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Posted on 05/19/2004 7:45:48 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
CANNES, France -- Two questions involving the duration of events: (1) So how long, exactly, was the standing ovation for Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11"? And (2) Did President Bush actually remain in a Florida classroom, reading from My Pet Goat, for seven minutes after he was informed of the second attack on the World Trade Center?
Moore's anti-Bush documentary was received rapturously at its black-tie screening here Monday, and a friend told me the ovation lasted 25 minutes. In my report I suggested that Cannes ovations, like the estimates of parade crowds in Chicago, have a tendency to be exaggerated. Since I attended an 8 a.m. press screening, I was not inside the Palais des Festivals to clock it myself.
Now I have another source. The ovation lasted 20 minutes, according to Variety, which may be correct, because its reporters all carry stopwatches to check the running times of movies.
In any event it was "the longest ovation in the history of the festival," according to Thierry Fremaux, the festival's director. At a party Monday evening, I asked Moore. "It depends on when you start counting," he said. "Do you start with the beginning of the closing credits or when the lights go up? When they just wouldn't stop clapping, I walked out and they kept applauding in the lobby."
And as for Bush's delay in reacting to the attack on the World Trade Center? Conventional wisdom has it that the president was reading to schoolchildren when he got the news and quickly left the room.
The Moore version: He was informed of the first attack, went into the room anyway, was informed of the second attack, and remained with the students until a staff member suggested that he leave.
"The teacher in that Sarasota classroom happened to tape the whole event," Moore told me. "We'd seen other footage from the networks, but it was all edited. She just left the camera running. She said nobody had ever asked her for the film. Bush didn't instinctively jump up and go into action, but just stayed on autopilot until someone told him what to do."
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
This is the best they can come up with.....? They will never, ever realize just how out of touch with the public they are.
Hey Bill.....EXACTLY what did you want President Bush to do in that 20 minutes in the school classroom?
What could he have done? All he could do was order any planes not heading to a landing at the nearest airport shot down.
That's a strawman, not the conventional wisdom. I've never seen that claimed anywhere but leftist hit pieces, like this one.
The Moore version: He was informed of the first attack, went into the room anyway, was informed of the second attack, and remained with the students until a staff member suggested that he leave.
That's a twisted version of the story. there were plenty of good reasons for it to be done exactly the way it was done, none of which are quoted here.
"The teacher in that Sarasota classroom happened to tape the whole event," Moore told me. "We'd seen other footage from the networks, but it was all edited. She just left the camera running. She said nobody had ever asked her for the film. Bush didn't instinctively jump up and go into action, but just stayed on autopilot until someone told him what to do."
His advisors and staff were continuing the plan they laid out before he went in. Words like 'dawddled' and 'autopilot' are just deceptive leftist spin.
That is exactly what I thought about, too.
Oh, I don't know....maybe TAKING CHARGE OF THE SITUATION instead of lollygagging around and reading to some school kids.
Anything would have been an improvement.
YUP!
BFD. So he didnt deviate from his plans for a few minutes.
Actually, this will help the President. They try to tarnish his image, but any reminder that we are in a post 9/11 world helps to clarify what is important and who can lead us in these troubled times.
"Can you imagine being a little tyke there, seeing a guy whisper something into the President of the United States ear, and then watch him make a mad dash for the exits."
Given the nature of the situation of that particular horrific day, that type of action would've been 100% justified. Those little tykes probably saw the planes flying into the towers at some point, a far more horrific, scary site than watching our CnC go into action.
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At that point no one was sure why a plane had flown into the WTC.
"Don't you think his "duty" to the nation after the first plane hit was just a little bit more important than the "feelings" of a few school kids?"
As this nation's CnC, yes. Apparently, I'm in the minority here. Most people here seem to have no problems with the CnC not really doing anything as New York City burned and a known hijacked plane was approaching the DC airspace. Amazingly, almost 30 minutes would pass before Bush left that school AND before the Pentagon was hit. Stunningly, few Bushbots have a problem with this.
Excuse me, but we just weren't prepared. I'm certainly no Bushbot, but c'mon. Rummy was still in the Pentagon when it hit. You think they knew what the magnitude of this was withing 5 minutes?
To be honest, I wouldn't give him 20 seconds, but don't let the facts stop you from posting your ignorance.
I ALWAYS was of the impression that Bush did not get up right away, but finished what he was doing with the kids.
I seem to remember he was lauded for his "cool", not jumping up right away and going off half-cocked.
I guess everything can be spun one way or the other.
I don't see anything wrong with sitting with the kids a few minutes more, to keep things calm and gather my thoughts.
Roger, Roger, Roger...if you'd told me in September 2001 that almost three years later, somebody, anybody still cared enough that Dubya spent a few extra minutes reading those kids the goat book to write a column about it, I'd have laughed at the thought that anybody'd be that petty. I mean, do people still make fun of you for writing those Russ Meyer breastsploitation flicks?...well, I guess I just did.
Go back to movie reviews, Rog, it's what you know about. And get rid of that simp Roeper. He's no Gene Siskel.
What was it he was supposed to do?
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