Posted on 09/13/2001 11:54:38 PM PDT by kristinn
Recently, some well known posters on FR have stated that criticism of the Bush administration is treasonous and cause for those critics to be arrested under martial law. Those comments have been cheered by dozens of other active FReepers.
I am watching Free Republic turn into a totalitarian groupthink of the kind that the left used to unjustly smear us with when we criticized the Clinton administration.
Good people like Alan Keyes and Larry Klayman who stood tall and faithful with FR for years, and posters who supported them, have been crucified as heretics and run out of the FR family for daring to criticize the Bush administration.
The forum is now dominated by vicious Bush supporters with an 'Us versus Them' mentality against fellow conservatives. The desire to root out government corruption and advance conservative causes has been replaced with a bloodlust and blacklisting for those who don't worship the Bush administration like they do. This situation has been going on for awhile, but it has gotten out of hand with this week's terrorist attacks.
Now, with regards to the present situation, I'd like to pose some questions: Why were all passenger flights grounded for almost three days since the attacks so that new security procedures could be put in place? If our air traffic safety was so secure before, why is there a perceived problem now ? Could it be that it wasn't really that safe ?
Where were our intelligence services ? Why did we have Clinton holdover DCI, George Tenent, doing the work of the Secretary of State in the Middle East instead of cleaning up the wreckage of the past eight years ?
How is it that foreign terrorists can go to flight school in the U.S., plot and carry out a complicated, coordinated massive assault involving several dozen conspirators against two vital American facilities without being detected ?
How is it that four hijacked planes flew unmolested and unchallenged by neither our air traffic control system or our military ?
We have experienced a massive failure of our almighty-two-trillion-dollar-peacekeeper-of-everywhere-but-home-bipartisan-protection-racket-federal government.
Thousands upon thousands of our fellow citizens are dead because of this failure to detect or intercept these heinous terrorist acts during either the months before or the hours of their execution.
The federal government lulled us into thinking that those silly questions (is this your luggage ?) and an ID check at the gate made flying safe. All the while there were gaping holes in our defenses.
They let us down.
The purpose; the job; the responsibility of the federal government is set forth in the preamble to the Constitution:
WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The eight corrupt years of President Clinton accompanied by four corrupt, compromised Congresses followed by nine months of a Bush administration that chose to sweep the rot of those years under the rug rather than clean it up has cost us dearly.
For those who say nine months is too short to change things in the government, remember this was the return of the grown-ups to Washington; this was the return of wise, experienced old hands such as Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, John Ashcroft and former President Bush; this was the era of the rising stars like Condi Rice, Karl Rove, and Karen Hughes. They chose to 'move on', not clean up.
In the aftermath of the attacks, it appears that the Executive and Legislative branches of our constitutional republic are finally bearing their responsibilties as they should. Except that while they call this attack an act of war, they are refusing to actually declare war.
The terrorists and those who aided and abetted them bear full responsibilty for the deaths and destruction and should pay with their lives and their cities.
But the federal government bears responsibility for leaving this nation and its citizens so vulnerable. Saying that is not treasonous--it is said out of patriotism and borne of a love of this Great Nation and a desire to see it survive.
One of Free Republic's greatest strengths has been the freedom to ask the hard questions of our government. It would be a crime to lose this freedom to any mob of posters, especially in this time of crisis.
I support President Bush, but I reserve the right to criticize him without my patriotism being called into doubt.
He won't have to because everybody sane will have already left. I'm getting more than a little tired of being called a traitor myself by people so bleeping stupid they want to nuke half the planet.
Plain talk is American, war or no.
Your freeping of the White House has been admirable, but that does not give you a pass to be unfair, and this tasteless.
Agree completely..........wrong time; wrong place; unfair and tasteless.
Here is a newsflash.... IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU.
Bush has a lot of cleaning up to do. But with a failing economy and a weakened military, he's had a lot more to think about than airport security.
As much as you may be upset with Bush right now, aren't you glad that he's president rather Algore or Bubba? Though I wouldn't mind the firm hand of Pat Buchanan or Alan Keyes at this time.
I don't doubt your patriotism. And I agree that, even "our" President is not above criticism.
I may, however, question the timing. And I've questioned the timing of remarks by Larry Klayman and Rob Moody on another thread - probably others as well.
It goes without saying that our emotions are registering off the scale. And, I'm sure that's a lot of what you've seen here this week. We've been attacked. We've been wounded. We're hurting and we're angry.
What do I feel? If I went by feelings alone, I'd be advocating a large crater in the center of Kabul that gets increasingly larger until all Bin Laden and his associates are all turned over to us.
That's my emotional response. That's not my practical response.
So, when I respond to attacks on our President I do it from a sense that we are at war. A precious few Freepers (I am not among them) remember World War II - Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait being different animals - and what it's like to be attacked. It comes from a desire for the world to see us united. We have our partisan squabbling, but there is a time to set that aside.
Speculation on the whys, the whos and everything else will come at a later date.
For now, IMHO, the world must see America standing strong, united and with a single purpose to tell the terrorist community, "You will pay for what you have done and you will never do this to us again."
For that reason, I believe it is simply time to stand with our President and to let him lead. I have no doubt that he and his advisors have a much clearer grasp on what happened and what went wrong than we know, than in fact we may ever know.
Because I am a lady, I will not say what I am really thinking about the crowd on here that thinks they have all the answers and it is all about them, their agenda, and what they think. I certainly don't have all the answer and I am not afraid to disagree with policies of this Administration, but I will dare anyone to say that this President doesn't speak from his heart and truly has the best interest of ALL Americans in mind when he makes a decision.
The hate and rhetoric that has been aimed at not only the President but people like me that support him during the past few weeks is despicable and beneath the dignity of this site! We are conservatives but have been called immoral, dumb, evil, socialists, etc. in the last few weeks because we dared disagreed with manner that certain people like Keyes and Klayman have attacked our President. They didn't come across with helpful constructive critism -- they attacked a man and his heart! I found that beneath contempt!
When I posted my thread last night I said I would know who my friends are! This attack against President Bush at this point in time just goes to show the agenda of some people on here.
A lot of people in WWII lost their freedoms, but they didn't complain, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. They couldn't even buy sugar without a ration book.
My daughter is in the United States Navy and I have a lot of friends that are in the Air Force, and frankly I consider an attack on their Commander-in-Chief at this time, an attack on them. Unlike some people on here, they totally respect their Commander-in-Chief and as my daughter put it, she is proud to serve under such an honorable and caring man.
Either people are going to stand with President Bush and his Administration or not. If they choose to continue to trash him, then that is their right but they have lost all respect I ever had for them which probably doesn't matter!
I take this thread personally and I sincerely hope that the people cheering this post never have a child in harm's way and have to put up with the trashing of my President and her Commander-in-Chief. As Secretary of State Colin Powell said we will know who is either with or against us. Well I now feel the same way on FR!
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