Did America Overreact to 9/11? (At Least One MSNBC Host Thinks So)

Did you know that America 'overreacted' to 9/11?

Another day, another 'spit take' caused by MSNBC.

Lawrence O'Donnell's nightly show on the cable channel features an opinion segment called 'Rewrite.'  Tuesday's 'Rewrite' was also an attempt to rewrite history.

Like many folks on both sides of the aisle, Mr. O'Donnell wants to find a way to associate the 'good news' part of Bin Laden's death with his political party of choice while also managing to lay blame for any bad elements of this event on the opposition. Supporters of GITMO and the enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding are proudly stating, we would still be looking for OBL were it not for these tools of war. CIA Chief Leon Panetta admitted that information from Waterboarding helped in locating bin Laden.

Last Word' Larry disagrees and also wants us all to know that America overreacted to 9/11. See it and hear it with your own ears.

You have to wonder how the families of those who lost husbands and wives, children, brothers and sisters, lovers, etc. will feel when they hear that America 'overreacted' to the violent murder of their family members?

The comment about overreacting was not the main focus of this piece, that was merely a political aside. 'Rewrite' from Tuesday night had a bigger lesson in mind, that lesson;

If only we had elected John Kerry and not George W. Bush.

Quoting Lawrence O'Donnell;

Everything John Kerry said was right. Everything. And some of it was even a bit visionary. The part about quote, engagement in the Middle East economically, socially, culturally in a way that we haven't embraced. That carries more than a hint of seeing the possibility of the arab spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Syria that we are now so desperately trying to find a way to engage and embrace. As a President, Kerry would have had us begin doing six years ago.

Is this a classic case of 'woulda-shoulda-coulda?'

Does Lawrence O'Donnell actually believe that back in 2004, John Kerry envisioned the current wave of revolution sweeping the Middle East? Or that Kerry would not have authorized additional troops requested by generals, because that would be an overreaction?

And finally, one has to wonder if O'Donnell realizes the fact that his wistful election of John Kerry to the Presidency in 2004, probably would have prevented an Obama victory in 2008.

(Statistical sidebar that relates to America's 'overreaction': In just two years and four months of the Obama Presidency, we have lost over 920 American lives fighting in Afghanistan. During the seven plus years of the Bush administration, American casualties numbered just under 650. No death of an American soldier is to be politicized or trivialized. We honor their sacrifice and send our condolences to their families. These numbers are here for factual support only.)