CNN Commentator Margaret Hoover: ‘Hard to Imagine’ If Another 9/11 Happened Today, That America Could Pull Together Like We Did 20 Years Ago
CNN political commentator Margaret Hoover said she found it hard to imagine if another 9/11 type event happened today, that America would be able to pull together the way we did twenty years ago.
Hoover, joined by her husband and commentary partner John Avlon, spoke with CNN Newsroom host Jim Acosta Sunday afternoon, the day after the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Acosta played a clip of former President George W. Bush’s speech from the day before, in which he called out the dangers posed by both foreign and domestic terrorists:
And we have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But then there’s disdain for pluralism. In their disregard for human life. In their determination to defile national symbols. They are children of the same foul spirit and it is our continuing duty to confront them.
The CNN host called Bush’s remarks “an important message,” that “seemed to be aimed at Republicans, to get Republicans to confront this, to confront this demon in the party,” and asked Avlon for his reaction.
Avlon agreed with Acosta’s take, saying that the “beautifully written” speech “was aimed squarely at the January 6th Capitol Hill attack and all those Republicans who would excuse it or rationalize it or support it.”
It was “important” and “powerful,” he continued, for the president who was in office on 9/11 drew “that “very clear equivalence between the forces of extremism and fundamentalism and terrorism.”
“Republicans should be asked about it,” Avlon concluded. “They should be confronted with it. They shouldn’t just be allowed to ignore it because it’s uncomfortable.”
Acosta asked Hoover for her view, and she replied that she was “heartened” to see this message from Bush, that it wasn’t just a “beautifully crafted” speech, but also the critical subtext:
The way we were brought together in the wake of 9/11, [Bush has] pointed to this hyperpartisanship that’s so insidious, that it is hard to imagine, if another 9/11 happened today, we would be able to pull together as a country the way we did 20 years ago.
And we have to tackle that. We absolutely have to take it very, very seriously. And it is a result of many, many factors, not just one. It is not just Facebook or social media.
“We have to be very serious about tackling it and President Bush is right,” she said. “I appreciate his language.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
