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 ...
My bad Bill, my above reply #65 to your reply #13 was cut off.
It should read.
I thought the official liberal out day on FR for those who hide behind the banner of "Libertarian" was supposed to be in the last week of October or didn't you get the e-mail, blast fax, or memo from the DNC
I wouldn't know anything about that, Dane.
If President Bush could walk on water, Michael Moore would say "See, he can't swim."
It is still way off base.
Yeah right and clinton didn't have sex with Monica in the Oval Office, correct.
Your reply #13 says it all, IMO.
A. Michael Moore is a fat idiot. No argument there.
B. I've answered your "What should Bush have done?" question in several posts in this thread. If I was Bush that day, my first order, given the knowledge that now 2 passenger jets had been used to bomb the WTC, would have been to scramble jets to protect the nation's capital's airspace from further attack. Based on the well-known timeline found at thousands of websites (do a Google on 9-11 + Timeline), it's apparent that Bush had over 30 minutes to make this decision that might've saved the Pentagon. He did not do this.
I don't blame Bush for the attacks themselves nor think he could've prevented them from occurring based on what we know. I don't blame him for the Pentagon, since there's no guarantee that anything he did could've stopped that either. However, by doing nothing, he insured the Pentagon attack's success.
"Because a supposed small airplane hit one of the towers?"
No, because a SECOND passenger jet had hit WTC South Tower. How quickly we forget. Everyone here forgets that Bush was told of the SECOND attack, yet chose to not protect our nation's capital during the initial moments of this war.
You mean if there were any there?
Fortunately, I didn't vote for Clinton.
Bush is better than Clinton in a few minor areas.
W's own account puts the lie to this...crap.
He was informed of the first plane strike, and commented that was "one lousy pilot". He did not know the size of the aircraft involved.
Card whispered in his ear that a second plane had struck and that "America is under attack". W took a few moments to collect himself while going along with the photo opportunity. Then he got up, got informed, and got on with kicking terrorist ass around the globe.
By the way, why do you think this issue has not been raised by the 911 commission, a panel composed of outrageously partisan, anti-Bush politicos? Why do you think hack fantasist Moore is the one raising it? Could it be because only those ignorant of how our air response was set up at the time could possibly think we could have responded earlier than we did?
You believe Michael Moore.
McKinley testified that both ground communications with pilots and the radar system of the North American Aerospace Defense Command were designed to protect the country from external attack and thus worked only outside the country's borders.
As a result, military commanders were forced to rely on radar information from the FAA during the terror attacks. Moreover, they could not communicate directly with their pilots and had to go through the FAA.
In some of the more unusual testimony at the hearing, McKinley said pilots of two unarmed jets scrambled out of Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and intended to crash their planes into Flight 93, the Shanksville plane, if they could not get it to deviate from its flight path.
The planes were sent aloft at the request of the Secret Service, which feared that the hijacked plane was headed for the White House.
Good point.
I hope this question comes up in one of the debates. I feel Bush would blow the controversy out of the water.
Thanks. Amazing what that puke Moore is doing, isn't it?
I saw the video months ago, before Moore opened his fat yap in Cannes.
Even a broken watch is right twice a day.
This happens to be one of those times.
Petah Jenning basically said that when AF1 was criss-crossing the country.
You are 100% right. Bush should have stood up right then and there and started shrieking "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"
The man knew there were cameras on him. The man knew it was a historical moment that called for every ounce of calm leadership he could muster. He knew that the forces and agencies of government were already turning, gathering information. He also knew that there were terrible decisions to be made.
Get a clue.
Again, please excuse my amateurr typing skills, the above should read.
You(ActionNewsBill) believe in Michael Moore.
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