I'm trying to stay away from this topic until I get more information (there's no way I'm paying to see a Michael Moore film, so I don't consider myself a credible source on the issue yet), but I've been thinking about one part of the movie that's been getting some attention lately.
Apparently, Moore questions the actions of President Bush after he heard that the second tower had been hit. We're supposed to believe that he had a magical "make terror go away" button that was only active for seven minutes, then could never be used again. I've mentioned this before, but I just want to say that Bush made the right decision staying in that classroom.
Think about it. He was in a room full of children, he had TV cameras recording his every move, and he was in a situation that no U.S. president has ever faced before, so he obviously had no precedent to work with. What else was he supposed to do besides sit there and plan his next move? I think he got the best of both worlds with that decision.
If he had gotten up and left calmly, saying that he had "other business" or something, don't you think people still would've been suspicious? And of course, if he had tried to be a hero and announced that "America is under attack" to a room full of children, that would've been a disaster.
Now, some people are saying that he should've left the school, since he was putting the children in danger by being there. That's just idiotic. Even if the terrorists knew where he was, how would they know whether he had left the building or not? They could've been 15 seconds away when Bush first heard the news, and if they were planning to hit the school, they would've done it whether or not the president was there at the time, because it was part of the plan. It's not like they had spies in the building making sure there was a target of opportunity there.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the issue, although I still think that the Mooreons would be criticizing Bush's actions no matter what he did. After all, he's Bush. That makes him evil.
UPDATE
And how about this "the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, not Afghanistan" crap? Hey, should we attack Jordan to deal with Zarqawi?
What a pathetic way to go through life...
Posted by CD on June 29, 2004 05:08 PMIf you have a fast internet connection, Moorewatch has a bittorrent of the movie. Moore said that he didnt really care if people pirated teh film (they have a bitorrent of that interview segment too) so download away. I started it, but then realized that i was Stealing a Michael Moore movie and that he didn't care. Kind of a bitter draught, more like, what's the point.
Anywhay, that's my story.
I was thinking of trying that, but I'm not sure if I could even stand to watch it. The only Moore films I've seen are "Roger and Me" (which my soci@list sociology professor made us watch) and "Canadian Bacon" (which was on Comedy Central before I even knew who Michael Moore was). I'm afraid I'll try to attack the computer screen if I view this.
Posted by: CD at June 29, 2004 09:19 PMCanadian Bacon was a Moore film? AAAHHH!!! I watched it unawares! Must... get... clean!!!
Posted by: Army NCO Guy at June 29, 2004 10:13 PMSee, i love Canadian Bacon. John Candy's last movie, Alan Alda as president, Nuclear Weapons control in the CN tower, well, anyway, it's fun. Back to the point, the bittorrent doesn't work. Not worth the time. But i do want to see it, same as i want to see Bowling for Columbuine, but am sure as hell not gonna pay anything for it.
Posted by: tommy at June 30, 2004 02:36 AM