The Republican Party Claims It Owns 9/11... OK

McCain never publicly mentioned Bush's name at the Republican Convention in St. Paul. He did, however, refer to him. The reference was a common Republican ruse that equates the fact that the continental United States didn't suffer a second 9/11 with the Bush-Cheney Regime. No Republican-- and too few Democrats-- ever blame the Bush Regime's willful pigheadedness and gross incompetence for the first 9/11, though all too many do try to give him credit for "preventing" a second one. That was McCain's reference and you'll hear one Bush rubber stamp after another-- from James Inhofe (R-OK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Norm Coleman (R-MN) and John Sununu (R-NH) to John Cornyn (R-TX), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and even fake anti-war Republican Gordon Smith (R-OR)-- repeating, if not chanting, this canard.

The bad news: these kinds of lies take root, especially among low-info voters. But if the idiocy about Sarah Palin being called a pig in lipstick is sticking, the foolishness about Bush having protected the country-- regardless of how many times McCain (R-AZ), McConnell (R-KY), McCaul (R-TX), McHenry (R-NC), McCotter (R-MI) and McHannity (R-Fox) repeat it-- is not.

In polling released today by CNN and Opinion Research Corp, a large majority of Americans, 60%, have a clear understanding that neither Bush nor his disastrous policy agenda nor his actions have done anything to keep America safe.

[I]n frustrating news for the White House, Americans appear to give little credit to President Bush for the lack of a terrorist strike over the last seven years: Only 37 percent believe that the president and his policies are the chief reason there has not been a strike on U.S. soil. Overall, he has a 28 percent approval rating, tying his all-time low in CNN/ORC polling.

This morning Philadelphia's most-followed right-wing Republican commentator, Michael Smerconish, asked, in the Philadelphia Daily News the kinds of questions the Bush Regime-- and that includes McCain-- does not want voters thinking about as the election approaches. "Where the hell," he begins, "are Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri? And why does virtually no one ask anymore?" Is he going to vote for Obama? I can't imagine he would-- although he says he may.

The Bush administration's failure to orchestrate a successful counterterrorism plan - topped off with justice for bin Laden and al-Zawahiri - has left me embarrassed for my party, and angry.

Unfortunately, Sen. McCain only offered a continuation of the Bush policy. In a conversation on June 13, he first attempted to say that our counterterrorism efforts were working and that remaining on good terms with Pakistan was imperative to our safety.

"There has been progress in those areas," he said. "Pakistan is a sovereign nation and we have to have the cooperation of Pakistan in order to have these operations succeed... if you alienate Pakistan and it turns into an anti-American government, then you will have much greater difficulties."

When the senator reminded me that the U.S. also gives a great deal of money to Egypt, which also could be more helpful in the War on Terror, I pointed out that these guys aren't hiding in Cairo. The people responsible for the atrocities of 9/11 are concentrated in northwestern Pakistan, I repeated to the senator. He pointed out the difficulty with the region.

"I have promised that I will get Osama bin Laden when I am president... but... there's a reason why it hasn't been governed since the days of Alexander the Great. They're ruled by about, it's my understanding, 13 tribal entities, and nobody has ever governed them, not the Pakistani government, not the British-- nobody."

I said, "All I think is that the guys who sent those guys over here are still on the lam and we're writing a big check, and I'm unhappy about it."

Last night Keith Olbermann pointed out-- and rightly so-- that the Republican Party has made it a priority not to protect America but to highjack the potent symbols of 9/11. Is it still working for them? Watch: