# George W Bush Was Only Thinking Of The Children On The Morning Of 9/11. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 29, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696 "2011-07-29T03:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/61 "2011-07-29T19:42:34Z")
Nicely said PunditLisa. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/62 "2011-07-29T19:55:57Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > 7 minutes? Seriously? **7 whole minutes?** > > That’s a long kid’s book. Really? The books I read to my kids at bedtime each take 10 or 15. And that’s not counting Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, which takes for-frickin’-ever to get through. > [@PunditLisa](#): > > I think that Bush was one of the least qualified people to be elected President. And, yet, I have no complaints re his on-the-job performance on 9/11/11, as well as subsequent days. He didn’t knee jerk a reaction, he remained assertive yet calm, he called for help from our allies, and he spoke as eloquently as he was capable to settle the nation. > > I sincerely hope that President Obama won’t ever be tested to the degree that President Bush was. Whether I personally voted for him or not, each was MY President, and I wish him nothing but overwhelming success. Until the majority of people in this nation share the same sentiment, we are doomed. This is awesome. I wish I had said it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/63 "2011-07-29T20:11:03Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > Sure would like to see a cite on this, but I don’t expect one. Go look up the _Project for a New American Century_; Iraq was a target before Bush got into office. He was just the guy amoral and stupid enough to do what they wanted. And for that matter, Cheney’s Energy Task Force during California’s Enron-manufactured “energy crisis” spent much of its time studying maps of Iraq. They _always_ intended to attack Iraq, 9-11 was just the excuse they were looking for, the “new Pearl Harbor” they wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/64 "2011-07-29T20:18:59Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > A silly comparison. If FDR had invaded Canada or Mexico because of Pearl Harbor you might have a point but he didn’t. And of course there’s the fact that the attack on Iraq was planned long before 9-11; it was just the excuse. > > But yes, I do think that a major goal of Bush (and most of his supporters) was to kill random brown Muslims for the sake of killing them. > > That assumes Bush was actually reformed. Somehow I find it more likely that he got drunk and fell on his face than he fainted while eating pretzels. I know I’m late to the party here, but . . . holy crap, do you have an off switch? You know, it’s wild-eyed, broad statements like this that give liberals a bad name. I’ll give you that Bush wouldn’t have turned down any excuse to attack Saddam - but that’s because he has daddy issues, not because he’s thirsting for the blood of third-worlders. To say that a “major goal of Bush. . . was to kill random brown Muslims for the sake of killing them” shows that you have a severely broken capacity for empathy of any sort. Granted, it’s pretty much a given that Bush didn’t fully comprehend the consequences of his lust to one-up Papa Bush, especially with his daddy’s cronies around him fully convinced that Iraqis would welcome us with open arms. This lack of foresight, combined with the deliberate manipulation and fabrication of the “facts” justifying the war, was IMO inarguably criminal. But this doesn’t mean he’s some unfeeling Muslim-terminating, genocide-mongering devil. I’m not saying we’ve got to feel sorry for the guy - any empathy felt notwithstanding, he doesn’t deserve forgiveness, and I wouldn’t bat an eye if he were brought up on war crimes charges for lying us into one war and badly mismanaging the Afghan war, however justified it may have been. But when you accuse him of being some kind of psychopath who actively seeks the suffering of others, you do your cause and viewpoints little service, and you help paint other, more reasonable, dissenting viewpoints with the same brush. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/65 "2011-07-29T20:37:29Z")
I beleive Bush, because I am sure in his mind the only other reaction would have been, “HOLY SHIT!! WTF??? What the fuck are we going to do? Plane crashed into the World Trade Center you said? Thousands killed you said? Including CHILDREN!!! OH MY GOD!!! WHAT DO WE DO? Someone get my dad on the phone! I said I want my daddy!!”\ Although I suppose he could have acted Presidential and politely excused himself. But that would be CRAZY! ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/66 "2011-07-29T20:47:13Z")
I think he is one of the worst presidents in history, but I don’t hold this against him. He was probably planning on what to do next, who to call, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/67 "2011-07-29T20:47:40Z")
“Random Brown Muslims” would be, if not a great band name, at least a good album title. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/68 "2011-07-29T20:52:22Z")
> [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](#): > > To say that a “major goal of Bush. . . was to kill random brown Muslims for the sake of killing them” shows that you have a severely broken capacity for empathy of any sort. No, it’s simply observing how Americans, especially right wing Americans act _all the time_. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/69 "2011-07-29T21:33:59Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Good point! And those people who complain that he was wearing a blue tie! The pictures clearly show that it was a dark grey tie! I mean, if you can’t get straight on these crucial sartorial issues… Except the OP and innumerable critics who have mocked Bush for his “hang fire” on that morning have not ever referred to the color of his tie. They _have_ referred innumerable times to the title of the book he continued reading, and from a quick Googling, most of them in error. Do you really want your argument to die on this literary hill? If your continual near-decade mocking of Bush is threatened over a fact like I ever-so-inconveniently and pedantically introduced, then how solid could it have been in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/70 "2011-07-29T21:49:17Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m curious how you could tell the difference. It’s just my reading of it. He strikes me more as someone who made these poor decisions mostly out of incompetence, not out of deliberate, malicious forethought. I could be wrong, but I’m not even really sure how much it matters because the result is the same. > [@](#): > > I’m hardly a fan of Bush43, but I expect it was a little more nuanced than that. Somewhere along the way was probably also the prospect of eliminating a regime the Saudis perceived as a threat. > [@Revtim](#): > > [“this is the guy that tried to kill my Dad.”](http://articles.cnn.com/2002-09-27/politics/bush.war.talk_1_homeland-security-senators-from-both-parties-republican-phil-gramm?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS) Interestingly enough, this is pretty much exactly why I think it wasn’t all that nuanced. Someone who has that kind of emotional response to that sort of thing, I think they’re more likely to have a high level of confirmation bias and make simple logical leaps. Now, of course, there might have been some people in the background who helped get him there knowing how he might react to that sort of thing and manipulated him into doing it or planted the ideas in his head, but then they’re really the ones bearing that responsibility of pre-planning, not Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/71 "2011-07-29T21:49:34Z")
Wow, a Bush pitting. How _retro_. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/72 "2011-07-29T21:53:59Z")
I actually believe this. When he looked up after being whsipered-to, with that deer-caught-in-headlights expression, I can believe that the only thought processing in his brain was whatever happened to be in his immediate field of vision. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/73 "2011-07-29T22:08:29Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > “Random Brown Muslims” would be, if not a great band name, at least a good album title. Well, Praise Allah Its Wednesday does has an appetizer of that name… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/74 "2011-07-29T22:08:49Z")
Well, I for one have no intention of voting for this Bush fellow in the next Presidential election. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/75 "2011-07-29T22:31:48Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > If your continual near-decade mocking of Bush I agree that this issue has gotten a heck of a lot more discussion than it perhaps deserves from some objective standpoint. That doesn’t make it continual or near-decade-long. Many people have expressed surprise and disdain to see this issue resurface again in this thread, which just demonstrates that most of us thought it was dead (even those of us like me who still are actively bitter about it to some extent), and thus it was clearly not continual. Sure I started a thread about it in 2004, 2 or 3 years after it happened. But that was 7 years ago now and I’ve hardly thought about it since then. > [@](#): > > is threatened over a fact like I ever-so-inconveniently and pedantically introduced, then how solid could it have been in the first place? It’s in no way threatened at all. I’m not certain I’ve ever actually mentioned the title of the book, but my argument about the topic ([linked earlier in the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=270550)) is in no way made more or less valid depending on if I happen to get the name of the book precisely right or not. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/76 "2011-07-29T23:19:16Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I agree that this issue has gotten a heck of a lot more discussion than it perhaps deserves from some objective standpoint. That doesn’t make it continual or near-decade-long. Are you elucidator? He has made it continual and decade-long. That’s who I’m responding to. > [@](#): > > It’s in no way threatened at all. I’m not certain I’ve ever actually mentioned the title of the book, but my argument about the topic ([linked earlier in the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=270550)) is in no way made more or less valid depending on if I happen to get the name of the book precisely right or not. I think you’re misunderstanding here. I said it was unfortunate in my first post. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/77 "2011-07-29T23:33:02Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > Are you elucidator? He has made it continual and decade-long. That’s who I’m responding to. > I think you’re misunderstanding here. I said it was unfortunate in my first post. Huh. OK. Rage diminishing. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/78 "2011-07-29T23:33:11Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, it’s simply observing how Americans, especially right wing Americans act _all the time_. Like I said, your capacity for empathy is pretty well and truly broken. Admitting that one’s idealogical opponents (enemies, even) are indeed human, and are not in fact monsters, doesn’t weaken one’s position, but rather demonstrates a degree of empathy likely to at least get some of your opponents to pay attention. And on the flip side, painting everyone more right-wing than - oh, I don’t know. . . you - with the eeevil brush doesn’t win anyone over to your cause, but rather leads them to tune you out as just another wackjob with a hollow, angry worldview. But I don’t think you’re trying to convince anyone of anything - since it’s sooo much easier to call someone EVIL than to try to actually present a reasoned argument and give thoughtful, compassionate (see what I did there?) consideration to all viewpoints. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/79 "2011-07-29T23:35:40Z")
I’ve read that at least a few of the kids involved, now grown up, appreciated him staying. Of course, that’s only three (IIRC) out of an entire class, so who knows what the others think. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696/80 "2011-07-29T23:36:15Z")
> [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](#): > > I know I’m late to the party here, but . . . holy crap, do you have an off switch? This cracked me up. The guy’s either the one of the most disturbed assholes on the planet or the most brilliant performance artist, saying to his buddies at night, "And then I said ‘\’, and some people were still either defending me or agreeing with me!! Hahahahahahahaha. Whenever I see him in good form, [this comes to mind.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5IrRe2F7qY) Yes the mutterings of a madman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-w-bush-was-only-thinking-of-the-children-on-the-morning-of-9-11/590696.md?page=5)