No, this is not some Rick Santorum joke.
It's nice to see that John Kerry, in response to a question, criticized Bush's initial reaction to the 9/11 attacks, which is featured prominently in Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11: Kerry: I'd have stopped reading Sacramento Bee 08/06/04.
"Had I been reading to children, and had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to, and I would have attended to it," Kerry told several thousand at the convention of UNITY: Journalists of Color Inc.
Bush's reaction after being informed of the second attack was captured by television news cameras and later was included in "Fahrenheit 9/11," a film produced by Bush critic Michael Moore. ...
The 9/11 commission, which recently reported its findings into the 2001 attacks, stated that White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered in the ear of the president, seated beside the schoolchildren, that the second attack had occurred. Bush stayed even as the cell phones and pagers of nearby reporters started ringing.
Card told the commission that Bush delayed leaving in order to "project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening."
But Moore told ABC News in June, "This does not look like a man who is trying to project calm and strength. He looks frightened and lost, and you almost feel sorry for him."
The mainstream media thought it was their duty to present Bush as a strong, decisive, confident leader in the days following 9/11. And so they just "blipped" over Bush's initial stunned reaction.
It's good to see Kerry willing to directly challenge Bush's fumbling conduct immediately following the attack.
The full five minutes of Bush listening to "My Pet Goat" after he hears about the second plane hitting the World Trade Center on 9/11 is available at the Memory Hole.
6 comments:
Yeah, it's always easy to say what one would've done in a particular situation. But until you're ACTUALLY smack dab in the middle of the situation you really don't know, do you?
You're right, of course. And now we know exactly what Bush did when *he* found himself "smack dab in the middle of the situation" on 9/11. - Bruce
Bruce, I think you're being just a little too unforgiving with Bush on this one! I remember my own first reaction to 9/11 was that it was some sort of hoax, like Orson Welles's Martian invaders radio broadcast from the 1930s, so incredible was the story. Bush would have been inhuman not to have been shocked and stunned on initially hearing the news, and it's on his subsequent conduct during the hours, days, and weeks after the attack that his leadership qualities should be judged. It's just as well Michael Moore wasn't around to record FDR's initial reaction to news of Pearl Harbor, FDR might have had some "fumbling conduct" also. Of course some hard revisionists might say that such a reaction would have been acting on FDR's part, but I don't believe that argument. I'm sure FDR was stunned, and there are witness accounts from 7 December 1941 that attest to that.
Oh, I'm sure that Bush responded as well as anyone possibly could have. At least in the eyes of Republicans. After all, he is Bush the Magnificent, Liberator of Peoples and Hooder of the Unrighteous. How could anyone criticize his performance on that day? Or any other? Except of course, allies of Evil.
On the other hand, other heads of government might want to reflect whether they should try to duplicate that response in similar situations. When their chief of staff whispers to them that their country is under attack, sitting there for five minutes listening to school children read a story, then milling around for a few more minutes chatting with school officials, then giving an initial press conference flanked by elementary school kids - for lesser mortals than Bush the Hammer of Righteousness, that might not work out so well. - Bruce
Bruce, am I beginning to detect some bias, cynicism even regarding President Bush and his administration creeping into your weblog?! Are you considering starting up your own talk radio show? Believe it or not there are some of us (scant few probably) out here who are still undecided on the November election, unsure of Bush and unsure of Kerry. (Probably my own bias is somewhat against Kerry though, because his leadership is still largely untested. True, he was a brave and competent commander of a small boat in Vietnam, but so were many others and that doesn't qualify them to be president of the USA. But I'm very glad that Kerry is not Clinton/Gore.) David
Bias? At Old Hickory's Weblog? No way! It's strictly "fair and balanced" around here! - Bruce
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