Beware the Terrible Simplifiers
July 16, 2008
In an update to a post over at his place, Wulfgar! has asked me to clarify a comment I made over at BSCairn, in which I said that I disagreed with him. He’s right, I wasn’t clear at all, because I didn’t see it as something worth getting into, and I agree with the gist of his post. First, let’s start with where I agree:
Republicans, by and large, have used 9/11 to their political advantage. I don’t have any numbers in front of me, but I’m sure the GOP has referenced that date and the name of Osama Bin Laden about 10 times more than any Democrat. It plays off of people’s fears, and it’s totally wrong.
Secondly, I agree with him that Wiley over at BSCairn is overreacting. As per usual, he’s behaving like a child, completely unable to see that this particular brand of post pails in comparison to some of the nonsense that he puts up. Wulfgar does not attempt to generalize all Republicans, as Wiley claims that he does. But even if he was, Wiley would be the last person who would have some kind of leverage to complain about it. The dude needs to get out more.
Where my disagreement comes is with the timeline that Wulfgar uses in his post, which was written by Atrios:
Jan 20, 2001 Bush Inaugurated
Jan 25, 2001 Richard Clarke sends Condi Rice memo, warning about al Qaeda. Rice does nothing.
August 6, 2001 Bush gets memo titled “Bin Laden Determined to strike in US.” Bush responds by telling the briefer, “All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.” Then does nothing.
September 11, 2001 Bin Laden strikes in US.
This kind of stuff has always gotten to me. 9/11 was an incredibly well-planned, specific attack. That there were very unspecific, vague ideas that something was going to happen somewhere is not surprising. Was there some incompetence somewhere in the chain of command? Probably, but that’s the nature of a bureacracy the sheer size of the Executive Branch. I’m convinced 9/11 would have happened on any President’s watch, not just President Bush’s.
I guess my biggest problem with the “9/11 was totally Bush’s fault” line of thinking is that it just seems like a giant pissing match between Republicans who claim it was Clinton’s fault and Democrats who claim otherwise. Inherent in this thinking is the idea that the American Government, at its core, is some kind of competent entity that couldn’t possibly have been outsmarted by a bunch of A-Rabs with boxknifes.
Well, we were outsmarted, boys. I’m the last person who’s going to defend the Bush Administration for anything, but things are not so simple as a four-point timeline. They never are, and never will be. As the Historian Jacob Burckhardt said:
“Beware the terrible simplifiers.”
July 16, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Hear, hear.
Tho’ I don’t think Wulfgar was explicitly saying it was a GOP failure…just that he didn’t understand how they could brazen their way into using the images as political advertisement when it happened on their watch.
That Cairn writer, for example, does just that when he claims Republicans are better on national security. Contemplating 9/11 should probably be a time of humility, not arrogance, over Republican’s ability to provide national security.
But you’re right about the blame game surrounding 9/11 is pointless.
Now, the blame game surrounding the post-9/11 polices is quite fruitful!
July 17, 2008 at 6:47 am
[...] so I know you know what I’m talking about here. Yeah, what you posted is correct. But even moonbats are telling you that your timeline is a bit… [...]
July 17, 2008 at 9:33 am
Steve, at no point did either Atrios or I argue that it was all “Bush’s fault”. That would be false causation. The argument I proffer is exactly one of competence. It isn’t that Bush caused 9/11, it’s that he did nothing (one might argue less than nothing) to prevent it.
Could it have been prevented? Damn hard to say. But if I approached my job the way Bush has approached his, I wouldn’t have a job. My point (as was Duncan’s) was that that incompetence is a a pretty silly basis for claims of superiority.
July 23, 2008 at 7:25 am
Bush’s Anointed Genital was running around suing states for medical marijuana and the right to die and covering bare breasts on statues instead of paying attention to threats to this country that were bubbling up in the FBI.
The guy was an idiot, appointed by a man paying back the christian right.