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The failed attempt at a terrorist attack in Detroit over the weekend has caused Republicans to revive their claims that Democrats are weak on national security. On CNN’s State of the Union today Mary Matalin claimed that George W. Bush inherited 9/11 from Bill Clinton, even though 9/11 happened 8 months after Bush took office.

Here is the video courtesy of Think Progress:

Matalin said, “I was there, we inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history. And President Bush dealt with it and within a year of his presidency within a comparable time, unemployment was at 5 percent.”

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Of course, this isn’t the first time that has former member of the Bush/Cheney team has distorted the 9/11 timeline. Last month former Bush press secretary Dana Perino claimed that the U.S. did not suffer a terrorist attack during the Bush presidency.

Here is the video of Perino’s November 24 appearance on FNC’s Hannity:

Perino said, “They want to do all of their investigations. I don’t know. All of the thinking that goes into it. But we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term. I hope they’re not looking at this politically. I do think we ought it to the American people to call it what it is.”

Of course this absurd because George W. Bush took office in January of 2001, and the 9/11 attacks occurred on September 11, 2001, months after George W. Bush took office. Anyone who knows how to use a calendar understands that September comes after January.

The motivation for both Matalin and Perino to tell such obvious lies is simple. They are trying to reclaim the post 9/11 “glory days” of the Republican Party. The objective is to convince the American people that only Republicans can keep them safe, and when a historical fact like the date of 9/11 challenges their claims, then they rewrite history to blame Bill Clinton for 9/11.

The Republicans are still treating the American people like they are complete idiots. Everyone knows that Bush was president during 9/11. Their pathetic attempt to change the facts should be an insult to every American. This latest great lie of the right is a shallow attempt to revive the politics of fear that carried the GOP to victory in 2002 and 2004.