Anyone See A Pattern Here? (With Update)

"We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama."

-- Rudy Giuliani on this morning's Good Morning America.

"I was there [in the Bush White House]. We inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation's history. And President Bush dealt with it."

-- Mary Matalin on CNN (December 27, 2009).

"We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."

-- Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino on Fox News (November 25, 2009)

I'm certain there are more examples out there, but you get the picture.

For seven years, all the Right-Wing extremists in our country could do was constantly bring up the 9-11 attacks and how afraid we have to be because of them. Geesus, that's all Rudy Giuliani talked about during his failed bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. To quote Joe Biden from 2007, "There's only three things [Giuliani] mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11."

So do I believe that "Rudy 9-11" just plain forgot that the most devastating domestic terror attacks in our country's history occurred eight months into Bush and Cheney's first term in office and that Bush/Cheney spent those first eight months ignoring the al Qaeda threat until it was too late? And did he also forget that the anthrax attacks and the failed shoe-bomber attack also occurred when BushCo was in power? Of course he didn't forget those things.

This coordinated attempt at a history re-write is simply a political tactic, and it is a damn good one in my opinion. I may not like many of the GOP's ideas, but you've got to give them credit when it comes to political maneuvering.

One reason Operation History ReWrite is so successful is because nobody calls the Republicans on it. Can you imagine being George Stephanopoulos -- the host of Good Morning America -- and having Rudy Freaking Giuliani come on your show this morning and actually say that "we had no domestic terror attacks under Bush."?

That's like a gift from God. Stephanopoulos could have responded, "Now wait a minute, Rudy -- you've spent the last eight years talking about the 9-11 attacks, but now you're trying to tell us that they didn't occur when Bush was in power?" Had Stephanopoulos done this, the video of the smack down would have been all over YouTube.

Yet the corporate media let GOP whoppers like that one simply slide away. That's not going to change, and the Republicans know this. They also know that the Democrats won't challenge them on it either. It's a very good place for the GOP to be politically.

UPDATE: Finally, an honorable Republican:

In a Bloomberg interview, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, defended President Obama's handling of recent terrorism threats and took issue with former Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism.

Said Lugar: "It's unfair. I think the president is focused."

Lugar noted Obama has demonstrated "firmness" and "decisiveness," adding, "That's been the antidote to the criticism."

To be fair, other conservatives have come out against Dick Cheney's anti-Obama comments. As noted by Steve Benen:

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), for example, said earlier this week, "I think [Cheney] had his eight years, and he's caused a lot of trouble for our country and perpetuated a war in Iraq unnecessary and wrong-headed. I would say it would be best he not be so critical right now." Similarly, former Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, who left the GOP to become a Libertarian, called Cheney's vile criticism "asinine."

Plus, Stephanopoulos -- on his blog -- tries to correct his Rudy-9/11 oversight from this morning. [Let's hope that all of the Good Morning America viewers also read Stephanopoulos' blog].