What if 9/11 occurs a year earlier?

[barfbag]

This is a joke. Bush's credentials of being tough on terror would've been seen before the election. Clinton and Gore would've bared the burden of doing nothing regarding the first bombing of the WTC, Oklahoma City where McVeigh was in the Philippines with Muhammad Atta for two years, the bombing of our African embassy, the USS Cole, and now 9/11. All of these things would've surfaced and the administration would've been in shambles. It's a lot more intellectually in depth than waving the flags for whoever is in office when we're attacked. Maybe a 9/11 commission would've been called for by Republicans instead of Democrats.

[barfbag]

Why the hell is this back?

And barfbag... were you even old enough to remember the 2000 campaign? I was and Bush's foreign policy credentials, or lack there of, were a big feature of the campaign.

Yes I'm old enough to remember. I was in high school. Foreign policy during a campaign can be quickly changed in the face of a terrorist attack such as 9/11 even if it means his foreign policy became criticism of Clinton's foreign policy.

[barfbag]

One way to look at it is to think back to 2000. President Clinton was still very popular, but during the election, Al Gore managed to cling to every single one of Clinton's negatives and not benefit from a single one of his positives. Look at Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Ohio. I can't be convinced that had Gore benefited in the least from Clinton, at least one of those states would've gone his way and he'd have won the election. Arkansas and Tennessee were their home states for crying out loud and they weren't as red as they are now. Even if Clinton's response to a hypothetical 9/11 was well received by the public, there's evidence we know of from a real scenario to suggest Al Gore wouldn't have benefited from it. Bush could play the "I'm going to do it better card" too by campaigning on how he'd carry out Clinton's policies and how he'd expand them once in office. With as little as Clinton helped Gore and as self-defeating it would've been for Clinton to attack his own policies, I see a likely scenario where Gore still can't manage to benefit from a single one of Clinton's likabilities.

[barfbag]

If 9/11 happened right after the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole? People would wonder about our security and look for change. It's pretty sick to wonder who would have the political advantage if you ask me.