… but, our president lied to us on the very night of 9/11. On a sacred day in American history, George W. Bush decided that politics were more important than telling the truth, and this is where his re-election campaign started. Luckily, he wasn’t under oath.

Here are his words, when the commander-in-chief uses his photographic imagination to recall the days events:

8:30 p.m. on 9/11/2001
“Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government’s emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it’s prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C., to help with local rescue efforts. Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks. The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow.” — GEORGE BUSH
Lie: Bush didn’t implement emergency response plans immediately, or at any other time. All actions took place without input by the president.By his own admission, which also served as an alibi, the president claimed not to have a single notion, “no alarm bells,” after being told that the first airliner hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, that it was terrorism.
The FAA, NEADS, the Air Force, the Secret Service, and others knew, but the information didn’t make it to Mr. Bush.

A few heard bells.

“I think when information came in about the first crash, I think the natural reaction was, was it a plane that went off course, what could this be, is this terrorism?” — ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY, TO REPORTERS ON 9/11/2001 (His story changed.)

“This has bin Laden all over it. I’ve got to go.” — CIA CHIEF GEORGE TENET’S REACTION, AFTER HEARING ABOUT THE FIRST ATTACK.
Earlier:

8:19 a.m.
“I think we’re getting hijacked.” — BETTY ONG, A FLIGHT 11 ATTENDANT, SPEAKING ON PHONE TO AMERICAN AIRLINE OFFICIALS.

8:37:52 a.m.
The military — Northeast Air Defense Sector is notified of the hijacking by the FAA.
FAA: Hi. Boston Center TMU [Traffic Management Unit], we have a problem here. We have a hijacked headed toward New York, and we need you guys to, we need someone to scramble some F-16’s or something up there, help us out.
NEADS: Is this real-world or exercise?
FAA: No, this is not an exercise, not a test.

8:46 a.m.
Two fighter jets are scrambled from Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts to track down Flight 11, as is the protocol, soon after the FAA determined that the airliner had been hijacked.
Even if the jets can get to the airliner before it reaches New York, the pilots will have few options, since the president is the only person who can order the shoot-down of a commercial airliner,and he’s unaware of the situation, and for some reason, he can’t be reached.

8:46:40 a.m.
American Airlines Flight 11 Smashes Into The North Tower Of The World Trade Center

8:47:50 a.m.
In New York City — “We have a number of floors on fire. It looked like the plane was aiming toward the building.” — BATTALION FIRE CHIEF JOSEPH PFEIFER “102 MINUTES”

8:55 a.m.
Before entering the classroom, the president spoke to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who was at the White House. She recalled first telling the president it was a twin-engine aircraft, then that it was commercial, saying “that’s all we know right now, Mr. President.” — 9/11 COMMISSION

It wasn’t until the second plane hit the south World Trade Center tower — and Andy Card came into the classroom. And whispered into his ear, “America is under attack,” when Bush was sitting in the Sarasota, Fla., classroom listening to children reading, when his mind, but not his body, began to stir.

“I was thinking about what the heck we were going to do. I’m an action-oriented guy. And I am thinking to myself: What is it I need to do?” — GEORGE BUSH
“I have nobody to talk to. My God, I’m commander-in-chief and the country has just come under attack!”— GEORGE BUSH

“In the Dec. 4, 2001, town-hall meeting, the president said he didn’t begin to make major decisions about the emergency until he was back aboard his plane. “I got on the phone from Air Force One, asking to find out the facts,” he said. — WALL STREET JOURNAL MARCH 22, 2004
“… and so, I got on the phone from Air Force One, asking to find out the facts. You’ve got to understand, Jordan, during this period of time, there were all kinds of rumors floating around. Some of them were erroneous. Obviously — for example, there was a news report saying that the State Department had been attacked. I needed to know what the facts were. But I knew I needed to act. I knew that if the nation’s under attack, the role of the commander-in-chief is to respond forcefully to prevent other attacks from happening. And so, I’ve talked to the Secretary of Defense; one of the first acts I did was to put our military on alert.” — GEORGE BUSH AT TOWNHALL MEETING

The problem with that story, is that the president didn’t get back to Air Force One until three planes had hit their targets, and he didn’t talk to the clueless Secretary of Defense. Minutes later, passengers forced Flight 93 to crash into a Pennsylvania field at 10 a.m., and the four attacks were over.

“Secretary Rumsfeld told us he was just gaining situational awareness when he spoke to the vice president at 10:39.” — 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT
Lie: The commander-in-chief didn’t have the military prepared to protect people on THIS continent.
“The nation was unprepared.” — 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT

“I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States. He talked to people about this. But I don’t remember the al Qaida cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about. ”— CONDI RICE TO 9/11 COMMISSION
Rumsfeld covering his own butt. Always amusing.
“Under our Constitution, under our laws, the United States military’s task is to defend against foreign invasion and foreign threats. The threat we saw recently was from a person in our country in one of our airplanes filled with our citizens. This is a law enforcement job. It is a job for the FBI. It is a job for the police.” —DONALD RUMSFELD INTERVIEW FOR ABC NEWS “THIS WEEK” WITH SAM DONALDSON SEPTEMBER 16, 2001
“The purpose of a hijack is to take the plane from one place to another place where it wasn’t intended to be going, not to fly it into buildings.” — DONALD RUMSFELD TO 9/11 PANEL MARCH 23, 2004
“Prior to 9/11, it was understood that an order to shoot down a commercial aircraft would have to be issued by the National Command Authority (the president and secretary of Defense).” — 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT
“The mission of the Air National Guard at the time was to protect the American coast. We were trained to shoot down other airplanes.” — GEORGE BUSH, “A CHARGE TO KEEP”

Lie: Bush’s first priority should have been to protect the country from further attacks …
… but it wasn’t. The commander-in-chief wasted many a minute, sat through a photo-op, made a TV appearance, showed no evidence of knowing his duties and vamoosed to Louisiana and Nebraska.

But after a day of failure, the president’s approval ratings soared over the 90 percent mark, his staff got the stories straight, and he rode 9/11 into a war of choice and a second term. Slick.

Conversely, when four Americans were tragically killed by terrorists at a CIA compound in Libya, the response of a certain sector of U.S. citizens was totally unforgiving.

“At any rate, I knew I had a job to do. And I was quoted in the press the other day as saying I haven’t regretted one thing I’ve decided. And that’s the truth. Every decision I made, I stand by. And I’m proud of the decisions I’ve made.” — GEORGE BUSH DECEMBER 4, 2001