Stelter's narcissism
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"Network TV anchors were "the closest thing that America had to visible national leaders on 9/11."
He's right, with that correction.
Apart from the attacks themselves, my most enduring memory is the day-long silence from Washington. I thought then and still believe it was unconscionable. You had an entire country, millions of people, who were profoundly shocked, frightened and bewildered, and left dangling -- with nothing. No word. Nothing. Understandable that the leaders weren't available, but they couldn't assign some underling from State or Defense, dress him in a suit, give him some rank, to make a simple non-informational statement? Something in a Churchillian vein designed to at least let us know there was still somebody in charge up there???
They had nothing in place for addressing the nation in an emergency?
Looking back, it is possible this was my first inkling that the political class really were in it for themselves . . .
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"Network TV anchors were "the closest thing that America had to visible national leaders on 9/11."
He's right, with that correction.
Apart from the attacks themselves, my most enduring memory is the day-long silence from Washington. I thought then and still believe it was unconscionable. You had an entire country, millions of people, who were profoundly shocked, frightened and bewildered, and left dangling -- with nothing. No word. Nothing. Understandable that the leaders weren't available, but they couldn't assign some underling from State or Defense, dress him in a suit, give him some rank, to make a simple non-informational statement? Something in a Churchillian vein designed to at least let us know there was still somebody in charge up there???
They had nothing in place for addressing the nation in an emergency?
Looking back, it is possible this was my first inkling that the political class really were in it for themselves . . .
@catseye3 no.
What "leadership" did they provide? What guidance?
All they did is talk about it from their studios. Granted, reporters on the ground were different, but to have the likes of Jennings, Brokaw and (cough) Rather promoted to "leaders" is silly on its face.
And the President of the United States addressed the nation, from the White House, within 12 hours of the first attack.
You were 16 years old when this happened, Stelter, perhaps some perspective would be appropriate.
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@catseye3 no.
What "leadership" did they provide? What guidance?
All they did is talk about it from their studios. Granted, reporters on the ground were different, but to have the likes of Jennings, Brokaw and (cough) Rather promoted to "leaders" is silly on its face.
And the President of the United States addressed the nation, from the White House, within 12 hours of the first attack.
You were 16 years old when this happened, Stelter, perhaps some perspective would be appropriate.
@george-k said in Stelter's narcissism:
What "leadership" did they provide? What guidance?
And the President of the United States addressed the nation, from the White House, within 12 hours of the first attack.
Leadership was, yes, the wrong word and certainly wrong conceptually. But the people had nothing! So you could call it an any-port-in-a-storm style of leadership.
My memory is that the President addressed the country that evening -- I want to say around 8pm, and he was somewhere outside of Washington, I want to say Louisiana, where Air Force One had touched down after flying around all day.
Memory is notoriously unreliable, researchers have us believe, and I could be remembering it wrong. But mine feels accurate here.
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From the Oval Office:
Link to video -
I disagree that we had nothing. We all had people who lead in myriad ways, as it should be. In a small way I did. I was at work and everyone was glued to the TVs and asking what do we do? I said we do what we do every day. If we let this stop us they win.
The US isn’t Washington. It isn’t the White House or congress. It’s 330 million people doing what they do.
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Speaking of Barksdale...
Bush was in the nuclear bunker at Barksdale right after Air Force 1 went wheels-up and they made a decision on whether to keep her in the air or land her. Barksdale had the runway, the bunker and enough forces within a hundred miles or so, to defeat more than 90% of the militaries in the world. If you didn't know the bunker existed, you could drive by it and not know what it is. It is a drab, unmarked concrete building, but if you care to look, you will notice the razor wire on top of the fence. The fence being patrolled by airmen carrying M-4 carbines. And an occasional unfriendly dog and lots of cameras.
It houses the nuclear ordinance for the 8th Bomber Group, which is made up of around 40 B-52H BUFF's.
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Okay, I stand corrected.
This from CNBC: "At 8:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 11, Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office and uttered a line that changed the course of history: “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”
It was still a whole damn day, though.
Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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No reason to feel corrected. Your feeling on it wasn’t wrong, it was how you viewed it. That I saw it differently doesn’t invalidate how you saw saw it.
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No reason to feel corrected. Your feeling on it wasn’t wrong, it was how you viewed it. That I saw it differently doesn’t invalidate how you saw saw it.
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The ridicule of Bush in real time was shameful and I don’t think Bush was President long enough to be accountable for the lack of interagency cooperation that contributed to our being caught off guard.
The real metric was his rise in popularity immediately following 9/11.
How Stetler even became a voice we have to endure is shocking to me.
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Okay, I stand corrected.
This from CNBC: "At 8:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 11, Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office and uttered a line that changed the course of history: “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”
It was still a whole damn day, though.
@catseye3 said in Stelter's narcissism:
It was still a whole damn day, though.
Apple TV has a documentary on how the White House the president, and the staff reacted during the day.
One of the things that was stressed what is the importance of getting the president into a safe location, and it was unclear at the time, whether that would be in the air, a secure location, or the White House.
The chief of the Secret Service detail on Air Force One made it very clear that it was his call, and not that of the president as to whether he should return to Washington or not. Bush said, and I’m paraphrasing, “we had some strong words as to whether or not I should come back to Washington. “
It’s certainly worth a watch to get an idea of the mindset of the nation in those first 5 to 6 hours after the attacks. Nobody knew what was going on, nobody knew who the bad guysWere.
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Funny, I recall thinking that the TV news coverage was crap with all kinds of unvetted rumors making it to the airways. Shots being fired on the Washington Mall, an attack on water reservoirs, Press buildings bing attacked, and more. I shut the TV off and went on line… To me, this event also marked the day the Internet stepped up to be the primary news and information source for most people…
