Kerry brings up the "seven minutes"

[Mavdog]

I have to say the response by Kerry below is a potentially huge mistake on his part, and I don't expect he is going to get any traction from pursuing this any further. In fact, if he does continue to push the issue of "the seven minutes" as it has come to be known it will be counter-productive.
Take the high road John. Leave it alone.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kerry Raps Bush on Initial 9/11 Inaction

By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer

WASHINGTON - John Kerry (news - web sites) said Thursday he would have jumped into action more quickly than President Bush (news - web sites) did on Sept. 11, 2001, raising the stakes in the political fight over terrorism as Bush warned that the United States can't afford to "grow timid and weary and afraid" in Iraq (news - web sites) or elsewhere.

The Democratic challenger said he'd never waver — "I can fight a more effective, smarter and better war on terror that actually makes America safer," Kerry told Missouri voters.

Again, war and terrorism dominated a campaign day, with Bush trying to rekindle the rally-around-the-president passions that pushed his popularity to record heights after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Kerry, tied or slightly ahead of Bush in most polls, hopes to erase the president's advantages on issues of terrorism and national security after making gains during last week's Democratic National Convention.

Before leaving the White House for Ohio and Michigan, Bush signed a $417.5 billion wartime defense bill providing an additional $25 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites), body armor for troops and reinforced Humvee vehicles. Kerry, a four-term Massachusetts senator, missed the votes on the bill.

Thrusting the administration's terrorism-fighting efforts into the spotlight, the Justice Department (news - web sites) announced that two leaders of a mosque in Albany, N.Y., were arrested in an alleged plot involving a scheme to buy a shoulder-fired missile. Some Democratic critics have accused the administration of orchestrating the release of terrorism alerts and arrests to maximize their political benefits, a charge denied by the White House.

Addressing minority journalists in the nation's capital, Kerry was asked what he would have done as president the moment he received word of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Bush spent seven minutes listening to "The Pet Goat" being read at a Florida elementary school after his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered, "America is under attack," as televisions cameras recorded the anxious scene.

"I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to," Kerry said before flying to Missouri to resume his cross-country campaign trip. "And I would have attended to it."

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (news - web sites) came to Bush's defense, accusing Kerry of taking cues from moviemaker Michael Moore, whose documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" questions the president's immediate reaction to the attacks.

"John Kerry is an indecisive candidate who has demonstrated an inconsistent position on the war on terror, who voted against funding for our troops at war and who cannot give a clear answer on his position concerning the decision to remove Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)," the Republican said.

Kerry suggested that Bush wasn't up to the task. "Americans want to know that the person they choose as president has all of the skills and the ability, all of the mental toughness, all of the gut instinct necessary to be a strong commander in chief," he said, adding that there is a "clear choice" between Bush and himself.

"I come to the job of commander in chief with the rare, gratefully, but important experience of having fought in a war," Kerry said. "And I believe we need a commander in chief who understands the test before you send young people to war."

Bush served stateside in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

Bush made his second visit to Ohio in less than a week and fifth visit to Michigan in the last four weeks — a measure of how important the two states and their combined 37 electoral votes are to both candidates. They need 270 votes to win.

"People of Iraq are watching carefully right now," Bush said in Ohio. "Are we going to be a country of our word when we say people should be free — that we're willing to stand by our word? Or are we going to grow timid and weary and afraid of the barbaric behavior of a few?"

[FishForLunch]

Thats what happens when you dont respect your opponent. I am sure he believes that Bush must be dim witted and a moron like the leftist in the democratic party.

[Road Rage]

I have to say the response by Kerry below is a potentially huge mistake on his part, and I don't expect he is going to get any traction from pursuing this any further.

Particularly when you consider the fact that he said this in a July 8 interview with Larry King:



interview transcript

KERRY: I was in the Capitol. We'd just had a meeting -- we'd just come into a leadership meeting in Tom Daschle's office, looking out at the Capitol. And as I came in, Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid were standing there, and we watched the second plane come in to the building. And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table and then we just realized nobody could think, and then boom, right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon. And then word came from the White House, they were evacuating, and we were to evacuate, and so we immediately began the evacuation.

The 2nd plane hit the WTC at 9:03 AM. The plane crash into the Pentagon was at 9:43 AM. So, by his own admission, he sat there "unable to think" for somewhere around 40 minutes.

[Drbio]

Excellent analysis Road Rage.

[dude1394]

flip........flop

MORE FLOPPING FROM MR FLIPPY

First he was in favour of reading the book, and then he was against it:

Sen. John Kerry yesterday said he wouldn't have stuck around to read to children after learning of the September 11 attacks, directly criticizing President Bush's actions that day.

"First of all, had I been reading to children, and had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had business that he needed to attend to, and I would have attended to it."

Show pony. How would Kerry have "attended to it"? Thrown his medals at the remaining hijacked aircraft? Testified before Congress? Hugged Max Cleland? Rudy isn’t impressed:

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani responded, "John Kerry must be frustrated in his campaign if he is armchair quarterbacking based on cues from Michael Moore." Mr. Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" chides the president for remaining with the students instead of leaving immediately upon hearing of the second attack.

Leave aside that if Bush had rushed from the room, possibly leaving the children confused and upset, Moore would have accused him of not projecting strength and calm. Consider instead Moore’s reaction to a dilemma of his own, over which he delayed not a mere seven minutes, but several months:

Filmmaker Michael

Moore says he had footage of prisoner abuse in Iraq long before the atrocities captured international attention, but decided to stay quiet until his new movie came out. Now he's questioning that decision.

"I had it months before the story broke on '60 Minutes,' and I really struggled with what to do with it," Moore told the San Francisco Chronicle. "I wanted to come out with it sooner, but I thought I'd be accused of just putting this out for publicity for my movie. That prevented me from making maybe the right decision."

Fraud.

UPDATE. Via comments, John Kerry’s response to September 11:

Sen. Kerry, who criticized President Bush for not rushing out of the Florida classroom for seven minutes, sat paralyzed with his colleagues for a full forty minutes. He is hardly in a position to criticize President Bush for "inaction."

Says one thing, does another. Becoming a theme, isn’t it?

[Mavdog]

I don't think the 7 minutes should be anything more than a footnote, yet...

Kerry and the other Senators mentioned had nothing they should do. There was no need for them to be making any decisions.

The Pres? Lots of decisions.

Completely different circumstance IMO.

[dude1394]

You have got to be kidding me, you just did. The only reason to bring up what kerry's was doing was because him making a comment about the 7 minutes is so idiotic but he couldn't find one thing to do in less than an hour.

How about where are my kiddos? My wife? Should I get folks out of the capital? Maybe run to the pentagon blast like rumsfeld did to help pull people out. Maybe get in a plane to NYCity to help Rudy out.

If he'd jumped up and done an Al Haig you'd (and of course the maggot moore) would be ripping him for acting the nut and for the first time in the maggot moores life he might be telling the truth about something. Folks(meaning dems) would actually love it if he had jumped up because then they would have said he was a stupid unthinking guy who is just so much cowboy.

Instead of the very,very deliberate way he went about everthing.

[reeds]

Well, I personally feel this "7 minute" thing is a non-issue- Mr. Kerry should leave it alone..But i will say this, I guarantee you the Republican party would be using it if the tables were turned, and it was Mr. Kerry who failed to react for 7 minutes...they would make a damn commericial out of it...

[dude1394]

Are you so sure reeds? I would kind of like to see the ad's from the RNC or especially from Bush that does this type of thing. I don't think the RNC or the republicans have been infected with maggot moore/howard dean disease.

Certainly his flip-flops are fair game and his record is fair game. Even his lack of a distinguished senatorial record is fair game.

[dude1394]

Theresa maybe should be the candidate.

On Thursday, Kerry told a convention of minority journalists that he would have reacted more decisively to the news than Bush, who continued reading with a group of Florida schoolchildren for seven minutes after an aide whispered the news into his ear. It's a scene that filmmaker Michael Moore uses to skewer the president in his anti-Bush movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11."

"I would have told those kids very nicely and politely that the president of the United States has something that he needs to attend to," Kerry said.

The candidate's wife, on the other hand, is not so sure an abrupt response would have been the right one. "I think the president behaved correctly in terms of being quiet amidst stunning news like that in a classroom of kids," she told the host of MSNBC's "Hardball With Chris Matthews" during an interview before the Democratic National Convention last month. "You know, what can you do? It takes you a couple of minutes to digest what you have just heard. And then he was . . . not in his White House and in his office with all of his people. He was in the school in Florida."

[FishForLunch]

9/11 School Principal Praises Bush Reaction to Attacks

Taking his cue from conspiracy filmmaker Michael Moore, John Kerry attacked President Bush this week for not reacting quickly enough when he got word of the 9/11 attacks during a visit to Sarasota, Fla.'s Emma E. Booker elementary school.

Booker school principal Gwendolyn Tose-Rigell says, however, that Bush did just the right thing by staying put and continuing to read to her children. And she says the president's performance that day made her want to vote for him, even though she's a Democrat.

"I don't think anyone could have handled it better," Tose-Rigell recently told the Sarasota Herald Tribune. "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"
She recalled the scene at 9:05 a.m. on Sept. 11, two minutes after the second plane hit Tower 2, when White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card squeezed past her to alert the president.

The Booker school principal didn't hear what Card said, but told the Tribune: "I knew it was something serious. The president bit his lip and clenched his jaw. I didn't know what happened, whether it was something with his wife or children or something with the nation."

"I remember praying that God would watch over our school and protect our children," she added.

Tose-Rigell didn't vote for Bush, but said that after watching the way he handled himself in her classroom while under incredible pressure, "That day I would have voted for him."

"I've heard people say, 'Why didn't you get the children out of there?' Where were they supposed to go? Many of their parents weren't home. Some didn't have rides. It would have created chaos."

Principal Tose-Rigell concluded, "There is nothing anyone can tell me to change my perspective, because I was there."

[dude1394]

justoneminute

I May Have To Vote For Kerry

Bush can deliver occasionally, but for day-in, day-out steadiness and reliabilty, Kerry's The One. He really did deliver both of these insights at the same event while responding to questions:

Senator, what would you have done in that schoolroom on the morning of 9/11?:

"First of all, had I been reading to children, and had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had business that he needed to attend to, and I would have attended to it."

Bravo, Johnny Danger! And sir, knowing what we know now, would you have taken out Saddam Hussein?

"You bet we might have, after we exhausted [U.N.-led inspections] and found that [Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein] wasn't complying and so on and so forth".

Hmm, he's not so bold when faced with adults. Courage, Tall One!

Does anyone know if Kerry has had his hearing checked recently? The President asked for a yes or no answer, not yes and no.

So, the big question - can I count on Kerry to provide this sort of silliness for four more years? Will I vote for him? You Bet I Might!