Glen Kessler does the Fact Checker column for WaPo. In a recent column, he set out to defend Ilan Omar’s latest egregious statement: this time minimizing the events of 9/11, by suggesting we were missing context. Then he proceeded to give us a partial quote from George W. Bush, to show us that he did exactly the same thing. Except the quote from Dubya was missing the context to show it was nothing like Omar’s horrid statement.
Omar made her remarks at a banquet for CAIR held in California at the end of March. In her speech, she said, “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”
The quote Kessler used from Dubya was, “I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
Omar ran with that in this tweet.
The full text of Bush’s remarks clearly show, however, that unlike Omar’s remarks, that the president had a clear understanding of the dastardly nature of 9/11:
President Bush: I want you all to know that America today, America today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens
Rescue Worker: I can’t hear you!
President Bush: I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!