Posted on 06/27/2004 4:15:05 AM PDT by avalon
By Associated Press June 24, 2004
SARASOTA — Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" criticizes President Bush for listening to Sarasota second-graders read a story for nearly seven minutes after learning the nation was under attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
But Gwendolyn Tose'-Rigell, the principal at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, says Bush handled himself properly.
"I don't think anyone could have handled it better," Tose'-Rigell told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in a story published Wednesday. "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"
"Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the top honor at last month's Cannes Film Festival, portrays the White House as asleep at the wheel before the Sept. 11 attacks. Moore accuses Bush of fanning fears of future terrorism to win public support for the Iraq war.
Bush told the federal 9/11 Commission, which released its report last week, that he remained in the classroom because he felt it was "important to project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening." Moore says Bush failed to take charge.
Tose'-Rigell, who was at Bush's side, did not hear what White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered when he squeezed past her to tell the president of the attacks, but "I knew it was something serious."
"The president bit his lip and clenched his jaw," she said. "I didn't know what happened, whether it was something with his wife or children or something with the nation. I remember praying that God would watch over our school and protect our children."
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."
Tose'-Rigell said she plans to publish her account of the morning of Sept. 11 from pages she wrote in her journal following the attack. The principal said she didn't vote for Bush. "But that day I would have voted for him."
You're right. Reagan was the anti-X in the eyes of leftists. Trees cause pollution, aids, what aids, ad nauseum. They were seriously pissed at Reagan. He went on to win re-election by the largest landslide in recent history.
How is Kerry going to win without Florida? He doesn't stand a chance there.
If it were true we would be seeing a huge drop off of folks trying to get into the USA by any means necessary.
Even one of the Abu grab so called victims said that he thought proper compensation would be to relocate in AMERICA.
You trying to get people in trouble this morning, Mom???
LOL! Get 'em!!
So, there was nothing that he could actually do, but he should have jumped up and left the room so as to appear to you to be "interested"?
The President of the United States was sitting in a room full of young children and was being taped. Rather than give anyone the impression that he was panicked, or scaring the children, he simply waited seven minutes. He collected his thoughts, braced himself emotionally, and probably planned a basic course of action for the following few hours.
Clinton would have leaped up and rushed from the room; anything to appear important. Bush has a cool head and acts deliberately. I prefer W's style.
Did you ever think that it may have been shock and not denial? Come on, give the guy a break. He did the best he could. What would the rest of us have done? NOBODY knows until something like this happens how we would react. We can sit and criticize President Bush all we want. He did what was best at the time. He didn't want to frighten the children and he was calm and pretty collected. I'm so damn sick and tired of all the criticisms of our dear President. They can't let him breathe without finding something to analyze and criticize. BARF!!!!
Bush heard the news at 9:07 a.m. EDT, finished his event, meet with his advisors, and was on the air to the nation BEFORE 9:30 a.m. EDT.
I'm sick of you people signing up here to spread disinformation and disruption.
Go away.
Troll alert!!!
The point is, it doesn't matter what Bush did, Michael Moore would have said it was wrong. If Bush walks on water, Michael Moore says he can't swim.
And another thing, where is the outrage from the left that Fatso is using 9/11 to fatten (pun intended) his wallet? Bush uses it in a campaign ad and they have a fit.
Blackworm, I had my TV on that awful "mourning" because my sis called, hysterical. My brother-in-law and her soon to be son-in-law were in the towers. (They both got out in time)
I watched Bush on TV, reading to the children. His behavior was appropriate, in my humble opinion. He listened to what was being whispered in his ear, his face registered shock and surprise, then concern. He went through the motions of letting the story be finished, then left the room at a natural breaking point, so as not to upset the children.
What do you think he should have done, given that he was in a room with little kids? How do you think other presidents would have reacted under the same circumstances?
I understand that the shock of being attacked in such a horrendous way makes people look for ways to displace their anger and fear. Much of this is just that. People looking for a cat to kick, even if the cat has behaved admirably.
New method of attack......
I did turn the TV off, because I had to get to work. It was a very hard thing for me to do, but I did it, because it would have served no purpose for me to blow off my job and sit around watching TV all day. Besides, I had the truck radio to keep me up to speed.
And yes, I was confident that others were taking care of the situation. I can't say I would have been that confident if Al Gore had managed to steal my state's electoral votes.
Taking the brief time to finish his appearance in the classroom demonstrates the sure, steady hand of a leader who can respond to events in a cool, collected manner. I guess people are just looking for ways to criticize Bush. They also chastized him for taking a circuitous route back to DC. In reality, it took sometime on 9/11 for people to sort fact from fiction and figure out exactly what was going on. History is replete with examples of confusion and chaos during an attack.
I agree. Those stinking liberals make money off of 9-11. They live by such different set of rules than us who have morals and values.
I am just about ready to call a war/ split the east and west coast and us fly over states will whip your ever loving butts. But ofcourse who do you have to fight for you, the over paid hollywood crowd, the gays?
Red states can take President Bush and you left and west coast can take Kerry and we will see who gets things done.
WAR TIME!
For all we know Andrew Card could have whispered Sir a second plane has hit the WTC. We are preparing for your immediate departure but you have time to finish the story before we are ready to move you.
Clinton would have handled this differently.
Realizing that a perfect photo op was just created by the current situation, bill clinton would cement his legacy by announcing to the children (in front of the assembled cameras, of course) that the country had just been attacked and not to worry, that he would keep them safe.
Thanks to those who replied politely, I enjoyed reading your comments, even if I do not agree with most of them. I won't continue flogging this horse, I just wanted to express my opinion and read other opinions. After looking around the rest of this forum, and experiencing hostility from several members, I see that it is not suitable for the kind of discussion and debate I was seeking. It was a surprise to see not one other poster agreeing with me, and a slew of posters vigorously defending Bush, when in "the real world" opinions vary wildly, even among conservatives. I understand now from this experience and from reading other threads that the homogeneity of this forum is self-perpetuating through harassment and chastisement of those holding the unpopular opinions. Not having the energy, or really wanting to "disrupt" the forum, I will leave as some posters have suggested. Consider this the last "disruption" from me. You "win."
You're a newbie who laps up the slop moore feeds you.
Don't take this personally, it's just a statement of fact.
The larger question is who has mislead you and why ?
I personally think that anyone who is criticizing the President for his reaction in that classroom is trivializing and simply desperate to find fault. He had to remain only another 7 minutes. It wasn't as though he stayed there for an hour or even 15 minutes. People need to get a grip.
Let's see what his options were....
1) Casually got up and sauntered out of the room.
(This would have meant, "he must have known it was coming
because he acted so nonchalant, he showed no surprise."
2) Got up out of the chair with great dispatch and alarm
and showed concern.
(This would have been intrepreted, "It was easy to see
that the President was scared and couldn't handle the
situation.")
3) Finished the seven minutes and exited the room.
(We know what has been said about this so what is the
point.)
I am sick to death of whiners and armchair quarterbacks. You disgust me as Americans and your treatment of this President is inhumane.
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