The sword can be swung in more ways than one.
The actual event happened during Bush's watch, where intelligence pointed to a possible attack, yet the assholes you voted for didn't take it seriously.
And then you just went on to waste billions of our dollars in a fake war for oil that has caused our Current Account to plunge to last in the world by, I don't know, a few hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yeah, good job guys. You Repubs are good with fake wars and blaming government expenditures on the other party.
I so remember Bush starting in office as the "Vacation" president, given how the guy never clocked a full 30-hour workweek until 9-11.
The revelation I had lately, piecing together what I've seen of anti-terrorist bumper stickers at the gun shows my cop brother takes me to, listening to supporters of the guns-for-everybody plan, hearing others support invasions of Iraq despite the lack of any connection to terrorism, etc... is what motivates all that.
It's the politics of revenge. Revenge is the biggest motivator for a lot of people, even if it's at the expense of a ton of collateral damage that's much greater than the act being revenged.
Take guns-for-everybody. Revenge is the huge motivator. Statistics showing that a gun in the typical house is 10x more likely to kill a friend, family member, or loved one than any intruder or "evildoer" are besides the point. Essentially, we're dealing with people who are so motivated by revenge that they are more than willing to shoot 10 of their family members and loved ones as long as they have a crack at the one guy who might break in their window and try to steal their television. "Sure, I killed off two generations of my family -- but I'll be damned if I let that ass*%$# take my television!"
Similarly, that's what I see with Iraq and anti-terrorism. Forget that 37 million people in your own country are living below the poverty line -- let's spend $2 trillion on screwing with Iraq. Forget that you will kill 4,000 good American soldiers in a misguided wild goose chase to avenge the lives of 3,000 on 9/11 by invading a country that had nothing to do with it. It's about revenge. It's about that the idea of one single terrorist living out there is worth sacrificing 100 lives here if that's what it takes to get him.
I cannot fathom any sense in it. But the only explanation I can see is that revenge is thicker than blood for these folks. How else to explain a response so disproportionate to the threat? Something about being wronged by someone sends them into such a mental, bloodthirsty freak-out state that they're willing to get back at someone at all costs -- blowing up their home town with a nuke to spite their bad mail man.