A very inconsistent Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush appeared on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper. Tapper asked Jeb Bush what were his objections to what Donald Trump said about President George W Bush. Donald Trump stated the inconvenient truth that 9/11 occurred on Jeb’s brother, George W. Bush’s watch. Jeb said that his brother responded to the crisis, united the nation, and kept the nation safe.
Unlike many other ‘journalists’, Jake Tapper would not let that cookie cutter answer stand. Tapper asked Jeb if it is at all possible that his loyalty to his brother may be clouding his objectivity on mistakes his brother may have made. Jeb denied that possibility. He then made an interesting comment. “It is what you do after that matters that is the sign of leadership,” Jeb Bush said. “It’s not … Does anyone actually blame my brother for the attacks on 9/11. If they do they are totally marginalizing our society. It is what he did after that mattered and I am proud of him and so are a bunch of other people.”
Of course that is not the same template by which Jeb Bush and the Right Wing has judged Hillary Clinton on the Benghazi terrorist attacks. Jake Tapper then illustrated the appropriate congruence of the incidents.
“How do you respond to critics who ask if your brother and his administration bares no responsibility at all,” Tapper asked. “How do you then make the jump that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are responsible for what happened at Benghazi.”
Bush responded in a convoluted manner. He said the question about Benghazi is whether the place was secure. He said there were calls for security that the folks in Benghazi did not get. Of course those are the same question that were asked about 9/11. The reality is that President Bush was briefed on the possibility of a 9/11 type attack and did nothing about it. On Benghazi, the Republican “Congress slashed spending on diplomatic security and U.S. embassy construction” which must infer some culpability for lack of resources throughout our international presence.
Tapper pointed out Bush’s inconsistent statement. Jeb Bush was forced to concede that ultimately it was the terrorists to be blamed and conceded that if the security was similarly adequate to what is available at other sites throughout the world, then it is time to move on.
