Look, I do get it. But we have to be consistent. If the exact same response came from a guy who had a (D) after his name (and considering how feckless it was, it seems perfectly plausible that we’d have seen the exact same response from a guy who had a (D) after his name), then we’d be ripping him to shreds.
I’m not willing to give W a pass just because I voted for him.
A lot of folks on FR see things as either all black or all white and no shades of grey. But reality isn’t like that and neither are people.
Bush was generally problematic both domestically and abroad for me and many. He was prone to political correctness, didn’t put bin Laden away when he could have, took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan, and went on his ill-advised adventure in Iraq. But 9-11 wasn’t because of Bush, it was becasue of Clinton.
Among other things, Bush inherited an intelligence mess from Clinton who deliberately separated information and communication between the CIA and the FBI. Bush did exactly the right thing in response to 9-11 and didn’t flinch like the Left ALWAYS does. Bush immediately went after the bad guys in Afghanistan. He surprised the enemy who didn’t realize Bush was not like the feckless Clinton, set them back on their heels and deep into their caves.
In his response to 9-11, he STARTED OUT right. He just didn’t stay the course.