Again, those who would give up freedom for security deserve neither. It's a sad day when this country has forgotten the meaning of "essential liberties" and how important it was to have them.
Actually, most of that 'sentiment' is just a jab at the Bush-heads who seem to think that having Bush in office makes us impervious to terrorist attacks. Pointing out the fact that he didn't stop 9/11 is just injecting a bit of reality back into the equation.
Don't you see how terrorism works? The whole point is to SCARE you. If we had been able to show that their plans failed, that would deter them a whole hell of a lot more than the woefully misnamed "Patriot Act". You know what would kill their morale? Rebuilding the Twin Towers immediately (and hell, make them one floor higher just to spite them). I'm sure we could have rebuilt them in less time than it took them to plan the attacks! What better way to demoralize terrorists and their cause than to negate all of their efforts and planning and show them that we can build faster than they can destroy?
Instead, people like you do exactly what they want. You get scared, and you become willing to hand over the freedoms that generations of people have fought and died for, just for the illusion of security. Yes, it's an illusion. You CAN'T make an airplane 100% safe; too many people have access. Even with all of the added checking and stopping going on in airports since 9/11, it's still only a small percentage of people who are actually stopped and thoroughly checked. What terrorist wouldn't take those odds? Even if it was 99% (and even something like 50% would slow airports down to the point of unusability), the terrorists would still try, because of their fanatical devotion to their cause. And eventually, one of them would get through and cause another disaster. Then what?
You have to be realistic about this. Those freedoms you're so willing to concede? A whole lot of people have fought pretty damned hard to get them. Don't squander them. It isn't worth it. Handing over essential liberties will not stop maniacs from trying to kill us, it will not stop the occasional one from succeeding, and too many people have given their lives for these freedoms for me to be willing to just hand them over for the illusion of safety.
NO ONE is capable of perfectly protecting us. If you think that's possible, you are living in a dream world. Nothing short of housing the entire population of the US in bomb shelters and never allowing them to leave would come even close to doing the job. I wonder if you would be willing to go that far just to feel safe.