulsive than goat-felching only in that it is more sanitary. This deserves a partial birth abortion attended by Dr. Kervorkian. Dear Mr. King: Howzabout a story, kinda like _Carrie_ meets _Pet Sematary_, see, where the corpse of Thomas Paine rises from his grave and walks all the way to New York and strangles GeeDubya on TV… It’s my idea but you can have it. Your friend, Elucidator PS: No bugs or mucous in this one, ok? ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/6 "2003-04-23T02:23:19Z")
**manhattan** - latest in terms of time held during the _year_, not latest in the sense of “most recent.” They could have phrased that better, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/7 "2003-04-23T02:27:44Z")
Gotcha, **Melandry**. Thanks. That’d be our (the city’s) doing. Mayor Bloomberg and former Mayor Giuliani were were trying to get _both_ conventions for '04. Coulda used the business. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/8 "2003-04-23T04:19:22Z")
Could anything be more offensive? Sure, lots of things. (I will refrain from listing any lest some party hack actually read the boards and steal an idea.) I’m afraid that I don’t see the cause for outrage. He’s a politician trying to get re-elected who wants (or whose handlers want) to capitalize on a specific _set_ of events. He can hardly have the convention in downtown Baghdad or Kabul, arranging for all the liberated people to cheer him on–and there is no point in celebrating in front of an unemployment office–so the choice was made to use something that will associate him with patriotism. I’m afraid that I simply cannot see this as some terrible travesty. Now, obviously, the organizers have the opportunity to turn it into a travesty by scheduling particlularly tacky events surrounding the convention, but having the convention in that place at that time is simply (potentially) good campaign strategy. There is no danger that there will be a prolonged convention, since the nomination is a given, so they have a free hand to set it up to highlight his _responses_ to the event that happened _there_. (For those that it bothers so much, consider that it is also a pretty big gamble: if Afghanistan or Iraq make the news in a really negative way in August–or if another successful terrorist attack occurs in the weeks leading up to the convention, there will be plenty of perfectly coifed newspeople in front of the cameras at the WTC site linking the original attack to the latest failures–and featuring Bush prominently in the association.) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/9 "2003-04-23T04:35:44Z")
Look at it this way: If the war on terror goes badly between now and then, it’ll be a big mistake. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/10 "2003-04-23T04:43:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*Look at it this way: If the war on terror goes badly between now and then, it’ll be a big mistake. \*\* Sounds like you’re looking forward to it, which I find hard to believe. I mean, I know there are people (about 25 -30% of the U.S. according to the most recent polls) who don’t like GWB, but I would hope they would not want another terrorist attack somewhere just so he would not be re-elected. Please tell me I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/11 "2003-04-23T05:07:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MLS \* > Sounds like you’re looking forward to it, which I find hard to believe. That’s Sam, one of those darned Anti-war Bush-Bashers. 😃 Even if the war _doesn’t_ go badly, the late nomination will certainly add another spice to the normally hard fought battle over presidential debates. Team Bush is making a pretty big gamble with this strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/12 "2003-04-23T05:46:46Z")
Personally, I could see Gore doing the same thing if he’d gotten the win back in '00. What’s shocking to me is that folks have _forgotten_ what a defining moment 9/11 was. Remember what the story was with Rudy _before_ 9/11? How he was washed up, what with him cavorting with his misstress and all. On 9/10, if you’d posted the question, “Will Time name Rudy Giulani ‘Man of the Year’?” you’d get more “NO!” votes than “Yes” votes. By 9/12, people had forgotten about the ass Giulani had made out of himself in the months beforehand. Of course, the GOP is going to do everything it can to wrap itself as close to 9/11 as they possibly can. Why shouldn’t they? No doubt 9/11 will be seen as _the_ defining moment of the decade, if not the century, in the same way that WWII is seen as _the_ defining moment of the 1940s and the 20th Century (nevermind that it was a sequel to the previous world war, or that men landed on the Moon some 20 odd years later, Communism collapsed, etc.). They’d be _foolish_ not to! It’s the moment that people will talk about most when it comes to Bush’s Presidency for years to come, even though other things have come to pass in the years since. After all, people talk more about Clinton and his blowjobs than anything else he did during _his_ Presidency (even though Clinton _did_ do a lot of good during his administration, it’s sullied by the Lewinsky mess). ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/13 "2003-04-23T05:54:35Z")
Shamelessly using the deaths of 3,000 people to get re-elected! I hope people see how transparent he is and cause this tactic to backfire on him during the election. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/14 "2003-04-23T06:16:38Z")
I hope it blows back on Bush’s face like the Wellstone funeral did for Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/15 "2003-04-23T08:21:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*Look at it this way: If the war on terror goes badly between now and then, it’ll be a big mistake. \*\* Like not being able to find Osama Bin Laden? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/16 "2003-04-23T12:04:31Z")
Bush Sr. : I can’t find Saddam. Bush Jr. : I can’t find Osama. Bush the Brother: I can’t find the missing votes. The Bush Wives ( bitterly, and with distain ) Yeah well, that’s not all they can’t find. As for the O.P., it surprises me not one whit that he and his party have decided to do this. 9/11 has gone from aching destructive disorienting physical and mental wound to Opportunity Of The Decade. Nothing constitutes stooping too low in this Administration, and the fact that there may be a huge hue and cry across the country- and surely in New York City itself- really won’t matter to them at all. It’s not about what the public wants or feels ( If it was, the real president would be currently sitting in office ), it’s about what can be bought, manipulated and disgorged as being In The Best Interests Of The People Of The United States. :rolleyes: I’ve no doubt but that by the time the unusually-late-running- convention is wound up and the Nominee is “picked”, there will be a majority of Americans across the political spectrum who will be deeply horrified at the the carefully chosen whoring of 2,800 American lives for the cause of clinching a second term for the Republican Party. It is a sad time to be an American citizen. I truly hope that this choice is altered and the Convention is not held at a time that co-opts international mourning as a political device. Have they NO shame? :mad: Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/17 "2003-04-23T12:08:56Z")
Well, it’s shameful. But this part is the biggest nonsequitur: But they said the Democratic Party was making a mistake in building its hopes for 2004 on the fate of Mr. Bush’s father in 1992. The current president, White House officials said, has already dispatched with his father’s biggest problem, the perception that he was out of touch with the nation’s economic woes, by pushing his economic program nearly every time he appears in public. So one can be considered “in touch with the nation’s economic woes” by proposing to cut taxes to the advantage of millionaires and billionaires? I hope that little gem of a strategy bites W in his smug little new-cyu-luhr ass. ---
**Author:** ![nogginhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5e9695/32.png) [@nogginhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogginhead)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/18 "2003-04-23T13:52:03Z")
Hopefully all the relatives of those killed will come out to protest the posthumous Republicaniztion of their loved ones. Maybe someone can think of a good Mormon joke? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/19 "2003-04-23T14:14:58Z")
Suggesting further comparison to 9/11, I read the campaign theme would be “Keep Rolling.” Tossing in reference to Beemer, as well as rolling over Iraq. And, as pointed out above, the vast majority of Americans apparently don’t give a fuck. Hell, they can’t even say for sure why we invaded Iraq, but they support the effort - apparently because it went pretty quickly with “only” a hundred or so American deaths. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491/20 "2003-04-23T14:38:07Z")
The opportunity for terrorists to inflict large scale civilian casualties on New York this 9/11 has been significantly diminished. Osama bin Laden, while still alive, is cowering in a shithole and his ability to conduct operations is only a fraction of what it was just a couple of years ago. Iraquis are for the first time in decades enjoying the immediate prospect of self determinization. Go ahead with your convention GOP, I patiently await the outline of your platform and will compare it in a non-partisan manner to that of the Dems. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-capitalize-on-9-11-anniversary/170491.md?page=2)