"John Kerry has waded into an issue raised by Michael Moore in his film 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' namely, President Bush's sitting for seven minutes in a Florida classroom after being told 'the country is under attack.' Republicans are waxing indignant, of course. But the criticism is richly deserved. The fact that Bush wasted 27 minutes that day - not only the seven minutes reading to kids but 20 more at a photo op afterward - was, in my view, the most outrageous thing a President has done since Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court... Watergate was outrageous but it still did not carry the possibility of utter devastation, like a President's freezing at the very moment we needed his immediate focus on an attack on the United States... This is an issue about the ultimate presidential duty, acting in an emergency. If nothing else in Washington is nonpartisan, this should be... But it is not. Republicans are tying themselves in knots trying to defend Bush's actions that morning. I cannot see how someone who considers himself a conservative can defend George Bush's inaction. Conservatives pride themselves on being clear-eyed and decisive. They don't do nuance, and they respect toughness... But Bush choked at the most important moment a President could have. We're lucky Al Qaeda had done its worst by the time he pulled himself away from the photo op. Next time, it might not be that way."
-- Bill Maher, Bush blew it the morning of 9/11, in the New York Daily News, today.


Image from Acid Logic.