[Perndog]

I've never said (or really) thought anything about this seven minute scandal. So it's about time.

Decisions get made without the President. Even when he tells people to do something, they were probably already about to do it or they already know it's a dumb order so they'll go back to what they were doing anyway.

It doesn't matter what GWB does in response to a crisis, as long as he doesn't get up and run around in circles screaming "OH SHIT WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!". It's not his job to fix the crisis. That's what the enormous number of non-public (non-politician) government employees is for. I doubt that Dubya gave or even had an opportunity to give a single effective and necessary executive order regarding the attacks for several hours afterward, assuming he has ever done so at all. His job is just to sit there and look calm and sane (1 for 2 is a pretty good batting average, right?) until his PR people tell him which arm to wave in which direction and which word to attempt to pronounce correctly.