Another terrific essay from Orson Scott Card, on the bizarre partisan circus of the 9/11 hearings: How Bush Caused 9/11. (Hat tip: mal.)

The America of 10 September 2001 could not have prevented or predicted the events that happened the next day. It’s no one’s fault, it’s just a fact. There is no reason to blame any American for it. Not even George Whipping-boy Bush.

But if we stop trying to free the world from the scourge of international Islamic terrorism, then we’ll know exactly whom to blame for our failure.

I don’t know if the Bush administration’s policies will succeed as we need them to — Korea, Iran, and Syria are still open questions with no easy answers.

But so far the Bush administration has destroyed two hate-filled anti-humane governments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

They have also tamed the terror-sponsoring proclivities of Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, and Libya — bloodless victories, folks, that we only got because President Bush showed the strength in international leadership, despite all criticism, that Kerry is promising never to show.

So pay no attention to the hypocritical snipers who condemn Bush for acting whenever he took action, and for not acting whenever he didn’t. It should be obvious that to these unprincipled clowns, Bush is always wrong. They’re counting on us being so stupid that we don’t see their game.

They are greatly helped by the news media, which would have pounded mercilessly on Republicans had they done the same thing to Bill Clinton. Bush’s critics are all treated by the press as if they were making serious points instead of playing cynical political games.

But we really aren’t as stupid as they think we are … are we?