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...the most devastating passage in the film ...[is] when Bush, who was reading My Pet Goat to a classroom of Florida children, is notified of the second attack on the World Trade Center, and yet lingers with the kids for almost seven minutes before finally leaving the room. His inexplicable paralysis wasn't underlined in news reports at the time, and only Moore thought to contact the teacher in that schoolroom -- who, as it turned out, had made her own video of the visit. The expression on Bush's face as he sits there is odd indeed.

Gosh, this embarrasses me as a member of the same species (and sex!) as both Ebert and Moore.

Seriously, God as my witness -- this is THE ONE STUPIDEST CRITICISM in this whole situation. It has been so ROUNDLY, so EASILY, so TOTALLY discredited -- that anyone can state it without a blush of humiliated shame....

Ack. This makes my brain itch and jitter. No more polite words.

Deb?

Dan
(c8

Gosh, this embarrasses me as a member of the same species (and sex!) as both Ebert and Moore.

Being a girl has its occasional upsides, I must admit!

The criticism of Bush's having read the story isn't new and it has ALWAYS rankled me. The President should be faulted because he chose not to let down a bunch of kids? Those minutes would not have changed what happened!

I have no plans of ever seeing "F911" but I'm going to snag a copy of "My Pet Goat" this weekend, FWIW.

Sarasota principal defends Bush from "Fahrenheit 9/11" portrayal
AP/Sarasota Herald-Tribune ^ | 6-23-04
Posted on 06/23/2004 12:26:24 PM EDT by veronica
SARASOTA, Fla. -- 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."

Ebert, moore, and the DUmmies will probably give the principal the one finger salute, IMO.