Rudy, 9/11 and the Right’s War

Rudy Giuliani may have triggered a tipping point moment today in the national debate over the fight against terrorism.

He made a claim that has become a mainstay of Republicans and conservatives:

“We had no domestic attacks under Bush,” he said on ABC. “We’ve had one under Obama.”

Former White House spokeswoman Dana Perino made the same claim in November on Fox news: “We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term,” she told Sean Hannity. “

The claim was echoed by former Cheney-aid Mary Matalin, who said on CNN in December that Mr. Bush and Repubilcans “inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history.”

Obviously, these claims are false. Because they’ve been repeated so often by opponents of the Obama administration, one has to assume that they are deliberate falsehoods.

The 9/11 terror attacks occurred roughly 9 months after George Bush took office. Not nine months after his election. Nine months after he took the helm of state.

To put that in context, the Bay of Pigs disaster occurred three months after President John F. Kennedy took office. Does Mr. Kennedy own that debacle? Absolutely.

The Fort Hood shooting, meanwhile, occurred 11 months after Barack Obama took office, followed by the attempted Christmas day attack a month later.

Mr. Giuliani lays those at the President’s feet. Fair enough. But we all have to play by the same rules, by the same standards of accountability.

Put bluntly, American Presidents don’t get redshirt-years, or warm-up laps. There are no training wheels in the oval office.

That said, it’s perfectly fair — appropriate and necessary, even — for the two parties to disagree and debate national security.

But we won’t win this fight if we’re not honest about the facts. Right now too many Republicans are playing fast and loose.

Claiming that 9/11 didn’t happen on Mr. Bush’s watch represents a frightening level of denial, one that raises questions about the seriousness of purpose in GOP circles.

One suspects that a certain amount of mythology makes it difficult for some Republican leaders to confront what actually happened.

Republicans have long viewed themselves as the party most ardently devoted to national defense and security.

But unless they speak honestly about their track record, that reputation — damaged severely by the mishandled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — will lose all credibility.