Rubio Clarifies Whether He Thinks Bill Clinton Is Responsible For 9/11 – TPM
“Well, I believe that if Osama bin Laden had been killed, Al Qaeda as an organization would not have grown to the point where it could have conducted 9/11,” Rubio said. “And my argument was, no, the responsibility of 9/11 falls on the fact that Al Qaeda was allowed to grow and prosper and the decision was not made to take out the leader when the chance existed to do so.”
Todd asked him if that meant he was not blaming Clinton for 9/11.
“No, he made a decision not to take out its leader, which I think ended up being there, the situation that happened with 9/11. And as this was a response to an attack, that the reason why 9/11 happened was because of George W. Bush,” Rubio said. “And my argument is, if you’re going to ascribe blame, don’t blame George W. Bush, blame a decision that was made years earlier, not to take out bin Laden when the opportunity presented itself.”
“So I’m actually still not quite clear,” Todd said. “Are you putting 9/11 on Bill Clinton?”
“No, I’m putting it on his decision not to take out bin Laden, absolutely,” Rubio said. “This is what happens when you have a chance to take out the leader of a terrorist organization, and you failed to do so. And the results are something like 9/11.”
Rubio Clarifies Whether He Thinks Bill Clinton Is Responsible For 9/11 from Talking Points Meme
“So, are you blaming Bill Clinton for 9/11?”
“No, I’m blaming 9/11 on Bill’s decision to not take out Bin Laden when he had a chance.”
“So, you’re blaming Bill Clinton…”
“No, damnit. I’m not!!”Report
“So Mr. Rubio you are criticizing all those republicans who said Clinton’s various missile attacks were just Wag the Dog style evasions? All those Republicans were wrong?”Report
There’s this thing called “false guilt”. “If only I had taken him out for ice cream for his birthday, he wouldn’t have been driving two weeks later to get some ice cream and he wouldn’t have been hit by a truck!” That sort of thing. Playing the “if only” game.
It’s not really healthier to externalize it.
(Though, sure, stuff like “if only he and I hadn’t been texting while he was driving, he wouldn’t have gotten in an accident” might be true… but the question is whether taking Osama out qualifies as a going out for ice cream kinda responsibility or a texting while driving kinda one. It’s not obvious that it’s the latter.)Report
If only I hadn’t given in to that craving for Chicken Chow Mein, I wouldn’t have missed two days of work with food poisoning. (Real example, from last week. And I am never going back to that place again.)Report
“If it weren’t for my horse, I never would have spent that year in college”Report
I originally titled this What I Tell You Three Times is True, but that was apparently deemed too snarky.Report
Right now, titles are the title of the article being linked (or some variation of it). This may change as we pass through experimental stages.Report
I’ll try again.
I originally titled this What I Tell You Three Times is True, but that was apparently deemed too snarky.Report
Personally, I’d vote against allowing titles of linked articles to be renamed under the Linkage format. If we permit that we’re on a slow roll to editorializing the content without appearing to editorialize the content, the absence of which is the unique virtue of the Linkage, as far as I can see.
Otherwise, put in the Off the Cuff section, ya know?Report
Yeah, this seems like bizarre logic. I mean, yes, it is trivially true that had Clinton taken out bin Laden back then, 9/11 probably wouldn’t have happened. But couldn’t you also say, for example, that if the first Bush hadn’t stationed troops in Saudi Arabia during the First Gulf War, bin Laden wouldn’t necessarily have directed his wrath at the United States? Or that if the CIA under Reagan had never funneled all that cash and weaponry to the mujahideen in the ’80s, it might not have set in motion the chain of events that so radicalized bin Laden? Or that if the Western powers hadn’t tried to so thoroughly colonize and exploit the former Ottoman territories, we might never have seen the kinds of violent religious fundamentalist arise in response in the first place? Or…? Or…? Or…? You can go on and on with this kind of thing. The point is that nobody actually employs this kind of logic in an honest fashion. This is just something people say to win, or at least not lose.Report
No, you can’t say any of that stuff. What you gotta say is that Bush Kept Us Safe.
Even tho the 11 part of 9/11 indicates evidence to the contrary.Report
…hunh?Report
Heh!!
Well … you know what I mean….
(Carrie Underwood is distracting me a bit…)Report
Maybe I’m just dense, but I swear to you I have no idea what you mean.Report
Oh come on now. Surely you know that the World Trade Center attacks occurred under Bush’s watch, yeah? That was Trump’s point the other night, the one which Jeb tried to obfuscate, and the one which led Rubio to deflect Trump’s assertion by blaming it on Clinton.Report
What does that have to do with “the 11 part”?Report
Nothing.
Unfortunately.Report
Ah. I think I get it. “.. the 01 part of 9/11…”
Does the mistake make sense now?Report
Yeah, that does. (That’s what I thought you probably meant, since “11. Spinal Tap. Dusting for vomit…” didn’t seem to lead anywhere.Report
I think I may be the only one here who doesn’t have a problem with this. I think you can look back and point out places in history where if you did X then Y might not have transpired in the exact way that it did, and not be saying say that the person who did not do X is therefor to blame for Y.
If Clinton doesn’t sign into law several bills that dismantle certain financial regulation, the 2008 crisis likely does not happen the way that it did. This does not mean that I blame Clinton for the financial crisis.
If Obama removes all embassy staff in Benghazi prior to the attack, then no Americans die there in the fall of 2008. This does not mean I blame Obama for those attacks.
If Dred Scott of John Brown do not transgress the laws they do, 1860 likely does not see a Civil War. This does not mean that I blame Dred Scott or John Brown for the Civil War.Report
Not sure I see that. Maybe if you repeated it twice using pretty much the same words.Report
awesomeReport
Had a butterfly not flapped its wings in the rainforest, monkeys might not have learned to handle guns.
Damn you butterflies!
Damn you all to hell!Report