W to skip WTC rites

NY Daily News ^ | September 4, 2003 | THOMAS M. DeFRANK

[presidio9]

WASHINGTON - Wait till next year. President Bush will lead the national remembrance on the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks - far away from Ground Zero.

Bush will spend the day in Washington and send his No. 2, Vice President Cheney, to Thursday's memorial service on the hallowed World Trade Center site.

The downgrade went down poorly with some victims' families.

Bush will attend services at historic St. John's Episcopal Church for the victims of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 at the twin towers, at the Pentagon and in the Pennsylvania field where the fourth hijacked jet crashed.

Afterward, the President and his staff will gather on the White House South Lawn for a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. - the moment American Airlines Flight 11 smashed into the north tower.

The night before, Bush will play host to a dinner and White House screening of "Twin Towers," a gripping documentary about a city emergency services unit decimated by the attacks.

Administration officials vigorously defended the presidential no-show, saying Bush believes a more low-key observance is called for than last year, when the shock to the victims' families and the nation was more raw.

"This is in no way an affront to the people of New York," a top official told the Daily News. "Not a day goes by that the image of those people in those buildings doesn't cross the President's mind. It's something he carries with him every day."

Bush led the mourners at Ground Zero on the first anniversary of the attacks last year, and next year he will accept his party's nomination for reelection at the GOP convention in New York City nine days before the third anniversary.

"Last year, people needed speeches," the official said. "This year, a quiet remembrance is more appropriate."

Several Bush aides denied that his absence had anything to do with his slumping approval ratings in New York.

Visit to The Pit

Three days after the 2001 attacks, Bush rallied the nation and a heartsick city with a dramatic visit to the rubble. Shouting through a bullhorn, he vowed that New York would recover and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

His poll numbers spiked in the next few weeks but have dropped sharply since as worries have escalated about the state of the economy, the difficulties of rebuilding a postwar Iraq and complaints that the federal government is dragging its feet on the $21 billion aid package promised to help lower Manhattan rebuild and clean up its air.

"Quite honestly, he probably would have gotten booed," Bill Doyle, who lost his son Joey in the attack, said of a Bush visit.

Aides to Mayor Bloomberg were more diplomatic.

"The President has been there for New York time and time again," said press secretery Ed Skyler. "And we are pleased that the vice president will be representing him on Sept. 11."

Yesterday, Bush issued executive orders proclaiming the anniversary Patriot Day and designating it a national day of prayer.

[presidio9]

I'm sorry. I must have missed all the outrage the Daily News showed when Senator Clinton attended exactly funeral -that of openly gay priest Mychal Judge.

[eyespysomething]

No no no, its like this:

BUSH GOES TO NYC FOR 9-11
"He's just politicking"

BUSH DOESN"T GO TO NYC FOR 9-11
"He doesn't care"


** Shrugs shoulders **
What's he gonna do?

[Peach]

The downgrade went down poorly with some victims' families.

Although no family member was quoted, I can well believe in this "victimization" society of ours that someone will be "outraged". There were 3 crash sites and it is appropriate for President Bush to acknowledge another this year.

[b4its2late]

I'm not going to be there either. Does that make me a bad man? Leave it to the Daily Snooze.

[gridlock]

Nobody whines like New Yorkers.

[dead]

NYC really needs some more massive traffic jams to honor the dead.

[BonnieJ]

Last year he went to all 3 sites, he spent the entire day honoring the victims. The media will be downplaying it all this year & that is wrong. They want us to forget as we head into this election year.

[MEGoody]

"Bush will spend the day in Washington and send his No. 2, Vice President Cheney, to Thursday's memorial service on the hallowed World Trade Center site. The downgrade went down poorly with some victims' families."

Then they must still be really ticked off at Hillary for not attending any of the victim's funerals.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Not only is it appropriate for him to stay in Washington, but to me it shows that we are moving on.

I do not mean to hurt the victims when I say that, but on September 11th, there were three crash sites. And last year, the president visited all three on the same day.

This year, the focus needs to be on the future. No, we won't forget September 11th, but we have to move on from mourning, to remembering.

If we want to anger the victims and add their dismay that he is ignoring the WTC, look at it this way, if he had only attended the WTC, and not also the Pentagon and the site in Pennsylvania, the other victims would feel slighted, too.

[votelife]

bump to your #2, I was going to say the same thing

[MizSterious]

Are these people saying those who died in the Pentagon strike weren't as good as the New Yorkers who died?

Pathetic. I applaud his decision to honor the Pentagon dead. New Yorkers have received so much from this country already.

[jmc813]

The night before, Bush will play host to a dinner and White House screening of "Twin Towers,"

Is this the one they aired on CBS last year or is it a new one?

[jmc813]

I'm sorry. I must have missed all the outrage the Daily News showed when Senator Clinton attended exactly funeral -that of openly gay priest Mychal Judge.

Father Judge was not gay. It was an urban legend thought to have been started by the gay movement.

[pfflier]

This is just plain stupid. People died outside of NYC and they didn't get the prez last year. Did they whine?

[alnick]

I get the impression that some people think that the New York victims are somehow more important than the D.C. and Pennsylvania victims.

Geez, if President Bush were planning to be in New York on the 11th, we'd be reading articles about how he's politicizing the attacks.

[HenryLeeII]

I guess the New York media seems to forget that the nation's capital was under attack on 9/11 as well. I don't hate NYC, but its media has got to get over the fact that the universe doesn't revolve around them...

[Pyro7480]

Fr. Judge wasn't openly gay. See this thread: Roman Catholic Church excommunicate suspended priest

[alisasny]

Not true. The media has found the very few families of the 3000 dead and report on them constant over the majority of families who just want to grieve and grow in private. Surely some of the dead from 911 came from HIPPIE families and the media has found them at every turn.

Sad but the media is to blame on this matter

[Timesink]

The WTC Professional Victim's Union has turned into a monster over the last couple of years, and many of them have morphed into full-time Bush Haters. I'm downright gleeful that his nonattendance is making them so upset.

Besides, I seem to recall a certain attack on 9/11 in Washington. Bush has as much reason to hold his memorial in DC as he does in NYC.

[wideawake]

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

Mychal Judge was neither a sodomite nor "openly" a sodomite!

If he were "openly" a sodomite then why were his friends, coworkers and parishioners uniformly shocked and confused by these assertions?