Rush Limbaugh

Jennings and ilk proven dead wrong

Throughout Tuesday's historic coverage of what people are calling "the Second Pearl Harbor," certain members of the media whined that they didn't know where President Bush was. Then there was the inevitable USA Today/Gallup poll asking, "Is President Bush up to the task?"

I don't know how many of you have seen Peter Jennings on ABC, but he was beside himself over the way George Bush handled these attacks. This fine son of Canada doesn't understand why our American president George W. Bush went to an Air Force Base in Omaha.

Little Peter couldn't understand why George Bush didn't address the nation sooner than he did, and even made snide comments like, "Well, some presidents are just better at it than others," and "Maybe it's wise that certain presidents just not try to address the people of the country."

Mr. Jennings' unhidden, insulting comments toward President Bush and his behavior during the attacks now look like what they were – foolish, whining, babyish, unrealistic selfishness on the part of liberals. We now know from White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer that the reason Bush was out of contact for a while was because Air Force One was also a target of the terrorists as was the White House.

Let me repeat that for great, brilliant journalists like Peter Jennings who think they have a right to know every national secret down to our nuclear launch codes, and who think they are better presidents than George W. Bush: Air Force One was zig-zagging back to Washington because it was targeted for attack. And there's more…

Fleischer said that there is credible information that the White House was, in fact, the first target of the airplane that crashed into the Pentagon. So Air Force One was a flying target, the White House was also a target - and this is obviously something that they could not announce at the time.

The simple fact of the matter is, if you've got the World Trade Center under attack, if you've got the Pentagon under attack, and if you think an airplane is headed for Camp David, it might also strike you that the White House or the president, wherever he might be, might also be in the crosshairs of these people. It's common sense for a president not to sit there as a sitting duck just to please Peter Jennings or anybody else in the media who might be wondering what the president happens to be doing.

I cannot help but think every time something like this happened during previous administrations, all we heard from the media was how the politics of the United States ends at the water's edge. We must all come together. It's just amazing how one-sided, unfortunately, that is - and I know a lot of you have caught it, because I'm getting inundated with e-mail, particularly about some of the things that particular anchors are saying.

Oh, and by the way, folks. The Secret Service supposedly was urging the president to stay away from Washington. That's their job. The job of the Secret Service is to keep the president of the United States alive, not to satisfy the silly little social concerns of Peter Jennings or others in the media. And Bush overruled them late yesterday afternoon and said, "No, I'm going back, I'm going back to the White House and make it work."

But that's not the point. The point is that the things said by Jennings - that Bush was somehow just not up to this task - made a lot of people angry. That's the wrong time to play that card, Peter, and try to push this media template of Bush as a dolt. It didn't work. There are a lot of people - even libs and Peter Jennings fans - who were embarrassed that he would take this occasion to make that kind of insinuation when he has basically little knowledge of what's going on.

We don't do that here in America, Peter. Here, politics stops at the water's edge.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

Answers

Ya know, having a journalism degree behind me (OK-- WAY behind me), there's a couple things that were pounded into our heads. First of all, there's always a camera on the President. It's called the Death Watch. Been that way since JFK. Secondly, President Bush was exactly where he was supposed to be yesterday: in Air Force One, eight miles in the air. I mean, if we know where he is from watching CNN, EVERYONE knows where he is. I got pretty disgusted with all of the anchors and reporters telling us that the whereabouts of the President were unknown. IMHO, there's a blinding flash of the obvious...

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

Jennings has always been a snide, sniveling little prick... it's said there seem to be enough like minded, or lack minded, that the jerk stays on the air.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

I'll send him some catnip-spiked knickers.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

He deserves 'em if any "man" does... LOL...

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2001

Not a big fan of Jennings.. (or that asshole Limbaugh either).. but i gotta tell you..When i heard the news that Shrub was fleeing across the country.. to hide in Nebraska it didn't go over well.. He sure ain't no MacArthur!! cheers brent

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2001

Bush did not "flee" anywhere; he was advised by the Secret Service, as a matter of longstanding SOP, to go to the secure location. Neither did Bush go to "hide" anywhere. There is proof that Air Force One and the White House were targets. If Bush had been assassinated, what shape do you think this country--and the world--would be in right now?

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2001

'Air Force One is next,' caller said

September 13, 2001

BY RON FOURNIER ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON--Hopscotching across half the country while America was under attack, President Bush vented his frustration with Secret Service officials who told him of an anonymous call saying: "Air Force One is next."

"I'm not going to let some tinhorn terrorist keep the president of the United States away from the nation's capital," he said during the six-hour flight that took him from Florida to Louisiana and Nebraska before returning to the White House. "The American people want to see their president and they want to see him now."

White House counselor Karl Rove read the quote from several pages of notes he took on a legal pad while Bush dealt with attacks in Washington and New York.

Rove and other White House officials have slowly revealed details of the journey to counter critics who have questioned whether Bush overreacted by touching down at two Air Force bases before returning to Washington.

Bush's top political strategist said some people raised questions with him, but their doubts were dispelled "when they were told there was specific and credible evidence of a threat" against the White House, Air Force One and the president himself.

Bush was in Florida, visiting a second-grade class, when White House chief of staff Andrew Card told him two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Bush stepped outside the classroom to get briefed on the events, then spoke publicly to condemn the terrorist strike.

Soon after, a plane slammed into the Pentagon. Bush and his entourage were rushed aboard Air Force One.

The hijacked plane "was on a flight path directly for the White House and it hit the Pentagon instead," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. National security officials monitoring intercepted communications speculated that the hijackers had trouble controlling the plane and spotting the White House for all the trees on the South Lawn, and so headed for the wide-open Pentagon instead, according to a Secret Service official briefed on the situation.

Within the hour, the Secret Service received an anonymous call: "Air Force One is next." According to a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, the caller knew the agency's code words relating to Air Force One procedures and whereabouts.

"We want to get the plane up and we want to get it up very high," the head of the Secret Service detail told Bush, according to Rove's notes. They wanted to head toward the Florida panhandle to pick up fighter jets scrambling to give Air Force One air cover.

Bush told Card, "I want to move on to Washington."

Vice President Dick Cheney, holed up in a secure bunker beneath the White House, told Bush the threat should be taken seriously and he should not return to Washington just yet.

Bush was told there were six planes unaccounted for, all potential missiles. "The situation is not stable," the head of Bush's detail told the president.

After landing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, Bush scheduled a national security meeting at 4 p.m.--several hours away.

"I want to go back home as soon as possible," Bush said, according to Rove, who was with the president all day Tuesday.

Replied the agent: "Our people are saying it's unstable still."

The president was told he could get to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska more quickly than to Washington, thus allowing him to conduct the national security meeting at a secure location and address the public for a second time.

Off he went.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2001

It'll be interesting to see non Western.. especially Asian reaction to Bush's conduct.. They seemed to think he lost face over the spy-plane incident..I think he's lost a lot more this time.. Just my opinion..
You know , it really strikes me that US at the turn of this century is a lot like Britain at the turn of the previous one... After a tough time, over their conduct of the Boer War, Chamberlain realized that UK had no friends, and led the change in policy away from "splendid isolation".. First approaching Germany as a potential partner, then France after refusing to give in to Germany's extortionate demands
It's not that the US has no friends, but i think they've made a conscious decision that they won't play Atlas this century..Believe that Clinton has previously said this explicitly
Really do believe that this attack has been the end of Innocence for US..Now everyone's perception will change IMO and US will be seen as vulnerable.. which may invite some further attacks
As i say, it seems to be deliberate policy... Just like the US getting thrown of the Human Rights panel.. They could have thrown weight around to retain the position if they wanted..
Also first reaction after this attack, was to seek out allies.They explictly said they needed them


-- Anonymous, September 13, 2001

I took the following from Lucianne:

"Attack on America." That's how news agencies across the country--including this newspaper--have described Tuesday's strikes on the World Trade Center and other U.S. sites. And rightly so. But as the death toll rises, we are also learning that the victims were global, like the commerce in the twin towers themselves. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says 100 Britons are believed to be among the dead, and the toll could climb into the "middle hundreds." Japan reports that around 100 of its citizens are missing and may be among the wreckage. Some 75 Australians are also missing, along with 27 South Koreans, at least a dozen Mexicans and countless individuals from countries around the world.

I didn't get the whole article from the WSJ because that edition requires subscription and I'm not subscribing to any more publications. Anyway, once the tolls become apparent, country by country, there will be a lot more support to add to the already mushrooming groundswell. I also strongly believe that individual countries are saying "There but for the grace of God. . ." or their colloquial equivalent, and they know life has irretrievably changed. They are forced to lay aside any notion that appeasement will work (as Chamberlain so notoriously illustrated over 50 years ago), that today's terrorists want to force the whole world, including moderate Muslim nations, into the Taliban ideal. And we all know what that ideal is, especially for women.

Perhaps now that western nations have been forced to understand that not all nationalities think and react the same way they do, Asians will understand that Bush showing emotion does not indicate weakness and that his security advisors' insistence on following SOP was prudent.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

Facing up to a stateless enemy

A well-connected friend was told the Russian President tried three times to reach President George W. Bush on Tuesday, and was told each time the President could not be reached, leading to much Kremlin reminiscing about coups past. If true, it is a confidence-diminishing experience in which many Americans shared.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/analysis/story/0,1870,70412,00.html?

This IMO is not good.. Not taking the calls of the other main nuclear state.. On some TV shows it was reported that Bush was at an "undisclosed" location.. On another i saw it openly reported he was heading to SAC in Nebraska....I wonder what "exactly" the Russians were thinking, at the time..

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

Brent, just to try to educate you about Offutt AFB, Nebraska -- the bunker there is called the Hole. It's deep, it's secure, and it has the best communications system in the world, which is apparently what Bush used when he landed. Publicly landing there also sent a message to a lot of people all over the world, because the Hole is the heart of the nuclear weapon command and control apparatus for the US land and air-based nuclear weapon systems. And who the heck cares what Putin thinks when the country is under attack by an unknown number of terrorists who have already shown an obscene disregard for the lives of innocents and who must be presumed to be willing to do even more to get at the President?

Cash a reality check, my friend, assuming it doesn't conflict with your political agenda. I don't like GWB either, but right now, given a choice between him and Gore, I'm not unhappy he's in the White House.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

If Bush had been in the whitehouse when this started on Tuesday, he would have been whisked outta there so fast people would think he gave up on using the postal service!

This is SOP. when America is under attack on home soil, the president's whereabouts are kept secret, and constantly changing, until such time as he gets to a place, such as 'the hole,' where he cannot be attacked.

His safety is taken as representative of the nation. As long as he is safe, the country is safe. if he is in peril, then the country is in peril.

Please recall the condition of the country when jfk was shot. In essence, the country was beheaded when that happened. We were extremely vunerable at that time, and the people [those that pay attention] knew it.

Do not listen to idiot talking heads who say things about Bush hiding, he wasn't. He was doing what he needed to do. It really is simple as that.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

Meehan, Neal raise doubts on leadership of president

http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/ausprez09142001.htm

Hi CW, Barefoot..

No political agenda... Would prefer Bush over Gore.. But what a choice..Bluntly, i would much prefer a MacArthur under the circumstances..

If the adversary is a nuclear state,and the likely threat on that scale, then i think going to SAC sends the correct message

But i don't think that same action would be interpreted the same way by by, for example, muslim fanatics..

All the Best


-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

Brents link

After reading that story, I can only say that those two will most likely have an uphill battle to get re-elected. Not like Condit would have, but close.

Even if AF1 was not specifically targeted as reported, the SOP is to keep the president safe. Why can't people understand that?

At the time, the attackers identities were unknown, and the extent of the attacks was unknown. In a case like this, where the DC area is apparently at threat of more attacks, sending the president there doesn't make sense.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

Somewhere I read that Bush went back to Washington in spite of the Secret Service not wanting him to. Like others have said, we need to keep our president safe during this time and talking to Putin at this point in time probably wasn't what the pres needed to be doing.

On a side note, some of the high school kids saw his plane when it left from Offutt (only plane in the sky at the time) and this gave some of the kids here a feeling of security that he was ok and a sense of pride in our country that they haven't really had before.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

This is just something the anti-Bushites have clammed on to. They are now bitching about his speech delivery. Hey, I hear Hitler was a charismatic speaker--but that didn't make him a good guy, now did it? They've been spoiled by a professional actor and a professional liar. They don't know what to make of an honest guy.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001