Replies to post #78501 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[felsha]

We're talking critical moments here, pal, where a moment lost could mean a difference between life and death.

Can you point out in this instance where anything Bush didn't do cost any lives. There are automatic procedures that go into action as soon as a situation like this occurs. It's typical Mooreian propaganda- pick up the tiniest kernel of fact and distort it out of proportion to criticize
Basic tactical military decisions are under control of the commanders. Do you really think the system is set up so that in emergency nothing will happen without getting the word from the president? Thats naive and naivety is what Moore plays on. His type of propaganda can only work with the ill informed.

I would think twice about having carter on that list of ready to act presidents. remember how is inability to act drew out the Iranian hostage affiar for years?

And don't forget that Kerry sat stunned in the senate office building for 45 minutes after the atttack- in his own words, unable to move or think.
Show me how Bush's actions put anybody at jeapordy?
It's just a tangential issue that Moore has picked on- much the same as the Al qaqaa explosive story. Making a big deal about less than 1% of the explosives that are in Iraq without any verifiable proof of whether they were even in the bunkers there or not.
There are many substantive arguments that can be made against Bush's policies. It's pathetic that Kerry has decided to use a buffoon like Moore as the template for his campaign.


How did it make you feel to hear OBL voice the same argument in his tape?

[felsha]

Bush on September 11

Cheap Shot



Fahrenheit mocks President Bush for continuing to read the book My Pet Goat to a classroom of elementary school children after he was told about the September 11 attacks. Actually, as reported in The New Yorker, the book was Reading Mastery 2, which contains an exercise called "The Pet Goat." The title of the book is not very important in itself, but the invented title of My Pet Goat makes it easier to ridicule Bush.



What Moore did not tell you:

Gwendolyn Tose’-Rigell, the principal of Emma E. Booker Elementary School, praised Bush’s action: "I don’t think anyone could have handled it better." "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"…



She said the video doesn’t convey all that was going on in the classroom, but Bush’s presence had a calming effect and "helped us get through a very difficult day."

"Sarasota principal defends Bush from ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ portrayal," Associated Press, June 24, 2004. Also, since the President knew he was on camera, it was reasonable to expect that if he had suddenly sped out of the room, his hasty movement would have been replayed incessantly on television; leaving the room quickly might have exacerbated the national mood of panic, even if Bush had excused himself calmly.



Moore does not offer any suggestion about what the President should have done during those seven minutes, rather than staying calm for the sake of the classroom and of the public. Nor does Moore point to any way that the September 11 events might have turned out better in even the slightest way if the President had acted differently. I agree with Lee Hamilton, the Vice-Chair of the September11 Commission and a former Democratic Representative from Indiana: "Bush made the right decision in remaining calm, in not rushing out of the classroom."



Moreover, as detailed by the Washington Times, Ari Fleischer was in the back of the classroom, holding up a legal pad with the words, "DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET." The Secret Service may well have been cautious about moving Bush, not only because of hijackings, but also because on the morning of September 11, a Middle Eastern man had tried to gain personal access to the President by falsely claiming that he was a journalist with a scheduled interview, and by asking for a Secret Service agent by name



[Moore response: Defends the factual accuracy of the segment, which no one has ever disputed, except regarding the book's title.]

http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm