Day: September 13, 2011

George Bush Never Ceases to Amaze …

Buck Banks

The adrenaline was coursing through my veins, and the ball felt like a shotput. And Todd Greene, the catcher, looked really small. Sixty feet and six inches seemed like a half-mile. And anyway, I took a deep breath and threw it, and thankfully it went over the plate. The response was overwhelming. It was the most nervous I had ever been. It was the most nervous moment of my entire presidency, it turns out.

— Former President George W. Bush, in a Time/HBO documentary, saying that the most nerve-wracking moment of his presidency was throwing out the ceremonial first pitch during Game One of the 2001 World Series. Yep — after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

9/11 and Our Nation’s Not-So-Secret Secret Shame

Buck Banks

Paul Krugman posted the following in the New York Times Op-Ed blog Sunday. He has since come under some pretty fierce criticism, but, as Dave Weigel pointed out, “denying that 9/11 and counterterrorism strategy became ‘wedge issues’ is denying a few years of political history. The criticism is of Krugman for expressing it.”

The Years of Shame

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?

Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.

I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.

Sullivan on the Tea Party Debate

Buck Banks

The weirdest debate so far: feisty but surreal. If I had to game this one, I’d say Bachmann stayed alive, Perry began very strong but wobbled, Romney did fine, and Ron Paul shone the way only he can. But clearly the crowd loved Perry the most. God help us.

— Andrew Sullivan, writing in The Daily Beast about the Tea Party presidential debate in Tampa last night.

$5,000 Is Not Nearly Enough

Trish

If you’re saying I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) responding to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s suggestion that a campaign contribution was behind Perry’s support of a vaccine that could help protect against cervical cancer. Perry, whose actions as governor have been linked to many donations, apparently has a higher price tag.