So, have YOU seen "Fahrenheit 9/11"?

[shmily_dana]

If Bush had made a speech to announce the attack in front of the children, Moore's movie would have had interviews with kids in that class who were terrified because mommy or daddy was flying on business that day.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And yes 7 minutes is a HUGE deal. Every second is precious.

Sometimes there is just no getting through to some people. I'll let you live in your fantasy world.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Verto
What could he have done, Kid, with those 7 minutes? Well, far less than seven actually. He would have had to go to his motorcade, to some location he could work from - the White House, Air Force One, etc. This would have taken time, during which he would be struggling with the Secret Service whose job it is to keep him safe. Let's not pretend Bush could have strode out of that classroom and been on the phones in 30 seconds, singlehandedly saving the day.

The point is that America was without leadership for seven minutes in a time of great crisis.

[Kuciwalker]

Die, thread!

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Kidicious
Gather information, and make an informed decison, and go out and provide some leadership.

Nobody (except for the terrorists) knew what was going on in those seven minutes. How is Bush asking people "Hey, what's going on?" supposed to help the situation any?

And what do you mean, "go out and provide some leadership"? It's not as though the New York police and fire departments were twiddling their thumbs, waiting for a call from the President...

[Kidlicious]

Anyway. I can testify that watching Bush sit there while we were under attack was great propaganda. Great material for a great piece of propaganda.

Bush looks real bad.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by GePap

Given I agree with the general notion the 7 minutes are not an issue: this is another strawman like Imrans:

what could hae have done? Made angry calls tryng to get people to shape up perhaps?

Lets not make things up either. This was an extraordinary shock for everyone. Why expect anyone to be jumping up and down. Anyone realize just how little time 7 minutes actually is in all but the most extreme situations (and let me add, Bush was at the time NOT in one of those most extreme situations)

OK, what have you done with the real GePap, this is way too reasonable!

Are you sure about the timing of the first plane before he started reading? I hadnt heard that before.

Another point that hasnt been brought up yet is the embarrassing fact that the President did not have good communications to the White House and Pentagon from Florida. Although the last couple of days of the 9/11 commission did not include any 'bigshots' they were very informative as to what happened on those days. It also came out that communications were extremely poor from AF1 and that was a source of a lot of confusion.

[Sava]

Kid, I think this 7 minutes thing you got going here is a big strawman.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Kidicious


The point is that America was without leadership for seven minutes in a time of great crisis.

[Imran Siddiqui]

When Sava and Mr Fun think you are nuts for critisizing Bush on something, just quit, will you?

There are many other things to critisize Bush on. This isn't even close to being one of them.

[Sava]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
When Sava and Mr Fun think you are nuts for critisizing Bush on something, just quit, will you?

There are many other things to critisize Bush on. This isn't even close to being one of them.

right on...

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Sava
Kid, I think this 7 minutes thing you got going here is a big strawman.

Hmmmm...


I'm not trying to make a strawman.

It goes to Bush's character. My perception is that Bush was afraid to find out what was going on, and that he wanted others to make the decisions. That would save his political ass, and that's all he really cared about. I don't even think he was afraid of what the terrorists would do if he sat there in hiding.

[Sava]

It goes to Bush's character. My perception is that Bush was afraid to find out what was going on, and that he wanted others to make the decisions. That would save his political ass, and that's all he really cared about. I don't even think he was afraid of what the terrorists would do if he sat there in hiding.

I agree it goes to his character. But even I am giving Bush the benefit of the doubt on this one. And lets be honest. What could Bush have done differently in those 7 minutes that would have made a hell of beans difference that day?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Sava
I agree it goes to his character. But even I am giving Bush the benefit of the doubt on this one. And lets be honest. What could Bush have done differently in those 7 minutes that would have made a hell of beans difference that day?

ARGH!

It doesn't matter what he could have done. You guys are the one with the strayman. It only matters that he didn't find out what he could have done. That goes to his character.

[GePap]

Spence: yes, Bush was told that a plane had hit the WTC and decided to go ahead with the event- i doubt anyone in his group either knew the scale of what had just happened or believed it must be terrorism.

The 7 minute bit comes after the second plane hit and it sort of became clear we were not talking accident.