Posted on 09/11/2001 9:44:02 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
Some poll results after Tuesday's terror attacks. The CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll interviewed 619 adults. The ABC-Washington Post poll interviewed 608 adults. Each had an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points:
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CNN-USA TODAY-GALLUP
—More than half, 55 percent, said they thought Tuesday's attacks represent the beginning of a sustained terrorist campaign against the United States that will continue for several weeks. Three in 10 disagreed.
—Almost nine of 10 said they considered the attacks an ``act of war.''
—About half were very confident in President Bush's ability to handle the situation. Another third were somewhat confident.
—Nine in 10 said the attacks were the most tragic event of their lifetime.
—People were about evenly divided whether it made them less willing to fly on airplanes.
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ABC-WASHINGTON POST
—People were about evenly split on whether the United States could reasonably have done more to prevent the attacks.
—Nine in 10 said they had at least some confidence that the United States would find and punish those responsible, with more than half ``very confident.''
—About nine in 10 support military action against groups or nations responsible for the attacks, even if it means getting in a war.
—Nine in 10 said they prayed for the victims of the attacks and almost everyone, 99 percent, said they watched or listened to broadcast news reports.
—Four of 10 employed people said they left work early or stayed home.
For Education And Discussion Only. Not For Commercial Use.
Kinda funny. I believe Fred Barnes was quoted as saying that ONLY the Battle Of Antietam surpasses this event as the single greatest loss of American life in ONE DAY, in the history of this nation.
Yet 10% say it was NOT the "most tragic event in their lifetime." My suspicion is this represents the percentage of people so wrapped up in themselves that if asked what WAS the "most tragic event in their lifetimes" would reply "the day my pet turtle Archie died."
I live 2 miles from the WTC and work less than a half mile from it, yet I can say that I believe that the "most tragic event in my lifetime" was when the Clinton/Reno/Meissner Swat team raided the Gonzalez family home in Miami and pointed a military assault rifle at a 6 year old.
The soot from the WTC bombing has resulted in a day-long asthma attack for me, but I still was more heartbroken and in despair when the American government was behind the assault in Elian's case, as I would be today were the American government behind the World Trade Center/Pentagon bombing.
You forgot about those still revere JFK and/or Martin Luther King, Jr.
You're right. They're out there.
That may be true of some people, but I suspect many feel like me.
The truth is that I don't feel much emotion at all. Even though I know there is a potential of 50,800 deaths from this attack, my mind simply can't grasp that kind of number. I feel calm, and I feel purposeful.
By noon, I felt I knew enough about what was going on to take some action. So I went out and did everything I'd planned to do today. I wanted to send a message to any murdering bas***ds who might be lurking in my area that I wasn't going to cower in my home. And I won't cower tomorrow, either.
The next order of business is to prevent additional attacks by counter-attacking without mercy. We know where some of these training camps are. It's time to see that they are leveled. I don't care which group did it. They are all threats that need to be eliminated.
There will be time for mourning when our work is completed.
As a thought experiment, suppose you were a Jew living in Nazi Germany. Would you have considered it more "tragic" when England bombed Germany or when the Gestapo, as agents of the German government, hauled your neighbors off to a concentration camp?
It is my thesis, as a New Yorker who lives 2 miles fom the World Trade Center and works 1/2 miles away from it (and I doubt whether you can claim that proximity to the issue at hand), that it is more tragic when *my* government attacks its citizens, then when foreign governments do so.
A tragic truth.
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