Floating the prevention of 9/11 talking point

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

Just got this tape sent to me. Cliff May on Faux last night. Cliff May is usually one of the first to put out RNC talking points (because he's very good at what he does). Very clever talking point about the preventability of 9/11 (these people are extremely worried about the report coming out in an election season). Here's the diversion: when asked if 9/11 was preventable, Cliff May says, "Of course it was preventable. If those pilots had been armed, not one of those planes would have hit their target."

Here's the strategy: obfuscate any culpability regarding the administration's handling of intelligence (no news here). But then change directions towards a concrete solution. The RNC will argue that the blame game gets America nowhere and doesn't make us safer. We can blame Clinton, Bush, whomever. But let's look at reality. Arm the pilots and none of this would have happened. Then they'll see if the dem. candidate is on board, will catch said candidate hemming and hawing (meaning, they will attempt a thoughtful answer), then those words will be distorted, etc, etc.

It's not a master plan by any stretch, but it is a nifty distraction for two reasons: 1) they admit 9/11 could have been prevented and thus will be able to nimbly respond to the headlines of the report (even though this has nothing to do with the report's substance); 2) it allows the RNC again to say "we want to do something; we have a message; the Democrats can only complain and place blame on someone."

So the candidates need to be crystal clear about their position on arming pilots. Either say, "Yes, I'm for it. Now let's talk about other failures." Or say, "I'm not for it; here's why. Now let's not be distracted from the actual report." And keep avoiding the RNC distraction (though the whore press may not be able to; it's such an easy story--you're either for arming the pilots are not).

Nothing remarkable here, just a heads up so everyone can watch it develop and see how people respond.

The person who sent me the tape thinks this is a much bigger deal than I think I do. But it has some importance if May is trying it out on the press. I'll be interested in seeing his script pop up in other places.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

1. i don't think

the "arm the pilots" argument could get you very far when it comes to preventability being proven. i don't believe it will be able to suitably reflect criticism of the administration's inaction, in fact, it will appear to everybody to be a wild flailing.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Dem talking point

Why did Bush sit reading a children's book about a pet goat while the US of A was clearly under attack?

He failed to act in a promt and responsible manner, and with 45 minutes the Commander-in-Chief and his Staff could not muster as much as a pop gun to defend Washington, DC and the frikkin Pentagon.

What is wrong with that man?

[MrBenchley]

6. Nobody can point to a thing Chimpy did prior to 9/11

about terrorism....in fact, the unelected drunk pooh-poohed the risk while pimping the ballistic missile shield boondoggle.

He got the Hart Rudman report with specific recommendations--and shit-canned it. (He adopted the recommendations AFTER 9/11).

On September 10, AshKKKroft (who had stopped flying commercial that summer) was on Capitol Hill telling congress why anti-terrorism funding should be CUT.

[lostnfound]

11. And another: Why'd he appoint a man who defends Saudis from 9-11 families?

Baker's firm Baker-Botts took the Saudi royals as clients in defending against lawsuits by 9-11 families, who are suing them for funding terrorist organizations (despite repeated warnings from US government that the organizations were supporting terrorism).

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Well, it has to be combined with pre-emptive arrest sweeps

Like the one in LA right before the holidays. There have been a few of these since the 9-11 events, little trial balloons, if you like.

They went almost unnoticed. As they will as they expand the program.

"Pre-emptive arrests due to heightened terror alert status" sounds so much better than "internment" don't you think?

It's a vocabulary game :)

[SpiralHawk]

5. Oh, oh - "Premptive Sweeps" in the homeland! WTF?

Ducktape, you have put the fear of BushWah in me. Say it ain't so. Gotta link to this? Most disturbing.

Muttering to self..."Pre-frikkin-emtive Sweeps... Shades of Ollie North and the Dark Brigades. The Dark Hour having come round at last."

But this, too, shall pass -- and far sooner than any BushCo henchperson or ally might ever imagine.

Let the truth be revealed. May justice prevail.

Meegwich, SH

[DuctapeFatwa]

8. CNN ran it in their crawl a couple of times, I don't think the

regime wants to push their luck with a lot of publicity, I think they are being overcautious, nobody knows how many have been disappeared since the 9-11 events, the outcry has been remarkably faint.

[HFishbine]

10. Pre-emptive arrests?

Do you find it as troubling as I that one of the presidential candidates lobbied the government to facilitate a system for pre-emptive arrests?

[DuctapeFatwa]

12. All the candidates had better support pre-emptive arrests if they

want to be considered electable.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

4. I think you're correct

That's why they're trying it out now. To link arming the pilots specifically to "preventing" 9/11, and saying that 9/11 was IN FACT preventable, is a new twist. The pundits are doltish and our general public is not far behind.

So here's how it will go in response to your perfectly rational and correct response:

"So you're saying that arming the pilots wouldn't have prevented 9/11? I think it trumps everything. Intelligence will always break down, airline screeners will always make an error. The terrorists will evolve and adapt to whatever security screening we devise. But an armed pilot is foundational to all of this. A man with a boxcutter is no match for a glock 9mm. End of story. We'd have 19 dead terrorists with a clean hole in the chest. The planes would have landed safely, and a real message would have been sent to those who think they could hijack a plane. 9/11 could have indeed been prevented and this administration recognizes that and has acted promptly, even without the help of all members of congress."

Again, I agree with your post. But perhaps we have too much faith in the press and American media consumers. This is just the type of topic the masses can sink their teeth into.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Woulda, coulda, shoulda - none of that matters

What does matter is that the Commander in Chief, the one who is supposed to take charge, connect the dots, and give the orders decided it was more important to read a book about goats with a group of 2nd graders. If Bu$h got off his lazy ass and asked Condi, 'What the fuck is going on?' Then 100's if not 1000's of lives would have been saved.

It may not have been possible to stop the first plane. But because of W, 2 more planes hit their targets and a 3rd missed because the passengers took matters into their own hands. The only thing that really matters in this massive intelligence failure, is the failure of the man who was in charge. The man who chose to do nothing, while his country was under attack.

[Bridget Burke]

9. Pilots could be armed until July 2001.

"A 40-year-old Federal Aviation Administration rule that allowed commercial airline pilots to be armed was inexplicably rescinded two months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, leading aviation security experts to lay at least some of the blame for the tragedy at the feet of airlines, none of which took advantage of the privilege while it was in effect.

"The FAA adopted the armed pilot rule shortly after the Cuban missile crisis of 1961 to help prevent hijackings of American airliners. It remained in effect for four decades.

"But in July 2001 – just two months prior to the Sept. 11 attacks – the rule was rescinded."

www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=1299&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported

Guns in the cockpit were banned about the same time that Ashcroft decided to stop flying commercial. About the same time that Bush & Cheney decided to take l-o-n-g vacations in August. Odd timing.

Back in 1954, an armed pilot did kill a hijacker; the pilot never got over it.

"FORT WORTH -- Until now it was largely forgotten, a brief, tragic incident that lay buried in fading newspaper accounts and the memories of only a few, but the shooting of a hijacker by an airline pilot almost 50 years ago has taken on a new significance today.

"It occurred shortly before noon on July 6, 1954, when a strapping teen-ager armed with a pistol commandeered an American Airlines DC-6 at the Cleveland Airport, only to be shot and fatally wounded by the captain.

"The shooting ended the life of Raymond Kuchenmeister, 15. It made a reluctant hero of the late Capt. William "Bill" Bonnell of Fort Worth and left an indelible mark on Bonnell's psyche that he could never successfully erase."

www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1087467

Those poor airlines must really be hurting--having to spend all that money on security.

[Btile]

13. We were warned

I remember the news stating that Bin Laden was "declaring" war on us in spring of 1999. From that point on I expected something to happen, as I believe the whole intelligence community expected something, but I do not think we really believed we could be attacked until we were.

I'm sure we all would have been very pissed off if we had the current bloated homeland "security" office and annoying airport TSA without any justification.