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What did Bush mean?
Okay, maybe later I'll do another section on that press conference transcript. In part it's an attempt to recapture my MSTing during the broadcast. But there's something that Bush said during the conference that struck me as odd, and it still strikes me as odd. I'm not sure exactly what it means, but it definitely means something.
Here's the text, with my emphasis added:
Of course, we knew that in the real world (as opposed to Bush's rich fantasy life) he actually made some dumb-ass comment about a bad pilot when the first plane hit, and then went back to reading to schoolchildren.
But he claims that "at the time" (and he's obviously talking about the day of 9/11 itself) he "thought" Al Qaeda - which clearly implies that he had been previously informed about the possibility of a major attack by Al Qaeda. In which case, his failure to have done anything to prevent the attack was not just ignorance, but criminal neglect (if I were in a dramatic mood, I might even say "treason").
In fact, however, I doubt very much that he thought "Al Qaeda" or anything else at the time. I'll bet he didn't even remember the name, assuming that the people who read and summarize his PDBs for him (and he doesn't read them himself, as was once again confirmed in Salon today) - anyway, assuming they even bothered to mention such a funny-sounding foreign word to him to begin with.
Bush's statement at the press conference was almost certainly nothing more than a bit of bravado, a little lie thrown off to enhance what he and his administration clearly feel is his (their) reputation of almost Papal infallibility. As is shown by their pathological refusal to issue even a hint of an apology and their incredible, almost self-destructive refusal to ever consider that they might ever have done anything wrong - so much so that at one point during the conference, Bush clearly avoided saying the word "wrong".
My copy of the transcript was the first that was released by the New York Times, but I've checked the official White House transcript and that particular statement matches, at least as of 04/15/2004.
Here's the text, with my emphasis added:
I didn't see, I mean I didn't have that great sense of outrage that I felt on Sept. 11. I was, on that day I was angry and sad. Angry that Al Qaeda had, at the time thought Al Qaeda, found out shortly thereafter it was Al Qaeda, had unleashed this attack. Sad for those who lost their life.
Of course, we knew that in the real world (as opposed to Bush's rich fantasy life) he actually made some dumb-ass comment about a bad pilot when the first plane hit, and then went back to reading to schoolchildren.
But he claims that "at the time" (and he's obviously talking about the day of 9/11 itself) he "thought" Al Qaeda - which clearly implies that he had been previously informed about the possibility of a major attack by Al Qaeda. In which case, his failure to have done anything to prevent the attack was not just ignorance, but criminal neglect (if I were in a dramatic mood, I might even say "treason").
In fact, however, I doubt very much that he thought "Al Qaeda" or anything else at the time. I'll bet he didn't even remember the name, assuming that the people who read and summarize his PDBs for him (and he doesn't read them himself, as was once again confirmed in Salon today) - anyway, assuming they even bothered to mention such a funny-sounding foreign word to him to begin with.
Bush's statement at the press conference was almost certainly nothing more than a bit of bravado, a little lie thrown off to enhance what he and his administration clearly feel is his (their) reputation of almost Papal infallibility. As is shown by their pathological refusal to issue even a hint of an apology and their incredible, almost self-destructive refusal to ever consider that they might ever have done anything wrong - so much so that at one point during the conference, Bush clearly avoided saying the word "wrong".
My copy of the transcript was the first that was released by the New York Times, but I've checked the official White House transcript and that particular statement matches, at least as of 04/15/2004.
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Yeah, the comment could show Bush knew, but the way he is fumbling his grammar it could also just mean he is a blithering idiot. It is a little hard to see how anyone could vote for this man, but...
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I don't think that Bush is an idiot, to tell you the truth; he's not the brightest bulb in the pack, but it would probably be fair to guesstimate his IQ as being around 120 or so. He's just incredibly arrogant and dismissive of anyone who isn't part of his immediate circle of people. The rest of us aren't real, and he views the non-rich public as made up of A) gullible morons that he can trick into voting for him, and B) incomprehensible, dangerous, possibly gay enemies.
Incidentally, I think Bush's BIGGEST mistake at the press conference was not going to Jesus and God a lot more. Time after time I feared (and expected) that he'd talk about his faith in Jesus; it would have been a great tactic for him, because it gives his base a huge charge and the great majority of the media will never dare to take him to task for mixing church and state. But for some reason he didn't do it. Just as well. I was hoping he'd do lousy, and he did.
I was listening in my car, driving home that night, and when he refused for the third time to even address the possibility of a mistake, I let out some very loud whoops and hollers of delight. I still think the bastard will win, mind you; the fix is in. But at least he didn't look good that night.