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There has been a lot of discussion about Kerry's leadership vs. Bush's, particularly their military records. But look how each has responded in well documented instances where every second counts. Not political leadership, where you can get your speechwriters to craft a patriotic screed, but the ability to make accurate decisions in real time that affect whether people live or die.
Fahrenheit 9/11 documents that Bush sat reading a children's book to a classroom for seven minutes after being told about the second plane hitting the Trade Center. Just 3 weeks earlier he had received a PDB describing how terrorists were going to attack inside the US. Knowing this, he chose to sit there for 7 minutes while decisions needed to be made, such as getting NORAD up to speed, scrambling jets to shoot down any other planes. He just sat there for 7 minutes. (I still do not understand why the Secret Service did not move him. He was at a publicized photo op. If we were under attack, surely they would be afraid that someone might try an assassination attempt. Why leave him there for so long? Cheney was hustled out almost immediately to a secure location by the Secret Service. Why not Bush?)
In 1988, Kerry saved the life of a Republican Senator. Chic Hecht was choking on a piece of apple and passed out in a hallway. Others thought Hecht was having a heart attack. Kerry had just stepped off an elevator, quickly evaluated the situation and gave the Heimlich four times to Hecht, ejecting the apple. Hecht was told that if he had not started breathing again within a minute he probably would have suffered brain damage.
Kerry, as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, was actually working to get a Democrat elected to Hecht's seat. They were political rivals but not personal ones. They continue to chat every year about things and , while Hecht remains a staunch Republican, he has said he would appear on stage with the man who saved his life. Wish we had such comity today, in a era when the President of the Senate, the Vice-President of the US, tells another Senator to "Go Fuck Yourself."
Says Hecht of Kerry, 'He knew exactly what to do,' he said. 'But a lot of people know what to do. They just don't size up the situation immediately.' Bush apparently did not size up the situation on 9/11 for over seven minutes. I am sure Hecht is glad it was Kerry who got off the elevator rather than someone who could not size up the situation immediately. 10:41:02 AM 
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