Posted on 02/14/2016 2:52:49 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Donald Trump sought Sunday to walk back his statements during Saturday night's Republican debate that former President George W. Bush bore responsibility for the Sept. 11 terror attack.
"I am not blaming him," Trump said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
Trump continued to imply Bush erred, however. "The CIA said there was a lot of information that something like that was going to happen," he said. The attacks killed just under 3,000 Americans.
During Saturday night's debate, Trump told former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: "The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that."
"How did he keep us safe?" Trump said later. "I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe."
Trump holds a large lead in South Carolina. A CBS poll released Sunday put his support at 42 percent. That is more than double the 20 percent of the second-place candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., polled in third at 15 percent.
But in the wake of the debate, many pundits argued Trump risks losing support of pro-military conservative voters in South Carolina and other upcoming primary states, among whom George W. Bush remains popular.
For some GOP voters, Trump's faulting of Bush may have sounded too similar to Democratic denunciations of the former president, who faced criticism at the time for taking a lengthy vacation in the weeks prior to the attack, which occurred nine months into his presidency.
Hoping to capitalize on the those views, Rubio responded to Trump's claims Saturday by arguing former President Bill Clinton was at fault for the 9/11 attacks. Clinton failed to kill Osama bin Laden, Rubio said.
Trump on Sunday also seemed to walk back his claim that the Bush administration deliberately misled Americans in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
"They lied," Trump said during the debate. "They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none."
On Sunday, Trump said George W. Bush "thought there were weapons of mass destruction, maybe, or maybe he didn't."
Trump insisted the invasion of Iraq was a "disaster" that continues to spread instability.
"We would have been so much better off if Bush and the rest of them went to the beach and didn't do anything," Trump said. "If you had Saddam Hussein, he was a bad guy and all of that, but he made a living off killing terrorists. Now if you want to become a terrorist you go to Iraq."
Trump spoke just hours after he fired off a series of post-midnight tweets arguing he fared well in the debate.
Saturday's debate "might have been my best performance," Trump said Sunday.
Threatened by the Bush machine?
“....But in the wake of the debate, many pundits argued Trump risks losing support of pro-military conservative voters in South Carolina and other upcoming primary states, among whom George W. Bush remains popular. “....
No, just Trump forgetting on Sunday what he said on TV on Saturday.
There is that.
If George Bush is actually so popular with vets etc., why is his brother so unpopular with everyone? It’s a myth that Bush2 is popular with anyone other than those who have always been Bush2 fans, which isn’t more than the average percent that supports Jeb already.
Bush2 was a disaster, just like Bush1 was a disaster.
“kinder gentler conservatism,” and “1000 points of light” was and remains a steaming pile of bull excrement.
He didn’t walk back anything. Sunday was just his first opportunity to get beyond the sound bite.
To those of us following Trump closely, this is not new news. He’s been including it in his stumps for months now.
1. Bush screwed up in going into Iraq with the military objectives he had.
2. Once in there, we should have gone full tilt in recouping a financial compensation, willingly or unwillingly.
3. Obama screwed up worse then Bush because he squandered what little we gained and abandoned Iraq for Iran to pick over.
Truth sounds like hate to those who hate truth.
I like Trump. I thought it was stupid of him to blame Bush for 9/11. I thought he had just announced he would avoid negative ads going forward. Very tacky/ sounded like the libs. I frankly thot the whole debate was disgusting - kind of like those skate rink shows where they bash into each other. And the audience was like a soccer stadium - boo, hiss, yell and scream? Good grief - the worst kind of reality show. How about discussing the issues?
He didn’t say George Bush caused 9/11, only that it happened under his watch. Didn’t Jeb himself say that everything that happens starting day 1 if he’s president, he takes ownership of?
Meh, whatever, let’s just keep spinning and putting words in people’s mouths. It’s the lawyery, business as usual way.
There ya go.
Trump was quite clear Saturday during the debate. Thus, yet again, he needed a sound bite ("After all, tomorrow is another day!") - showing he was taking a different view, so he can call people liars when they bring up one or the other in coming days, months, years.
Seems like as more hit pieces are posted about Donald Trump, the his poll numbers go even higher.
Latest Feb 14 South Carolina poll:
Trump 42
Cruz 20
Rubio 15
Kasich 9
Jeb 6
The only walkback I see is on the WMD angle, from “Bush knew there were none” to “Maybe he thought there were WMD.”
I just had a long talk with a friend about what Trump said last night, as shocking as it is we concluded that he is already into the general campaign — he is strategically picking off chunks of blue dog democrats from Hillary who voted for the Iraq invasion.
Is it just me or do those crazy cats all look like unshaven Bernies?
Although the analogy to lions is probably accurate. Lie around proud of yourself all day, then attack and kill someone. Even your own.
He blamed Bush for not preventing it.
I’m not blaming him, but I blamed him.
I didn’t call anyone a pussy, I just repeated it.
I didn’t Tweet that, I just Re-Tweeted it.
Lack of responsibility Donnie at it again.
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