...getting these people motivated and moving in the right direction.
Yes, because this is an election year each side is going to watch what everyone says and look for a way to use it against the opponent. So, we'll see a huge amount of grasping at any little straw of info that can be used as a political WMD. Really we need to look beyond that at what this stuff really means.
George, you have a handle on that because you stated in a post below that some of these people should not have their jobs. I don't think the Clarke testimony is about blaming Bush. The spin factory that surrounds it makes it out that way but it's about a frightening level of deception and incompetence within our government that is being revealed by more and more people.
Bush has been the president during all this so he, of course, is the guy that bears the burden. Is it all his fault 9/11 happened? No way! As you said though, the reaction after 9/11 seems very bizarre and stunningly slow footed. There are probably many reasons for this and some of them are very political.
We're stuck in this "attack and defend" process that this campaign has become and I'm sure will remain. The Bush people have filed against the Kerry campaign charging them with coordinating the attacks by people like MoveOn.Org and that's all a diversionary tactic to get people to look the other way on this 9/11 commission stuff. Just plain old dirty politics.
As voters we really need to see beyond the games and the lies. I really wish there weren't so many but we're stuck with this mess.
There's no chance really, at least I think, of pinning 9/11 on George Bush. There is the very real possibility that as all this stuff comes out the Bush administration will be shown to have committed some serious crimes though.
This is also where I think you are correct. This is not really hurting Bush at this point because of all the partisan hysteria that make people want to look the other way. It will only really hurt him when and if a serious charge is finally leveled at the Bush administration. That's when the public would finally pay attention in a big way. Right now things are very convoluted and it takes a lot of paying attention to follow this mess. You just can't get what's going on by coming home after work and flipping on the six o'clock news.
I can't really say how that will play out but it seems very evident to me that Bushco is in some very dangerous waters. Their posture and behavior indicates almost sheer panic if you're paying attention. They have been on their heels since January and have been flailing about trying to deal with one thing after another. And doing a lousy job of it. This administration reminds me of the Clinton administration during the Monica deal. Only they seem even more paralyzed than Clinton Inc. was.
