This will make you MAD

[Murle]

Meehan phone # is 202-225-3411





Meehan, Neal raise doubts on leadership of president

by Andrew Miga







Friday, September 14, 2001

















WASHINGTON - Two prominent Bay State Democrats questioned President Bush's leadership style yesterday, cracking the veneer of bipartisan unity Congress has shown in the wake of the twin terrorist attacks.



``It's not a question of what he's saying,'' said U. S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield). ``The content is fine. But the blandness with which it is delivered has caused considerable reaction. ''



U. S. Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Lowell) scoffed at reports Air Force One was targeted by terrorists - the reason Bush aides have put forth to explain why the president delayed his return to Washington after Tuesday's attack on the Pentagon. ``I don't buy the notion Air Force One was a target,'' said Meehan. ``That's just PR. That's just spin. ''



The Bush White House has been on the defensive as pundits and some lawmakers have suggested the president backed down in the face of terrorist threats this week.



Bush has been under fire for not returning to Washington more quickly after Tuesday's attacks to take control of the situation and reassure a jittery public.



Some pundits have suggested his detour to safe military bases in Louisiana and Nebraska sent a message of weakness.



The president's father angrily defended his son during an appearance before energy industry officials in Boston.



``I am annoyed with those who criticized him for not returning to Washington right away,'' said the elder Bush. ``I know George is strong.



``I know that he has a fantastic national security team around him. I know that, in reaching out to the Congress as we're seeing now, and reaching out to our friends and allies and others around the world, he's doing the right thing,'' the president's father said.



But both Neal and Meehan noted that Bush's performance thus far has paled in comparison to the effective mix of leadership and verve shown by New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani during the latest crisis. Giuliani has managed to convey both reassurance and forcefulness, using numerous public appearances to convince the public that despite the tragedy, officials are in control and handling the problem in an effective manner.



``Giuliani has been outstanding,'' said Meehan. ``Every elected mayor and governor in the nation could learn a lot from Giuliani. ''



Meehan, who stressed he did not want to sharply criticize Bush given the current crisis, noted that Bush is relatively inexperienced as president, having been in office less than a year.



``He's a new president and he doesn't have the experience that Bill Clinton had,'' said Meehan. ``Under the circumstances he's done pretty well. ''



Neal said several Democratic colleagues agree with his assessment that Bush must show a more forceful, vigorous style as he seeks to rally the nation behind him for what many expect will be a long, intense fight against terrorists.



``In politics you have to use imagery to send a message to people,'' said Neal. ``Leadership delineates the difference between a town manager and a president. A president should know how to use imagery, symbolism to lead. ''



Neal recalled that former President Clinton had one of the most memorable days of his presidency shortly after the brutal Oklahoma City bombings. Clinton, obviously moved by the massive human suffering, delivered an emotional speech that sought to ease the pain as well as inspire.



``If President Clinton had a better moment than he did in that hangar in Oklahoma City, I never saw it,'' said Neal. ``He lifted the spirits of an entire nation that day. That's what a president does. He provides comfort. And he finds a way to inspire people, to lift them up as well. ''



Neal said despite his criticism, he is reserving final judgment on Bush: ``It's a bit early to make a judgment here. ''

 

[David_VT]

The man has a thankless job but we need to rally behind the office

The president, the man, will have to endure far more scrutiny than a few vocal politicians can come up with. He (and his greatest supporter, his father) knew that when they took their place in history by becoming presidents of the greatest country in the world.



It really does not matter what you think of the man, his aides, what degree of truth may or may not have been applied to his journey around the country. Personally I'd rather know he is safe than see another picture of him. I think AirForce one has at least one phone on it and it must be easier to use than the cell phones on the doomed planes tuesday.....



The important thing is that we as a country must rally behind the office of the president until such time as the crisis has passed.



History will judge the man, the office, his staff, his critics and all of us.



THIS IS HISTORY IN THE MAKING. I hope our combined legacy is something our children and their children can be proud of.

 

[JEMOORE]

David, you are so correct.

 

[John Berger]

David, that's not the point.

The timing is what stinks here. This comes out on a declared day of national mourning. I don't care about the scrutiny the president has to be under. It comes with the territory. But for crying out loud, this is a mourning period. Leave it to a northern Democrat to run his big fat f&5^king mouth off at a time when the people who caused this are garnering pleasure from our grief. By the way, I heard that Marty and his other buddy from Springfield, Massachusetts didn't hang around the Capitol building during the bomb threat last night. Must have just been a publicity stunt, huh Marty? Marty, you're just a loud-mouthed dumba$$. And that's not just my opinion anymore, you proved it with these callous and insensitive remarks. David, I am not flaming you. We are all Americans right now and party should be put aside. We have a long and difficult road ahead of us and this kind of partisanship is only going to make a difficult and dangerous task all the more so.

 

[David_VT]

Sorry John, I was not clear enough

I am getting the BUSH this BUSH that crap from my family all the time since the 11th and I am sick of it.



You are so correct that it is inappropriate for these guys to slam the president on the day of mourning. My message was more to them in a virtual manner, not against anyone for reporting it.

 

[Dkevdog]

I was NOT a Bush supporter before nor after the election, and truthfully don't care a whole lot for him now. But this... ... ... . this is an entirely different issue altogether. It has NOTHING to do with Democrat/Rebuplican, or where or what Bush should have been or said. It does have EVERYTHING to do with standing behind OUR country in this time of great tragedy.



Two things to remember:



1: We are the UNITED STATES (key word United)



2: Its so easy to criticize a man when you have not walked in his shoes.



God Bless America and all those who fight for it!



Kev

 

[BK]

I agree and I agree that now's not the time.

I do think he's been doing a good job.

It's not his fault that they flew him around the country a bit before comming back to the WhiteHouse.

It's the call of the SS with input from the CIA, NSA, and FBI.

He has no control over it, it's all protocall.

These @#$@ that critize him for it, are to ignorant of the facts.



I think the mayor of NY is doing one of the best jobs I've seen him do, and I'm glad to see the governor by his side.



To Our leaders... Good Job... . thanks.



It took us almost two months to get into WWII after Pearl Harbor.

And just a couple of a-holes in congress wanted to filerbuster about the two important items. . money for aid and allowing the president to perform military operations when needed in response to this act of war.



It seems the other members of congress had a blanket party and fixed the couple of a-holes, it seems all is though congress at last report.





Bob

 

[swamp rat]

United or Divided

Here is my take on it. Either we are United one and all with not one single exception or we are divided.





Either we are all on the same end of the rope pulling with a common might in the same direction toward a common goal or we are working against the other toward separate ends and means with no solidarity.



If you aren't working towards a common solution, you are part of the problem.



If you are not an ally, you are an enemy.



If you aren't part of the team, your are the opponent.



It cannot be both. It must be one or the other. The choice is yours!

 

[tntway]

SOP

isn't something like that sort of s. o. p. when in this kind of crisis?

i mean that if we're under nuke attack AF 1 goes to the air. those f-16's off the wing weren't there for show...

 

[BK]

F16's always shadow AF1 when it takes off - flys - lands, being that close is unusual. Being on the wings of AF1 had more todo with the pending threat and Defcon status than anything else. All SOP, yes... not by choice of the president. THEY wisk him away. . he doesn't run. There are several fully out fitted "AF1's". Anything the President flys in becomes AF1.



There is always a "Football" carrier with the president, on the ground it's I believe an Army officer, when the president gets on the plane, the Army officer offically hands over the "football" to the Airforce officer that takes charge of the "football".



All presidents get one last ride in AF1 on their last day in office, after that now ex-president steps out of it and goes home, that Airplane now becomes some standard tail call letters, it's no longer known as AF1 till the new president steps in it. Again standard US protocall or "SOP".

 

[Crash_AF]

Actually, it's not a standard tail number, any government aircraft carrying a dignitary is listed as Special Air Mission ### or SAM###. This applies to congressmen, representatives, ex-pres, or ambassadors.



What this does is tells the ATC that the aircraft is a potential target and to give it priority clearance in an emergency.



The F-16s were really close, and that would probably be because of the nature of the threat. Also, there are many different types of aircraft that the president can be whisked away in depending on the emergency. There is the standard AF1 which has a pretty impressive communications array, and there is an airborne command post which has all the equipment he would ever need to control the armed forces from the air.



He did the right thing, is doing the right thing, and will continue to do the right thing. I saw it in his eyes when he addressed the assembled rescue workers in NY, I saw it when he stormed across the White House lawn (but he remembered to return the salute of his Marine escort as he climbed out of the helo ) right after he returned to the White House, and I have seen it in every speech he's made on TV.



Klinton might have been more articulate, he definately knew how to mince words (even if he didn't know the definition of them ) but he didn't come across with nearly the sincerity of Pres Bush. I don't remember Klinton going to the OKC site and rallying the troops there. (I was in Germany at the time so if he did, I might have missed it) Pres Bush set aside time in what can only be described as the most hectic time in his presidency to go shake hands with the men and women working themselves to exhaustion in the hope that they will find just one more person alive in the rubble, and that tells me that he cares about the people.



Later,

Joe

 

[SOLER]

ONe little thing on AF 1. When Nixon resigned, and Ford was sworn in, Nixon was aboard AF 1, and the minute Ford was sworn in, AF 1 changed it's call sign while airborn (I can't remember the call sign).



Now. Air Force One was not a specific target on Tuesday. The Pres was. Please understand that. The White House and the Capital building were suspected targets as well. So, let me ask this (I think we all agree that Meehan is a dork, but some of us MAY agree with what he said about Bush), if we have all these crashing airliners, and Bush immediately goes back to the White House, what do you think is going to happen? At least think about what is in the minds of the SS folks). Come on. They got a job to do. Of course the Pres was "hiding"--if you want to call it that. Nobody knew from where the next attack was going to come. And as soon as we discovered there were no more imminent attacks, the Pres immediately returned to the White House. Are we supposed to let our Pres get killed. I think that would seriously compound our problems!!



As far as "comforting a nation" I think he did that well. Clinton was and is a fake. And with regards to the OK City bombing, all he had to worry about was a few skin heads within the country, and only one building. Plus, he wasn't under any prevelant danger. Bush was!!! The OK City incident was localized, Sept 11th was not. Now, Bush has to find the perpetrators, and decide what to do. It sucks that he has to worry what the American People will actually support. Right now, I think we would ALL like to see a few countries wiped out. But by the time we actually do something, There will be many who question what we do.



One more thing. The Pres, even if he knows exactly who is responsible, he loses the element of surprise if he gets on the TV, (CNN is world wide, you know), and tells the world who we are going after. He can't just name names and let everyone know we're coming. Those guilty will run and hide. That will make it harder for us to get 'em, and harder if not impossible to find ALL who are resonsible. He is going to hold off, and make it look like we are a little confused. Meanwhile, he's got teams on the way to "acquire targets. "



N'uff said



SOLER

 

[tntway]

well said

soler--nail on the head man!! i mean it would take an absolute moron to think he was running scared. i'll say this again-i did not vote for him but i now like him. i think that Al would be sitting in a corner wimpering. joe lieberman would be handling the mess (being from Ct. that wouldn't be bad). BTW on his exit fron national cathedral yesterday, the only people that W. stopped to talk to was Joe Lieberman and his wife...



now, what would Martin Sheen have done?

 

[Turbo Thom]

I've watched the new F-22 take off from Dobbins AFB, and each time there were 2 f-16's on each wing and all those little slinder things on the tips of there wings and under the belly were not fuel tanks. Believe me , those f-16's were to remove anything from the sky that was a threat.



I hope everybody realizes this is real, as I remember Korea and Vietnam. A lot of men died and pain is very real. This could lead to a large war. ARE YOU READY?



. . Preston. .

 

[tntway]

just heard on msnbc

these two bums recieved threats yesterday for their statements.

had to have police protection at their offices.