i remember coming to new york a month later and seeing firefighters from alabama or kansas. i remember giving a speech two weeks after 9/11, and, you know, we in the south love making fun of new york city. i remember the biggest line -- applause line was today we all love new york, and the entire place exploded. new york, that day, that time, that week, really connected with the rest of america in a way it probably never has. >> yeah, and it was also, you know, probably the high point of george bush's presidency. i remember when he came out and threw out the first pitch at yankee stadium of the first ball game that was played after the tragedy. that first speech that he gave, you know, he had the whole country with him at that point. i guess one of the enduring tragedies of his presidency, he could have asked us to do anything then and he didn't ask us to do anything. >> do you remember, willie, him throwing out that pitch? >> yeah, he warmed up in the yankee stadium with derek jeter, and derek jeter said don't bounce it up there, they will boo you. and he walked out and thr