Hillary Clinton dodges and deflects question about 911 and George W. Bush

On CBS' Face the Nation, Hillary Clinton was asked about a statement that Jeb Bush made during the Republican debate that his brother kept America safe. Clinton was asked if she agreed with that.

Her answer was one of the most obfuscated, circular non-answer dodges about a pivotal, life altering policy and political event in the country's history as has been given so far on any subject during the presidential campaign season. It was an obvious attempt to skirt the question about the unprecedented failure of a Republican president and to avoid both the truth and political controversy. It was not very becoming.

Clinton's answer to the question of whether George W Bush kept the country safe, was:

 " I think it's a complicated question because of course 911 happened. I was a senator from New York. And I was basically consumed by my resonsibility in my state and in the city.  So it did happen. And then I do give President Bush credit for  trying to bring the country together around  the threats that we did face. I have said the war in Iraq was a mistake.  I supported what happened in Afghanistan.  So if you sort it all out, its a mixed picture".

It was also an attempt to completely avoid answering the question.

Clinton's answer was so farcical, so political and such a dodge in an attempt to avoid the truth for political expediency it deserves to be dissected.

"I think it's a complicated question because of course 911 happened".

Everybody knows  911 happened. And there is nothing complicated about how and why. It was the gross negligence of Bush and Condoleeza  Rice. 

"I was a senator from New York".

Everyone knows that too and that also has nothing to do with the question.

"And I was basically consumed by my responsibility in my state and my city".

Clinton's responsibilities had nothing to do with question which was about Bush's responsibilities. 

"So it did happen".

Repeating what everybody knows  a second time doesnt make it any more of an answer.

"And then I do give President Bush credit for trying to bring the country together around the threats that we did face".

Not only does this not answer the question which had nothing to do with bringing the country together it isnt even true. Bush divided the country over the war in Iraq,  divided the country over the use of torture and divided the country over Gitmo. Bush did nothing to bring the country together and was a nonsense answer to the question Clinton is trying to avoid answering.

" I have said the war in Iraq was a mistake".

No one asked about the war in Iraq.

" I supported what happened in Afghanistan". 

No one asked about Afghanistan either. 

"So if you sort it all out its a mixed picture".

There was nothing mixed about  it. The only thing that needed sorting out was Clinton's answer avoiding the question for political purposes.

It was not a complicated question and it was no mixed picture. And no,  George W. Bush not only didn't keep America safe, it was Bush and Rice's  irrefutable and well documented gross, even criminal negligence, dereliction of duty and malfeasance as president and national security advisor that were responsible for the deaths of 3000 people in a terrorist attack that ultimately changed America and changed the world, one that facts proved would have easily been prevented had Bush acted on the specific intelligence he was given a month before the attack, intellugence that told him that not only was an Al-Qaeda attack against the U.S. in the U.S. imminent, it was going to be "spectacular" and incredibly Bush and Rice were told the attack was going to involve the hijacking of U.S. airliners. And they did nothing. 

Clinton's answer had nothing to do with the question and was a nonsense answer. Saying that 911 happened is a non-answer . So was what she did as a senator which had nothing to do with whether Bush kept the country safe when all the facts show he didnt. Bush and Rice had been handed all the intelligence they would have needed to prevent 911 and ignored it. 

There was nothing to "sort out". It was a  clear attempt at a non-answer answer to  avoid the truth and avoid a controversy that at least Donald Trump to his credit was not afraid to tackle . 

Clinton's dodge was possibly because she knows Democrats would faint dead away before standing up to the truth had she told it.And that Republicans might attack her.

There is not a shred of doubt that Bush, Rice and Cheney were responsible for allowing  the worst attack with the worst loss of life on American soil by a foreign enemy in the history of the United States. And they have never been held accountable. For those who have always been angry that neither Democrats, the news media and certainly not Republicans have ever held Bush accountable it was a chance for Clinton to do so. Especially as a senator fromNew  York. She declined .

It is this ridiculous reluctance or fear on the part of Democrats to criticize Republicans with the truth that is why Democrats lose elections. And make them look weak. Or foolish as Clinton's non answer answer did.

George W. Bush did not keep us safe and it was no mixed picture. And Bush compounded the problem with Iraq, where he used the 911 attack as the excuse to invade Iraq which neocons had wanted to do for years as Richard Clarke testified when he was literally ordered by Cheney to find a connection between the attack and Sadaam even though Clarke testified he told Cheney Sadaam had nothing to with it, it was Al-Qaeda. This is public knowledge.

In addition, the senate report by the Senate Intelligence Committee when Democrats had the majority proved beyond any doubt that the Bush administration used torture in violation of American values and U.S. law by the CIA  which was unnecessary and  ineffective and no actionable intelligence was ever gotten as a result of water boarding or "enhanced interrogation techniques". Every piece of valuable intelligence was gotten through conventional interrogations. Clinton could have said that too. And been a hero.

Instead Clinton gives us her nonsensical answer about Bush and keeping America safe.  It's called playing not to lose. Which is always a recipe for disaster.

Bush not only didn't keep us safe his administration was directly accountable for the deaths of 3000 people on Sept 11 as the 911 Commission exposed and then, in a panic, used illegal policies of torture to try and insure there was not a second attack because of the gross negligence regarding the first, the result of the Bush Administration's dismissing terrorism as a threat which  left them unprepared and the country vulnerable. Clinton could have said that too.

It would have been nice if the former Secretary of State who will be asked to testify for the 7th time at the 7th Republican congressional hearing on Benghazi over the deaths of 4 Americans during a terrorist attack would have pointed out a Republican administration's accountability in the deaths of 3000 with no investigations by a Republican congress and said so instead of dodging the question. But that would have been honest. And she is going to run for president.