Republican lies and denial over terrorism

Amazingly there seems to be some debate, prodded mostly by conservatives, over Obama's approach to terrorism versus that of George W. Bush. Rudy Guiliani, taking partisanship to new lows, said on the Today Show that " we were never attacked under Bush's watch but we were under Obama's."

Was it that the former Mayor of New York City couldnt remember 911 when he mentioned it every other sentence when he was running in the Republican presidential primaries or was he so used to partisan dishonesty it just tumbled out of his mouth?

He also seemed to forget Richard Reid, the shoe bomber whose attempts at blowing up a plane were almost identical to the Nigerian on flight 253.
But Guiliani couldn't remember that either. In fact even on the Sunday talk shows, on both Fox and CNN there were Republican critics trying to make the point of how wrong it is to try the Nigerian in a federal court when that is exactly what Bush did with Richard Reid.

To listen to Republicans, the 3000 people killed under Bush, the loss of the World Trade Center and Richard Reid all just slipped ther minds, and in Guilliani's case claiming we were never attacked under Bush but were under Obama, revealed the worst aspects of Republican politics -- people so used to lying and distorting the truth that a failed attack on Flight 253 became an attack and 911 wasnt part of the argument.

After making such an obviously stupid and partisan statement, Guiliani's spokesman issued a "clarification" about what Guiliani "really meant".

But what Guiliani really meant was to bash Obama, take heat off of Bush for this catastrophic failures and make it as partisan as he could for cheap political purposes.

What conservatives continue to lie about is the fact that terrorism wouldnt be the issue it is now were it not for the gross negligence and criminal incompetence of George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice and Dick Cheney prior to the 911 attacks.

It was Bush's negligence in refusing to take terrorism seriously and downplaying it which led to his demoting Richard Clarke, abolishing the Principles Meeting, ignoring othe warnings of the CIA and Richard Clarke that we were about to be hit with a major terrorist attack, refusing to have one single meeting on terrorism in the 8 months leading to the attack and much more.

Instead conservatives go on television, deny and cover up Bush's culpability in the 911 attack, and try to sell the idea that we are less safe now than under Bush because Obama doesn't take terrorism seriously. They refuse to acknowledge out of sheer partisanship that it was Bush who didn't take it seriously unti we were hit.

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Had it not been for a press afraid to hold Bush accountable, Bush would have been impeached for 911. Instead, despite the gross negligence of the Bush Administration we heard this on Fox News from Bill O'Reilly.

"From the very beginning, President Obama has relentlessly tried to downplay and deny the nature of the terrorist threat we continue to face."

This is not to defend Obama since no one really knows what is going on behind the scenes. Terrorism is being fought by career professionals not politicians and its simply a matter of implementing the resources available and making sure they work.

Conservatives, who for years have used national security as a political football seem to forget that it was a conservative president more concerned with China, star wars, and the ABM treaty who discounted and downplayed terrorism as a threat who ignored the information that would have prevented 911 and has brought us to where we are now.

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