They say this about Al Gore as well when the US would have probably still gone to Afghanistan after 9/11 and libs would be cheering it as hard as they’ve been cheering Ukraine.
The difference between Gore and Bush is largely that Dems caved to Bush far more quickly than Republicans would have caved to Gore. I don't know if we necessarily get a 9/11 under Gore. If you put on your tin-foil hat, you might see it as an effort by Pappa Bush to congel power within the Executive... that's not something you'd want under a Democratic President. There's also a not-unrealistic assumption that Gore wouldn't have focused on Iraq to the exclusion of all else. His people in the Admin would have taken CIA warnings of a pending attack more seriously. Maybe Gore would have done something at a foreign policy level to defuse hostilities or delay the execution. Maybe he would have redirected the hijackers' ire at a different set of targets. Idk.
Even assuming the attacks went forward, one thing I can guarantee is that Gore wouldn't have had anything resembling the free hand or the unlimited money pile Bush received. The 2002 election would be a condemnation of Weak Liberals Caving to Terrorism rather than a buttressing of conservative ideology. Invasion of Afghanistan would have been slower and more clumbsy. Invasion of Iraq very likely would not have happened. We'd have a different set of political alliances, as - again - Pappa Bush's legacy allies in the region (the Saudis, the Pakistanis, the Europeans) would have approached Gore differently.
And Gore would almost certainly have been a one-term President.
The difference between Gore and Bush is largely that Dems caved to Bush far more quickly than Republicans would have caved to Gore. I don't know if we necessarily get a 9/11 under Gore. If you put on your tin-foil hat, you might see it as an effort by Pappa Bush to congel power within the Executive... that's not something you'd want under a Democratic President. There's also a not-unrealistic assumption that Gore wouldn't have focused on Iraq to the exclusion of all else. His people in the Admin would have taken CIA warnings of a pending attack more seriously. Maybe Gore would have done something at a foreign policy level to defuse hostilities or delay the execution. Maybe he would have redirected the hijackers' ire at a different set of targets. Idk.
Even assuming the attacks went forward, one thing I can guarantee is that Gore wouldn't have had anything resembling the free hand or the unlimited money pile Bush received. The 2002 election would be a condemnation of Weak Liberals Caving to Terrorism rather than a buttressing of conservative ideology. Invasion of Afghanistan would have been slower and more clumbsy. Invasion of Iraq very likely would not have happened. We'd have a different set of political alliances, as - again - Pappa Bush's legacy allies in the region (the Saudis, the Pakistanis, the Europeans) would have approached Gore differently.
And Gore would almost certainly have been a one-term President.