Not So Happy Anniversary

Consider this from Frank Rich's Sunday column in the New York Times. Headline: "The Passion of the Embryos":

How time flies when democracy is on the march in the Middle East! Five whole years have passed since ominous Qaeda chatter reached its pre-9/11 fever pitch, culminating in the President’s Daily Brief of Aug. 6, 2001: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”

History has since condemned President Bush for ignoring that intelligence. But to say that he did nothing that summer is a bum rap. Just three days later, on Aug. 9, he took a break from clearing brush in Crawford to reveal the real priority of his presidency, which had nothing to do with a nuisance like terrorism. His first prime-time address after more than six months in office was devoted to embryonic stem-cell research instead. Placing his profound religious convictions above the pagan narcissism of Americans hoping for cures to diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes, he decreed restrictions to shackle the advance of medical science.

... Maybe Bush would not have ignored the memo had the headline been, "Bin Laden Determined to Let The Gays Marry" or "Bin Laden Determined to Disconnect Terry Schiavo's Feeding Tube."

We'll never know for sure.