American Amnesia: Why the GOP Leads on National Security
If the latest polls are accurate, most voters believe that Republican politicians deserve greater trust on matters of national security. At a moment when Americans feel threatened by rising terrorist movements and authoritarian regimes, that finding is politically salient—and proves that amnesia is the most durable affliction of our democracy.
Every year around this time, ever since 2001, we promise never to forget the victims of 9/11, the courage of the first responders and the sacrifice of the troops sent to avenge them all. Our poignant recollections seem to be faulty, however, obliterating the hardest truths about that terrible event, as well as the long aftermath that continues to this day. The result, attested to by those polls, is that Republicans escape responsibility for the derelictions and bad decisions of their party’s leaders at crucial moments in the recent past.
Not long after the 9/11 attacks occurred, the Republican noise machine instantly began blaring a message of blame aimed at former President Bill Clinton, insisting that he had ignored the threat posed by al-Qaida during his White House tenure. That accusation was wholly false, but discovering the truly culpable wasn’t easy—because President George W. Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney, worked hard to prevent a full investigation by the 9/11 Commission.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/american_amnesia_why_the_gop_leads_on_national_security_20140922