On giving credit to AssHat - No attacks here since 9-11

[Laura PourMeADrink]

One of the biggest Repuke talking points is that AssHat should be given
credit since the US has not been attacked since 9-11.

This morning on Morning Joe, Susan Rice was peppered with this point, which
she refused to accept.

Forget every other stupid, criminal, dangerous, illegal thing he has
done - the reality is, it is an isolated fact, we have not been attacked HERE
and he is pResident.

I think Rice, and anyone else who refuses to accept this reality,
loses some degree of credibility.

There are plenty of ways to respond to this -- Like:

YES, the US was asleep at the wheel before 9-11. The President and congress acted and improved
security at our airports.
BUT, everyone knows Al Que-da takes years to plan major attacks.
AND, we still don't inspect cargo (McCain voted not to inspect).
AND, we still don't have the best first responder communication equipment (McCain voted against this funding, as well).
AND, because of our invasion and takeover of a sovereign nation who nothing to do with 9-11,
our acts of torture, our neglect in finding the true 9-11 instigators, and our continued presence
in the Middle East we are less safe overall.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

1. I am one of those "crazies" who is at least LIHOP, if not MIHOP

Sure, it's easy to "keep us from being attacked again" when you only needed the one incident to do all that you've done!

[Cha]

3. Exactly and then you lie to Bomb a Middle

Eastern OIL RICH country on pretext that had nothing to do with 9/11.

How many have been killed?..how much money goes to support those lies each week?

[blonndee]

12. My thoughts exactly.

I don't know enough about the LIHOP and MIHOP theories to say much, but I'm at least firmly in the LIHOP category just on common sense.

And what you said was just what I first thought when I read the OP.

[whatchamacallit]

27. Exactly, they've protected us from THEM! n/t

[Cha]

2. None since but they let the biggest one

happen and then left Afghanistan to Bomb Iraq which had nothing to do with 9/11 and created exponentially more Terrorists.

And how much blood and treasure have been lost because of their lying and bungling the job?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. You know, I think that's a good point - that if you fear something

bad from O - what about YOU - you let 9-11 happen already !

But, for some reason, no one ever, ever, has enough guts to
say this. Maybe because they effectively pushed the idea
to the masses that Clinton could have done something too?

[Cha]

18. It's been my point since the

beginning but the m$$fm and I differ on the facts.

But, it's true and it will come out on a national level someday whether the US media wants it to or not.

[Lasher]

4. Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Bigtime.

There hasn't been a single elephant in my yard since I got my two cats. Therefore, elephants are terrified of my cats.

[ladjf]

24. Exactly! Variations of that joke have been around for years and

the principles of the joke apply to the Republicans assertions that they have prevented another terrorist attack.

There has never been but one and that was on Bush's watch with all of his intelligence people trying to warn him.

There is no need for another attack. We are still going down from the results of the first one.

[Olney Blue]

5. I agree there needs to be a better response crafted to this talking point-

that we haven't been attacked on "US soil" since 9-11.

It's the major GOP talking point and it is a trap. Susan Rice kept saying "we are less safe" but she needs to explain it better.

[democraticinsurgent]

6. Not to mention the distinct possibility that Bushco did 9/11

...very easy to prevent future attacks if in fact you are the both attacker and defender...

you may disagree, but there is way too much evidence to dismiss this as a strong possibility that fits perfectly into the unfolding scheme that has been the Bush administration. Unfortunately the coverup has been so tremendously successful that anyone who raises this in the MSM is immediately dismissed as insane.

I do like your list of talking points, though. They are all true and worrisome, if in fact we should worry about being attacked by non-insiders.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

10. I always wondered why Bush didn't get Osama. Just swept his

capture under the rug. It just strikes me that he would just
love all the adoration if they caught him. There has GOT
to be a reason. Either they are all complicit or maybe
he's uncatchable, or dead.

I like the theory someone wrote about here
a couple years ago. Bushco made a deal with the Saudis.
We (the US) would not capture Bin Laden, and you and
the Arab world will agree not to attack on US soil
while we are in power.

Speaking of things I have always wondered about - why in
the HELL didn't BushCo plants WMD in Iraq??? If they
could easily rig and election - they could easily plant
WMD.

[democraticinsurgent]

30. i think they tried to plant WMD and got caught

...an important reason for the Valerie Plame outing. Her company was watching and preventing this from happening.

[Oregone]

8. How many years was it after Pearl Harbor that there was another attack?

When random events happen at irregular intervals, the absence of such isn't exactly proof anyone is doing anything right. This is the lamest talking point ever.

Its like giving credit to a slot machine for not awarding anyone for a long time...that slot machine is still as dumb as my shoe.

[EffieBlack]

26. There were no attacks against the U.S. for more than six years after the first WTC bombing

Think these guys would give Clinton credit for that or agree that that was proof that Clinton effectively protected the country from terrorism?

I think not.

What hypocrites.

[ErinBerin84]

9. yeah, the "no attack has happened since 9/11" talking point bugs me like none other

I remember Rachel Maddow discussing this eloquently and talking about how bizarre the mindset is that the terrorism was something that was completely unprecedented and that the US had no system to deal with before September 11th. I loved it when Gary Hart said on CNN that 9/11 happened on the Republicans watch. So funny how Wolf Blitzer immediately sensed danger and quickly interrupted Hart and ended the interview after that.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

14. Rachel rocks. She's brilliant AND she knows the facts. She's like

the only on who mentions the points that we all know here that most of the
men on TV are ignorant about. It's like they are too egotistical to
learn what you can learn if you take the time.

Wish they'd give MTP to her. But I dread - it will probably be David
Gregory, yuck.

[ladywnch]

11. well, we do scan some cargo and they play games with the numbers

to say we scan 100% of the cargo but in fact they scan 100% of 'targeted' containers and I forget what percentage are 'targeted' but they folks doing the scanning are not necessarily the sharpest tools in the shed. many of them are techologically challenged and can barely operate the equipement properly.

[blonndee]

13. Hey, they took my SUNSCREEN away at security yesterday! We're SAFE, folks!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

15. I feel better ! :) I saw them xray a 70 year old lady's bare feet the

other day. I'm thinking, yes, she had a bomb implanted - and it's been so
many years ago, all the scarring has healed up perfectly.

[ladywnch]

16. uh, you're referring to airport security screening, I'm talking about

seaport cargo screening, but yeah, I agree with you about the sunscreen and hand lotion stuff. I worked the roll out for TSA as well as this cargo stuff and the rules were an absolute joke and the compliance to the rules was even more screwy. We knew it was a joke as we were doing it. People don't know the half of it.

[blonndee]

17. No, I knew you meant cargo in terms of ports, but the whole airport

"security" fiasco is just so similar, and since I just went through that ridiculousness yesterday, I wanted to comment. I kept telling my mom, "This is just a show," although she didn't and will never get it.

[HardlyBountifulSmurf]

19. 99% of our presidents have not allowed a single terrorist act

Why should Bush take credit for something that has been accomplished so often?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. good point. not a single US president has been in charge when

we were hit by terrorists except Bush (unless you want to count the WTC bombing during Clinton).

[Trajan]

21. Since January 21, 2001 ....

We WERE attacked, while a conservative government tried to ply the Taliban with promises of 'Carpet's of Gold', and while they reduced Counter Terrorism funding by 58 million dollars, and while the administration official with the strongest counter terrorism credentials could not get an audience with the Fratboy Prince .... We were attacked when THEY controlled the nation's security apparatus.

I never fail to remind my bush loving cohorts that we WERE attacked while their lover boy was busy helping ENRON rip off good citizens ....

The 'AFTER 911' canard is BS ...... It is a cop out .... They were in power while we WERE attacked, and that is their cross to bear .....

[Youphemism]

29. How many 9/11-style attacks have we foiled? I haven't heard of one...

We haven't been struck by any giant meteorites, either. Is that because of our great missile defense system, or because they haven't landed?

How many people feel safer flying now, because they make us take our shoes off and don't let us carry on water?

You could make the argument that we've kept terrorists busy in Iraq, but then you have to answer how many more have we incited by being there? How many are still lurking because we took our eye off the ball?

Is one 9/11-size attack every ten years acceptable? Because our current policy abroad will ensure a fresh supply of people willing to come here and kill us.

Kudos to our military for keeping them at bay... And maybe the feds have actually gotten better. But that has more to do with all the money congress appropriated for them than any special Bush anti-terrorism training seminars.

What part of our safety do you directly attribute to Bush?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

22. .......

[Ravy]

23. If you don't count the anthrax attacks... yes...

and, of course, the government attacks on our freedoms.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

25. forgot about that - man, if we could only ever learn the real truth..

[Peacetrain]

28. But they seem to forget we have over 4000 dead military

in Iraq .. and hundreds of thousands of injured.. unless they do not count military as American citizens.. and I would not doubt it.. the democrats have had to battle the right wing neo cons for 7 years to get health care for returning vets, even up arming humvees.. they have treated our military like it was the French Foreign Legion.. so I think we have been under constant attack by terrorist since 9/11...

[27inCali]

31. It was his job to stop 9/11 and he failed

period. He doesn't get credit for shit.

he failed us in his most fundamental task as president.

that we haven't been attacked since also has a lot to do with the actions of Congress and all the various branches of DOJ and Defense that learned from 9/11 and altered their techniques.

mostly our intelligence agencies and special forces/agents on the ground deserve credit.

Bush deserves credit for making their job harder.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

32. There weren't any attacks BEFORE 9/11...

nt

[loyalsister]

33. Seems like there weren't supposed to be

There has not officially been a war declared on U.S. soil.

I liked that part in Obama's fathers day speech where he talked about the 8th grade graduation and raising expectations.
Then he went on to talk about the Chris Rock routine where people bragged about not being in jail. He said something along the lines of "You're not supposed to be in jail. People need to stop expecting to get credit for doing or not doing the things they're supposed to do or not supposed to do."

I say the same goes for this administration. They are supposed to provide national security and we aren't supposed to be attacked.