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Perhaps Michael Moore Should Have Interviewed Her
By Matt Margolis | June 25, 2004
Who better to gauge the appropriateness of Bush’s actions the morning of September 11th than someone who was there?
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?”
Your typical Bush-hater would say that Bush was supposed to jump out of seat, and run off… perhaps even personally get a machine gun and start shooting… Or something like that… I’d be willing to bet if he had rushed out that liberals would be saying he should have handled himself better.
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.”
Perhaps Michael Moore should have interviewed her before cirticizing Bush for his actions that morning. Liberals who criticize Bush over his actions the morning of September 11th know absolutely nothing about leadership.
Topics: Liberal Idiots |
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June 25th, 2004 at 1:12 am
Matt - the left hates George Bush. But, they hated him long before 9/11. The way the election played out infuriated them and they are still angry. I took a course in conflict dynamics in college (an incredibly interesting course). The left shows all the signs of blind hatred. They, in their minds see George Bush (and the rest of us conservatives) as a bigger threat than Al-Queda. How can we possibly trust them to fight for our defense, when they hate us as much as the Islamic wackos?
June 25th, 2004 at 4:07 am
I agree that Bush made a smart move in continuing to read to the kids. Panicing would only cause more panicing. (spelled wrong?)
However, Kahn, you seem to have a problem with making sweeping generalizations. Not the most intellegent thing to do. While you’re at it, why not comment on how Jewish people are all snide and pennypinchers? Or how all people on the right are overweight white men afraid of change? And we won’t even get started on those mexicans, what with their job stealing ways.
Generalizations are idiotic, and catering to them only makes you sound idiotic. I lean left more then right, and I certainly didn’t hate Bush before 9/11. I didn’t hate him immidiatly after, either. And he (and other people on the right) certainly arn’t bigger threats then Al-Queda.
June 25th, 2004 at 10:37 am
And Cheney and his foul language. I’d be in fear of a man a breath away from the President when all he can do is use vulgarities when he’s angry. Even Kerry would never have used that foul disgusting language.
June 25th, 2004 at 10:44 am
oh please… with all the constant bitching about Cheney’s past with Haliburton, Leahy is lucky he didn’t get his teeth knocked out.
if you want to use that as a catalyst, then Kerry should abandon his quest for the presidency for his past droppings of F-bombs.. or his lying about u.s. soldiers in front of congress, or his other negative and malicious words used during his campaign.
June 25th, 2004 at 11:17 am
words please….
June 25th, 2004 at 11:57 am
I agree with Kyle about generalizations, I’m pretty liberal but I still don’t hate George Bush or conservatives. I dislike and strongly disagree with his policies but I would never use the word “hate” and I’m not angry about it.
First things first, when the country is attacked and your the president you have to get your ass up and find out whats going on or be in position where you can make decisions. If that class room panics they panic, its your job to calm down the entire country and get some grip on the situation.
June 25th, 2004 at 12:04 pm
“When I voted for the war, I voted for what I thought was best for the country…Did I expect George Bush to fuck it up as badly as he did? I don’t think anybody did.” -John Kerry
“These Guys Are the Most Crooked, Lying Group I’ve Ever Seen” - John Kerry
June 25th, 2004 at 12:49 pm
Matt- “Go fuck yourself.”
June 25th, 2004 at 1:05 pm
Looks like Cole can’t accept the truth either. poor baby.
June 25th, 2004 at 3:30 pm
Ok, BOTH parties obviously curse. Big frigging deal, they’re human. They arn’t gonna be perfect. Welcome to EARTH.
Of course, Cheney DIDN’T knock his teeth out which is a good thing. Then I would’ve been really worried. If someone’s pissing you off, you don’t just start sending off blows towards them.
As for Bush, what could he have done? He should’ve taken control of the situation-how? This isn’t an action movie, the president isn’t going to stand up and go “That’s it-it’s time to kick some terrorist ass!”
June 25th, 2004 at 4:26 pm
like the new format as well Matt. Should have said that earlier.
June 25th, 2004 at 4:57 pm
Criticizing Bush for completing his reading is childish, cheap, and intellectually dishonest. I probably fit the mold of what you people call a “Bush hater” (thought it would be inaccurate, in my case), but even I have a hard time criticizing him for reading to children, and I also have a hard time coming up with what he could have done that would have made a difference.
June 25th, 2004 at 6:33 pm
One thing that has come out of the 9/11 commission is some fascinating reading on just what happened on 9/11. Their timeline indicates that Bush was informed a plane had hit the Trade Center but that they thought it might have been an accident at that time. It was only after the second plane hit they were sure it was terrorism.
But why bother? To the Bush-hating crowd, nothing he could have done that morning would have been right. Not even if he had been giving a talk to employees at Cantor FitzGerald.
June 25th, 2004 at 6:51 pm
yeah we can’t see off the camera but Bush on camera did nothing. What the heck is this woman saying? That Bush, contrary to the video, sprang into action? NOT! Lmao. Gonna see F911 Matt?
June 26th, 2004 at 3:42 am
Pfh, don’t, I’m not going to. Moore has a bad habit of twisting facts and changing things around to suit his needs.
But then again, there’s always a few nuts and radicals everwhere
June 27th, 2004 at 10:14 am
“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?”
That’s an amazing question. Let’s see, the United States is under attack, what’s the best way for the Commander in Chief of the U.S. armed forces to respond to that? To sit in a classroom listening to a bunch of schoolchildren read? Or to do something else? To remain in a place where the only information he’s getting is about how a girl had a pet goat, with which she played in her house and in her yard, how the goat did things, such as eating cans, that made the girl’s dad mad, causing him to come to the conclusion that the goat must go?
Or to go somewhere where he could get information more immediately relevant to what was happening outside?
For those whose obtuseness passes beyond all understanding, the answer to the principal’s question is this: He could have gotten the air force bases in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. to scramble sooner than they did, with a good chance of stopping flight 77. 125 people in the Pentagon were killed when Flight 77 crashed. If Bush had taken immediate steps to protect America, there is a good chance those lives would have been saved.
So let’s look at the choices Bush faced:
1. Take immediate action, with a possibility of saving some unknown number of lives.
2. Take no action, but continue to sit and listen to a story about a goat.
I don’t know, it seems to me that everybody who suggests that option 1 was reasonable are just making excuses. In 3 years, I have never heard an explanation for why Bush chose option 1 that didn’t sound like a desperate grasping at straws.
June 27th, 2004 at 11:09 am
Lowell, you are assuming that the response to the attacks was halted because Bush hadn’t left the room. If you really believe that, then must either be stupid, or just a blind partisan hoping to use this as ammo.
June 27th, 2004 at 11:42 am
Why must he be stupid, why must he be partisian?
June 27th, 2004 at 12:21 pm
The response to the attacks was ineffective and disorganized, as we now know. Air force bases near Washington, D.C. did not scramble for way too long. But never mind that. Bush had no way of knowing what was happening, and he was supposed to be in charge. It was his duty to make sure the right measures were being taken; instead he sat and did nothing.
Remember, his choices were to:
a) Sit and do nothing
b) Do everything he could to save as many lives as possible.
He chose a).
What possible justification can there be for sitting and doing nothing while America is under attack?
June 27th, 2004 at 12:45 pm
Seven minutes. Bush sat there and read for seven minutes, that’s a real indictment all right.
How many of those seven minutes were taken up in getting the Secret Service caravan ready to roll? Remember, the guys in those black suburbans are spead out from Hell to breakfast.
How many of those seven minutes were used up getting the local police alerted to the change in schedule of the caravan?
How many of those seven minutes were spent getting the crew of Air Force One back from the coffee shop and back so they could start the preflight routine?
Even if everyone was positive that the first jetliner into the buildings was an attack, rather than an accident, and NOBODY was positive, the President of the United States isn’t like you and me. I can just grab my car keys and go. He can’t. You can’t just change VERY complicated security arrangements in an instant.
Can’t have it both ways. If it was an accident then he didn’t NEED to do anything, the NTSB and FAA don’t wait for Presidential orders to investigate plane crashes, it’s automatic.
If it WAS an attack (it was) then the President is an obvious target, Presidents are most vulnerable while on the move.
I’m a retired LEO. I’ve never worked a Presidential motorcade, I have worked gubernatorial ones and, once, the motorcade of a presidential candidate.
I was five miles away from where the bigwigs were, assigned to blocking one side of one cross street. The bigwigs went by, I opened the street again, went to get my lunch, came back about ten minutes before they were due to come by again, closed off that cross street. The bigwigs went by, I went home, gleefully adding up the overtime in my head. Had something happened while I was off getting fat it would have taken me three to five minutes to get to my spot.
Seven minutes? Damned fast, if you ask me. which, of course, you didn’t.
THAT’S why I view carping about those seven minutes as either stupid or partisan.
June 27th, 2004 at 12:58 pm
There’s no indication that steps were being set in motion during seven minutes Peter.
June 27th, 2004 at 1:03 pm
“How many of those seven minutes were taken up in getting the Secret Service caravan ready to roll?”
Who says he needed to go anywhere?
How many of those 7 minutes were spent stepping over to the situation room they had set up in the school?
0.
How many of those 7 minutes were spent asking his aides what was going on?
0.
How many of those 7 minutes were spent asking what responses were being taken?
0.
How many of those 7 minutes were spent evaluating whether those responses were the right responses, and giving orders to take more effective responses, if needed?
0.
Again, Bush’s choices weren’t to sit in the classroom or to go to Air Force 1 to take off. He had the resources with him at the school that he needed to protect American lives. If not, he shouldn’t have gone.
Again, Bush’s choices were as follows:
a) Sit and do nothing.
b) Take all possible steps to protect America.
He chose a).
And one question I have, if Bush’s actions were the right actions, why did he subsequently lie and say that he left the classroom almost immediately?
June 27th, 2004 at 4:14 pm
Lowell knows this all because he was there, you see.
July 1st, 2004 at 10:09 pm
Matt you are plain embarassing and simple-minded. You call others “partisan” yet you are by far the biggest “partisan” here. Your site is a joke and I reget stumbling on to it.
You know what, you weren’t there either. But is not that hard to imagine calmly getting up, “saying excuse me children”, and begin to address the stituation. After all he is just some schmoe who runs a blog, but the Freaking President who is SUPPOSED to a modicum of leadership.
p.s Fat guys shouldn’t weat goatees (even if the they are liberal)
July 2nd, 2004 at 3:00 am
…Hey, I know plenty of fat guys with goatees, and they’re awesome people :p