I was in the midst of my morning drive radio show when a bulletin came over the wire that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. At first I thought it must be either a REALLY shitty pilot, or nasty weather over Manhattan. Even so, I turned on the TV in the studio, and began watching the coverage. It wasn't long when, right before my eyes, the second plane hit. I couldn't believe it. I mean, one's an accident, two's a deliberate attack!! We began uninterrupted (commercial-free) coverage of the story as it broke throughout the day. Then the report came of the plane striking the Pentagon. I remember saying, live on the air, "Holy crap, folks....we're at war!!" After all, one's an accident, and two's an attack, but three is a definite declaration of war.
The wife and I were watching TV in the ensuing days, when President Bush (I miss him) made the famous statement about "the people who knocked these towers down will hear from all of us soon." At the time I remember thinking that was just what the country needed to hear. My wife looked at me and said, "In my wildest dreams I can't imagine Al Gore saying that. Thank GOD Bush was elected!!" I couldn't have agreed more....then or now. He most likely won't go down in history as the best President in history (although he is by FAR the best President of the 21st Century, to date), but I believed then and believe now that he was the right man for the job at that moment in history.