Trump crosses the 9/11 line...(Will it Cost Him?)

[KoKo]

Trump crosses the 9/11 line

‘If it doesn't backfire, then it will be official; nothing can stop him,’ GOP strategist says.

By Eli Stokols

02/14/16 06:14 AM EST

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Jeb Bush’s campaign thinks George W. Bush is its not-so-secret weapon in next Saturday’s pivotal primary. Donald Trump couldn’t care less.

Holding a 20-point lead in the state over his nearest rival with a week to go, Trump blasted the former president for the national security record his brother’s campaign plans to tout, blaming him during a GOP debate Saturday night not just for the Iraq War but also for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“The World Trade Center came down during your brother’s reign. Remember that," Trump said to the former Florida governor, prompting a long, contentious back-and-forth.

In a state that’s home to a large number of military installations and veterans, the supercharged showdown between two candidates who’ve been sparring for months could play big, potentially reordering the race in the final week.

Our Principles PAC, launched last month with the purpose of attacking Trump, is preparing to blanket South Carolina's airwaves with a new ad featuring Trump's past statement that impeaching George W. Bush "would have been a good thing."
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In fact, Trump has blamed George W. Bush for 9/11 many times before, just never on a debate stage before a television audience of millions. It started when moderator John Dickerson asked him about a past statement in which he suggested that the 43rd president should have been impeached for lying about Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction in order to justify going to war.

“Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big fat mistake,” said Trump, who mocked Jeb Bush for taking five days to answer a question last May about whether, with the benefit of hindsight, he’d have made the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Then, Trump took his criticism even further, saying the former president did not keep America safe. And moments later, after Marco Rubio defended George W. Bush's record by saying the blame for the attacks fell on Bill Clinton, Trump doubled down.

"The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe," he continued. "The World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. And George Bush — by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his CIA."

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Asked whether he still supports impeachment, Trump didn’t directly answer, instead railing against the “lies” that, in his view, led up to the war in Iraq.

“You call it whatever you want,” Trump said. “They lied.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/trump-9-11-debate-219273

[valerief]

1. It'll definitely help him with voters. I don't know how much that matters, though. nt

[roguevalley]

7. he's climbing in SC over 42 points. didn't hurt a bit. He said what a lot of pugs think at last

he said it before dems too. Cowards. Everyone should be saying it.

[valerief]

10. True!

[Hortensis]

14. We already said it long ago, and we all know it's true.

Democratic candidates have to appeal to Democratic voters. They don't have to convince us not to support GOP candidates, they have to convince enough of us to get up off our largely disaffected, lazy, and/or just plain indifferent butts and vote.

The simple fact is that the kind of negative, hostile attacks that work so well for most of the GOP electorate do not work for us. Whatever our own faults are, we're better than that.

[oberliner]

15. That poll was before the debate

There has not been a poll taken after the debate.

[chapdrum]

2. Never thought would appreciate his

outspokenness, until now.

They're all far too civilized to support impeachment, let alone sully themselves traversing the mountain of inconsistencies.

I hope DJ's party is plotzing; it is the VERY least they deserve.

[LiberalElite]

3. The fact that Jeb! could blithely, blatantly state that his bro "kept us safe"

in spite of the fact that 9/11 happened ON HIS WATCH takes cognitive dissonance to a whole new level.

[KoKo]

4. OTT...Desperation?

Bringing his ageing mother in--and now his infamous Older Brother to appear with him for a few days this week.

I think of Trump "having no shame"....but, then the Bush Family Extravaganza these past weeks is also Shameless! Trump at least has brought "9/11" back into the discussion. For whatever gain...I don't know. But, it needs to be talked about going into this election cycle.

I just think of this year's Elections as all the Sewer rot of the Repubs flowing out to be exposed.

[LiberalElite]

5. "Sewer rot of the Repubs flowing out to be exposed." heh like my

Last edited Sun Feb 14, 2016, 08:38 PM - Edit history (1)

infected tooth that was oozing pus.... (now being treated)

For a change Trump's invoking 9/11 is a good thing IMO -unlike with Giuliani who Biden correctly pegged in that classic response. "A noun, a verb and 9/11."

Jeb! started out trying to run without his famil-(liar) baggage. Now it's dragging him down like Hillary's baggage.

However this election turns out, for now I am enjoying the fact that teh Elites thought they had it all figured out....

[KoKo]

6. ...!

[underahedgerow]

12. I deeply, sincerely hope that Trump takes on Karl Rove.

Rove knows what to do with standard issue political and voting corruption. He doesn't know what to do with Donald Trump. I wouldn't be shocked if he tries to have him killed. Rove must be wetting his pants right about now.

[denem]

8. SC is an open primary

The boo-bird audience was a yuge mistake. It allowed Trump to go rogue.

[Octafish]

9. “You call it whatever you want,” Trump said. “They lied.”

I wonder why Politico -- founded by Allbritton family, the Bush family Riggs banking friend -- is helping push this limited hang-out. Are they trying to goat Trump to yap about LIHOP/MIHOP in order to later lead a charge against the "paranoid Trump"?

[underahedgerow]

11. You're going to see a huge surge in the polls, on both sides of the fence for Trump.

This is getting very, very interesting.

For the Democrats, 'wow, he IS telling the truth, there's something interesting about this guy!' And they're going to do some fact checking and find out that his policy ideas aren't that crazy after all. If you dig deep, past the bluster and bravado and grandstanding, he actually has some classic left wing ideals and foundations. Not everything, hell no... but the basic groundwork is there.

For Republicans, this is a wake up call, an eye opener, and if they were fawning over him to begin with, they'll adapt to the concept and hate the bush regime even more.

Trump did a HUGE amount of damage to the GOP this weekend... He's undone decades of lies and trauma and completely turned this whole presidential race around. jeb!, Cruz and Rubio are being exposed on a daily basis, as to their utter unsuitability for office of any sort.

Hell, I'd vote for trump if he could utterly destroy the bush regime. Not even kidding. The hate I have for those people, that entire family and their filthy, corrupt cabal is a bottomless pit. Those people destroyed my American dream and have destroyed every bit of integrity the US justice & the US Constitution brought into modern civilization. The bush regime have destroyed every brick in the hallowed halls of Democracy, and I would appreciate their utter and complete destruction. If he's the one who can do it, then cool.

[Hortensis]

16. Very interesting thoughts, and I agree with some a bit.

Where, though, is consideration of Trump's beyond-blatant appeals to extreme bigots and his scary neofascist promises to set aside the Bill of Rights, toss people out of the country illegally, murder and torture anyone who poses a threat, and so on and on? He is not immoral, he is amoral.

I've also described Trump as a loose flywheel who almost certainly has a full-blown personality disorder that severely affects his judgement. A number of mental health professionals have set aside standard ethical procedures during what they see as an emergency to come forward and state they believe that to be the case.

We actually have no idea what his policies would be. He has no principles to guide him, only his own fickle opinions and wishes.

We also have no idea who would be actually be running the country in a Trump presidency. That might change every few weeks, and occasionally more often as favorites come and go, first succeeding in kissing up to the great man sufficiently, then, for instance, fatally not hiding from the press their power over him. I think the one thing we can be sure of is that his ego would not allow that to continue.

[AgadorSparticus]

13. No. It appears Trump's supporters don't really listen to him.

They just vote for him.