DONALD TRUMP WAS RIGHT (ABOUT ONE THING)!

Donald Trump and Jeb Bush go at it!

    At the last Republican debate Jeb Bush’s declaration that his brother, President George W. Bush, had kept America safe drew enthusiastic cheers and applause from the predominantly Republican audience.
    I was amazed by the audacity of the comment, given the fact that the 9/11 attacks had occurred on his brother’s watch.  Donald Trump was right in pointing that out recently. What took him so long?
    I can understand why none of the other candidates called Jeb to account that night: they didn’t want to remind people of that fact. It’s not good for the Grand Old Party!               
    Trump’s remark has triggered a firestorm of criticism. “I’m not blaming (President Bush) for the attacks,” Trump said in his own defense. “I’m just pointing out that it happened on his watch!”’ He has a point!
    What Jeb should have said, however, was, “My brother brought the country together after 9/11 and we didn’t have another attack during the rest of his term in office.” That would have been an acceptable statement. For Jeb Bush to ignore 9/11 was disingenuous.
    But there is more to be said about this issue. No President should boast about “keeping us safe.” Just be grateful that since 9/11 there has been no similar, nor as devastating, attacks. There have been plenty of attempts, some successful (the Boston Marathon bombing, for example). Despite the best efforts of the CIA, the F.B.I. the Secret Service, the State and local Police Departments, corporate and private security personnel, and the general public, there is always a possibility of another successful
attack by some terrorist organization or a “lone ranger.” We may not call them all terrorist attacks, but there have been far too many mass killings for anyone to boast about keeping America safe!
    Another point: Just as George W. Bush was not to blame for 9/11, neither was Hillary Clinton to blame for the Benghazi attack. If Secretary Clinton’s role had to be subject to such scrutiny over the Benghazi incident, why was President Bush not subjected to the same kind of scrutiny regarding the 9/11 attacks? The Republicans’ politically motivated effort to torpedo Secretary Clinton’s candidacy for President of the United States is the height of  hypocrisy.
    In both of those tragedies and in all such cases, there should always be a thorough investigation to determine what went wrong and how best to prevent it from happening again. If there was negligence on anyone’s part, that should be pointed out and properly dealt with. Secretary Clinton has long been asking for such a public hearing. She will finally get her wish on Thursday of this week.
    I predict she will do very well.