Posted on 05/19/2004 7:45:48 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
"When I first heard a plane had crashed into the WTC, my first thought was something like the July 28, 1945 incident where a US bomber in the fog hit the Empire State building, not hijacking/terrorism."
That's the 1st image I had. It was in black-and-white too.
Bush can do no wrong, and if you're not with the president, you're with the terrorists.
The only thing I can think that he should've done was get the nuclear football out and look up some launch options. That's it. If he wasn't going to do a nuclear retaliation on the mideast, then there's not a lot you can do in 5 minutes.
Exactly. The crapweasles depend upon us having no memory of historical events.
An *O*vation? The audience mooned him?
You're exactly right. ABC Radio had it as a small plane, as well. The talk for many minutes was more about how the plane went "off-course" than any terrorist cause. It took quite a bit of time before the enormity of the situation became evident.
I'm not a big fan of Shrub, but c'mon . . . this isn't "High Noon".
The Prez doesn't actually do *anything* in this kind of situation except handle the "PR" angle. The Pentagon -- without political interference from the Prez -- handles responses like this.
This is all so silly. I know, it's not new, they investigated Mary Todd Lincoln for being a Confederate sympathizer. Like those who say FDR knew about and allowed Pearl Harbor.
Politics as a team sport. If you don't like the guy, criticize everything he does. That's the real cause of the fall of the American political system.
Nobody knew anything after the first plane crashed nutball.
I happened to be passing by the living room and one of the morning news people (Maybe Couric) casually mentioned it as they moved onto their scheduled stories. Nobody thought anything of it.. and then they got footage of it, and even then, it just looked like a small plane had hit it. They ordered the people in the other tower to stick where they were. They had no idea it was terrorism.
At this point of the universe (Pre-9/11) there was no reason to believe it was anything other than an accident. You want the President sprinting towards the steps of Air Force One everytime there's an plane accident on the news?
They would have made him out to be a g-damn nutcase had he stirred all kinds of commotion up and it turned out to be nothing other than an accident.
Actually, you and Moore are wrong.
*(Between 8:55 - 9:00 a.m.) Just after Bush arrives at Booker Elementary School and is briefly told of the WTC crash, he is whisked into a holding room and updated on the situation via telephone by National Security Advisor Rice. [Christian Science Monitor, 9/17/01, Time, 9/12/01] Rice later claims, "He said, what a terrible, it sounds like a terrible accident. Keep me informed." [ABC News, 9/11/02] School principal Gwen Tose-Rigell is then summoned to a room to talk with the President: "He said a commercial plane has hit the World Trade Center, and we're going to go ahead and go on, we're going on to do the reading thing anyway." [AP, 8/19/02 (D)]
*(9:03 - 9:06 a.m.) Bush enters Sandra Kay Daniels' second-grade class for a photo-op to promote Bush's education policies. [Daily Mail, 9/8/02] Numerous reporters who travel with the president, as well as members of the local media, watch from the back of the room. [AP, 8/19/02 (D)] Altogether there about 150 people in the room, 16 of them the children in the class. He is introduced to the children and poses for a number of staged pictures. The teacher then leads the students through some reading exercises (video footage shows this lasts about three minutes). [Salon, 9/12/01 (B)] Bush later claims that while he is doing this lesson, he is thinking what he will say about the WTC crash. "I was concentrating on the program at this point, thinking about what I was going to say. Obviously, I felt it was an accident. I was concerned about it, but there were no alarm bells." [Washington Times, 10/7/02] The children are just getting their books from under their seats to read a story together when Chief of Staff Andrew Card comes in to tell Bush of the second WTC crash (see (9:06 a.m.)). [Daily Mail, 9/8/02] Eric Draper, who is in the room, note that Card comes in at the conclusion of the first half of the planned lesson, and "[seizes] a pause in the reading drill to walk up to Mr. Bush's seat." [Washington Times, 10/7/02, Washington Times, 10/8/02]
*(9:06 a.m.) Bush is in a Booker Elementary School second-grader classroom. His chief of staff, Andrew Card, enters the room and whispers into his ear, "A second plane hit the other tower, and America's under attack." [New York Times, 9/16/01 (B)] [9:05, New York Times, 9/16/01 (B), 9:05, Telegraph, 12/16/01, 9:05, Albuquerque Tribune, 9/10/02, 9:07, Washington Times, 10/8/02, ABC News reporter Ann Compton, who is in the room, says she is struck "So much so that I [write] it down in my reporter's notebook, by my watch, 9:07 a.m.," ABC News, 9/11/02]
*(9:16 a.m.) Bush leaves the Sarasota classroom where he has been since about 9:03.
*(Between 9:16 - 9:29 a.m.) Bush works with his staff to prepare a speech he will deliver at 9:29. He intermittently watches the television coverage in the room. [Albuquerque Tribune, 9/10/02] He also speaks on the phone to advisors, first calling National Security Advisor Rice, then Vice President Cheney, then New York Governor George Pataki. [Daily Mail, 9/8/02]
*9:29 a.m. Still inside Booker Elementary School, Bush gives a brief speech in front of about 200 students, plus many teachers and reporters. [Daily Mail, 9/8/02] He says, "Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country" (see the text of the speech here [Federal News Service, 9/11/01]).
*But of course, he Let It Happen/Made It Happen On Purpose so we could go to war and get all that Irakee oil. So why would he jump and run?
*Sarcasm alert
In 13 minutes, what was he supposed to do?
Please see #50.
Yes, we're all Bushbots.
First how do you know Bush didn't do anything? How do you know what was going through his mind? You think you can make snap judgments in a matter of minutes to shoot down civilian airliners? Boy that would give Michael Moore plenty of fodder for his next fict-u-mentary, wouldn't it?
What would you have the man to do? He's president of the United States, and his nation is under attack. Would you have him go to Washington, so he could be a target? I'm sure the Secret Service would have some objections to that. As bad as 9.11 was, losing our leader would have compounded the tragedy, making it like Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy assination combined. It would have a devestating effect on the American people. Of course, I'm sure idiots like Michael Moore wouldn't mind.
The Democrats are devoutly, and despicably, depending on short memories in this election cycle. Spinning history, as usual.
Howlin, are you saying Lumpy Reifenstahl lied to us?
Yes, I am. And I'd say it to his fat face.
BROWN: Major, before you get away, and I apologize if you - if I'm asking you to repeat something, I'm having a little trouble hearing you. Do we know exactly where the president was when he was told?
GARRETT: He was just arriving here in Sarasota at Emma E. Booker (ph) Elementary School. He had taken an early morning jog this morning in Sarasota. Had just arrived here with the presidential motorcade. Then the spectacular, horrific pictures began appearing on television sets here at the elementary school. The president received a telephone call from Condoleeza Rice, national security advisor. Then he received an update from his chief of staff, Andrew Card, traveling with him. Then it was made clear to the press traveling with the president he would make a statement.
Shortly before that statement he was actually sitting down with some children here at the elementary school reading them a book. Reporters asked him if he knew about the situation of the Twin Towers. He nodded and said he would talk about it momentarily, in fact he did. We just heard the president's statement, declaring this an apparent act of terrorism.
END OF EXCERPT
So, what does this tell us? It certainly appears Bush continued on with the children, fully aware of the events unfolding. It also appears that he fully understood the magnitude of the events, because the press was told the President of the United States was to make a statement. It is highly probable that the president's staff (Card primarily) understood that a national address was imperative. It is also highly probable that the nation's networks were not prepared to pre-empt their programming without some short notice.
Had there not been a delay, Americans would have seen disjointed clips of the President's statement, adding to the sense of confusion that day (anyone remember how crazy things were that morning?). Waiting to speak was the right call, and remaining with the kids was, to me, an act of extraordinary self restraint. Having him bolt out of there at the first sign of trouble could have been disastrous.
The attack on of Pearl Harbor went on for 2 hours. I wonder what FDR was doing?
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