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September 13, 2001
9:40 PM   RSS feed for this thread Subscribe

Blame Canada! -- No, Wait, I Mean Clinton! I thought they would at least wait until the weekend.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet (19 comments total)

I'm absolutely not surprised.

Not at all.

Not at all.

How incredibly depressing.
posted by tpoh.org at 9:58 PM on September 13, 2001


I cannot believe the blame factories of the right. They "blame" us on the left for urging introspection. On the wild fringes, they blame all Arabs and Islam in general. Perhaps, deep down, the very most powerful in this country do too.

shit
posted by crasspastor at 10:03 PM on September 13, 2001


How putrid can you get? To characterize someone who died in the massacre as a "Clinton-hater" seems almost terroristic. Barbara Olson was a bright and cheerful CNN commentator who, I'm sure, was incapable of hating anyone. According to many sources, her two courageous cellphone calls from the ill-fated airplane warned the White House of the intended attack.
To see such an intelligent and life-loving woman referred to in the linked article as "Clinton-hating Barbara Olson" is simply sickening.
Canada and Clinton, as far as I know, are still living. Who cares?
I watched Larry King last night and saw how much he missed Barbara Olson. I heard her husband grieve on NPR. It was their wedding anniversary.
Whatever happened to shame?
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:06 PM on September 13, 2001


I blame every president since, but especially, FDR.
posted by thirteen at 10:12 PM on September 13, 2001


I'm not too concerned about who they blame for the attacks. Hell, it happened, it's done, let's move to the next step.

What scares me more? The downsizing of our military. Clinton and the rest of the liberals (yeah, i know some of you are), cut billions if not more from the Dept. of Def. What do we have now? An ill-equiped, understaffed military force to deal with this type of crisis. Thank GOD we have a real man in office to dish out the punishments to those responsible. Maybe now all the bleeding heart liberals will appreciate who keeps them free!!!!!!!
posted by BrownEyeWink at 10:24 PM on September 13, 2001


trolleyewink
posted by Sinner at 10:34 PM on September 13, 2001


What do we have now? An ill-equiped, understaffed military force

um, actually, our military is still the best in the world. and how are a few million killing machines gonna help us find survivors in the rubble, or determine the party responsible for the attacks?
posted by mcsweetie at 10:39 PM on September 13, 2001


Who the fuck unleashed the dittohead?

Some people are such idiots I simply must flame!
posted by crasspastor at 10:41 PM on September 13, 2001


Some people are such idiots I simply must flame!

The spirit that made Metafilter the place it is today!
posted by thirteen at 11:00 PM on September 13, 2001


OK Yes I am a veteran, and yes I am a republican but I can see an easy way (in my eyes) to blame bill.

1996 My mom was presented a folded American flag for my brother who was in the Khobar Towers bombing that was traced back to bin Laden. Clinton did no effort to bring him to justice at the time.

As a former member of the Military Intelligence (no jokes please) community, I have seen the effects of the military and defense budget cuts instituted by Clinton. Many of the departments that was cut would of benefited anti terrorism intelligence efforts.

So yes, I personally can blame bill for not nipping the problem in the butt.
posted by crackheadmatt at 11:02 PM on September 13, 2001


Yeah but the president that REALLY gets my dander up is that damned Warren G. Harding. Damn Republicans.
posted by jasonshellen at 11:07 PM on September 13, 2001


The spirit that made Metafilter the place it is today!

Could also be tensions running high. I need to get my mind off of this somehow.

Taking break.
posted by crasspastor at 11:11 PM on September 13, 2001


Thank GOD we have a real man in office to dish out the punishments to those responsible. Maybe now all the bleeding heart liberals will appreciate who keeps them free!!!!!!!


I do love MeFi, and while dissenting opinions are nothing to get up-and-angry about, I feel that as a fellow member I can try to stimulate discussion. It is nice that we have a "real man," one who neglects to mention not to persecute arab- and islamic-americans in his "speech." Perhaps all of the "bleeding-heart" liberals will appreciate the revokation of civil liberties that is sure to ensue in the name of "giving in to the terrorists." Or national security. The basic fact is that no administration could have prevented this, with the possible exception of the fascist party. Risks are an element of liberty. Oh -- wait -- what is this? Seven exclamation marks. You must be right. (My apologies, I just really can't stand that.)
posted by j.edwards at 11:38 PM on September 13, 2001


To see such an intelligent and life-loving woman referred to in the linked article as "Clinton-hating Barbara Olson" is simply sickening.

Agreed. The author of this article is no better than the Palestinians caught on video celebrating the attacks.
posted by aaron at 12:09 AM on September 14, 2001



I agree...this article is disgusting in its delivery.

However, I can just as easily find articles slanting in the "this is all Bush's fault" direction with equally disgusting delivery. To say nothing of "BarneyFifesBullet"s other Bush-bashing-for-the-sake-of-Bush-bashing posts on Mefi.
posted by canoeguide at 2:10 AM on September 14, 2001


Um- a damn bit of a stretch to say he's "no better than the Palestinians" (a whole 'nother can of ethical and moral worms I won't open at this point). Barbara Olson was a Clinton-hater, a well-documented (two scathing published books about the Clintons, countless articles and talkshow appearances) one at that, and while kicking at a dead woman may not be in the best of taste, I didn't find his section on Olson to be too over the top. It's not like he praised her death or anything because of her politics. I can see where mentioning Olson wasn't truly necessary to the article- but in fairness, Ruddy had eulogized her on the same site that he's both selling her trashy anti-Clinton books and demonizing the KKKlintins- sort of setting a precedent for petty political potshots, a la Falwell and Robertson.

Still, if we're going to be picky, Miguel's statement that she was "such an intelligent and life-loving woman" is pretty much no more well-founded- perhaps less so- than the statement that she was an avowed "Clinton hater".
posted by hincandenza at 2:25 AM on September 14, 2001



i have seen many attempts of cheap, political opportunism from the left - some on the same day as the attack- on Bush, but this is the first i've seen that goes the other way..
posted by pixelate at 4:08 AM on September 14, 2001


If we're looking to assign blame for the degradation of our miliatary forces, there's plenty to go around. In addition to the left cutting military spending (though it's important to point out that many of these cuts were part of the post-Cold War plans developed under Bush Sr.), there is also the right's use of the issue to make political hay. Rather than presenting any coherent vision of a military capable of meeting the threats of a changed world, they were content to simply bash Clinton for any military cut. Later, Clinton responded by promising vague "increases in military spending," again without any coherent vision, while the right put all their eggs in the missle defense basket.

In short, both sides of the political spectrum used defense in service to their domestic political agenda rather than the protection of the country. Now, I think, both sides will be a little smarter about the whole thing.
posted by Chanther at 6:40 AM on September 14, 2001


A good analysis, Chanther, but a very optimistic conclusion.
posted by BT at 6:43 AM on September 14, 2001


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