36 Comments on Rocketboom : George Bush on September 11, 2001
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Interesting. I wonder how I would have reacted at being told the world was changing in front of a room full of children. I’m glad he kept his cool.
No offense to the RB crew but what is the point of running this video?
I’m honestly not trying to start a debate on the comment section, I’m just really curious.
I would expect a leader to say something like “If you will please excuse me, something has come up that requires my immediate attention”, exits stage left.
Unless he knew beforehand it was going to happen! (Just stirring up the muck!)
As a long time RB viewer, I must express my disappointment. Aren’t you guys located in New York City, there was nothing else that could have been produced having to do 9/11? How about a man on the street piece talking to New Yorkers?
No wonder the unity we had after 9/11 didn’t last long because people rather make political statements as tribute to such a day of loss.
I have to agree with Terry Ann, this was a poor way to pay hommage to the 3000 people who died 6 years ago today. Sure Dubya is a twit and I too agree he should have been wisked out of there pronto, as the nation was under attack–meaning maybe they knew where the president was and he’d be their next target.
Right secret service? Duh?
I mean what’s worse, breaking the hearts of 20 students or sitting there like a clown and not dealing with the worst attack on American soil? It’s a no brainer. Having said that, whatever Bush did or did not do, this episode is a disgraceful way to commorate all the brave men, women and children who perished.
It’s seems RB has lost its heart and its way…
B-man,
I don\’t see this as Rocketboom making any sort of statement other than \”this is how America\’s leader reacted 6 years ago when the second plane hit.\” There was absolutely NO commentary made by anyone in this piece. If you are offended by Rocketboom acting differently than all the other media outlets because you feel that they should have done something to mask the failures coming out of this war and 9/11 well that is your opinion, but i don\’t understand what you think Rocketboom \”should\” have done vs posting this video.
No disrespect to the 3000 people who died that day but, all the other media outlets payed hommage in their own way, I believe that Rocketboom has the right to show this awkward moment in history.
Agree with Drew - I believe I would have excused myself. But - at the same time - feel Pres Bush respects the Teacher, those Children, and the School. Knowing he could do nothing himself at that point in time - he patiently waited, thought, and considered.
It was a tragic, horrible, and unexpected day in US History. God Bless those families who lost the one’s they loved - and God Bless Our Troops for their unending protection of us all.
Are you kidding me? He is the COMMANDER IN CHIEF. Why was he not making sure Norad was off the ground preventing other attacks? The Pentagon might not have been hit if he had done something.
What was the point of this!!!
Do you think there was anything the President could have done.
Except cause panic in the class if he left immediately.
What if one of the children had a Mother or Father or a loved one who was killed!!!
This was pointless.
Just goes to show how narrow minded journalists(if that is was you call yourself s) are.
DAs
Drew and Joanne, have you no shame? Color me gone.
This piece of video is a unique historical moment and is perfectly fine to revisit.
It still raises relevant questions, especially now that we’re getting into a time when we will be choosing new leaders.
Of course it gets to the heart of many peoples grievances (with the administration), and stirs up debate, but better to remember ALL the context for an event like this. This clip is important.
This country is all about debate, I hope we can have some without getting nasty at each other.
Just like the Kennedy assassination, you’ll never know the REAL TRUTH, so you can either read 100 different conspiracy books over the next 10 years or get on with your life, and vote smater next time.
Again, this was NOT PIECE TO REVISIT TODAY! SHAME ON YOU RB!
I liked seeing this.
I naively didn’t know the video existed.
Rushing out of the classroom would have been panic. But so was staying in the classroom. He should have excused himself with a short discussion of how happy he was to attend, how impressed he was with them all, and how the Presidency was calling him away.
In fact, there is little a president can do in the way of managing systems when an event like this is getting underway, short of OKing a nuclear response. Commanders can’t or shouldn’t micro-manage individual units until a battle starts to play out.
It is the old military proverb, the first casualty of war is the plan or, the first casualty of war is the truth. One waits until enough concrete information is in before implementing secondary strategies.
The whole point of emergency and military defensive response is to be independent of strategic command which may be distracted from any one facet of events or simply “taken out.”
I find it hard to believe that the President would change policy to OK shooting down passenger jets in that short of a time frame. Even the easily phased George Bush, does argue that the gage of the extent of his executive powers is the direness of a situation, might sense the political danger in that. Possible the hit on the Pentagon would have been avoided. Possibly many more lives would have been lost in confusion when innocent passenger planes were shot down.
However, a boss or a commander must be involved when the crap hits the fan, absorbing as much tactical information as possible for his/her next strategic decision and giving the frantic chain of command a sense of control from the top.
–
freeman
Many Americans seem to have a lack of curiousness about the “Greatest Tragedy on American Soil Since Pearl Harbor” that rivals Bush’s on that morning. I have no conclusions about what happened that day in a conspiratorial sense, nor in a “George Bush is a strong leader directly guided by Yahweh” sense, but I feel that I understand the broad spectrum of varying accounts, and many of them are intriguing, and I feel that I’ve done my duty of being a well-informed citizen.
To watch this video with the proper context, you have to study all the curious things going on that morning, and all the events of the previous month, going back to at least the August
9th Presidential Daily Briefing famously titled “Bin Laden Determined to Attack in U.S.” http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/80601pdb.html
So, first of all, Bush already knew that a plane had hit the first WTC tower when he arrived at the school that morning. If you are one of those lazy uncurious types, you should do yourself a favor and at least read this Wall Street Journal article, which opens in pdf format: http://www.cwalocal4250.org/news/binarydata/9-11%20Government%20Inconsitencies.pdf
So before Andy card whispers in Bush’s ear, he and his National Security Adviser, Conoleeza Rice, know that at least one plane has struck the primary symbolic target in the most powerful financial district in the most significant city in the most powerful country in the world, exactly one month and two days after the PDB of August 9th. I’m just saying…
For those of you who still haven’t spent time reading about the minute-to-minuter events of that day, you should spend a little time reading the 911 timeline, especially this page: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&day_of_9/11=bush
and this page: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&startpos=1900#a091101carlyle
I have a Question?
Bush said He saw the 1st plane hit? But how?????
You’ve got video, so use it. I would have liked to have this video side-by-side with what was transpiring in NYC (and DC, if it was happening at this time)… people jumping to their deaths, frightened New Yorkers runing down the street, all as this nitwit couldn’t conceive of a better strategy than to continue with the children. Oh, what about the children?!
This entire episode infuriates me, and Bush’s behavior was inexplicable and shameful. He’s an unqualified disaster and an embarrassment to this country.
Q: What do you get when you cross Joanne Colan with Michael Moore?
A: A big fat pointless episode of RB!
This video is what you make of it. It isn’t edited, it isn’t spun, it is just a piece of history. For my part, it was interesting I can honestly say I have never sat through the whole 6 minutes of that clip. It will be forever one of those moments etched in time. Personally I find myself asking why it is so uncomfortable to watch.
To suggest this denigrates the memory of 9/11 victims is a completely facetious argument. It’s nothing of the sort, now don’t be silly.
This video could have been shown on any other day of the year. Why did RB choose to show it today? RB has had many opportunities over the 3 plus years to do so.
6 years later…what’s the point?
When Michael Moore showed the clip in Farehheit 911, it was a true shocker. Today’s episode was just grandstanding.
There’s a word in the English dictionary called RESPECT.
I think the families of all the victims deserved that today.
Nothing less.
Hmmm, along with all the other snide remarks that are commonly made on RB here comes another example of smugness.
If course, since this podcast is almost surely scripted by the DNC and since you love to cover this President with muck, it still amazes me why I still watch.
I guess it’s like watching a train wreck, just waiting for another car to derail.
Why didn’t you have John Edwards on to describe, in detail, what he would have done?
You guys are really missing the hyperbole train!
I’m so disappointed in RB. Showing that today for political gain is just shameless. Couldn’t you have shown this yesterday, or waited until tomorrow?
And don’t hide behind the “oh, it’s just a historical record” crap — at least have the courage of your convictions. Why that specific video, out of everything available on 9/11? Don’t insult our intelligence. We all know exactly why you chose it, and the result could only be divisiveness as the comments here demonstrate. Can’t we have one day of unity and remembrance?
We are at war. Petraeus just made it clear we are going to be at war for some time to come. He simply stated he will start sending troops home when they can no longer be legally kept in Iraq, at the most extreme end of their rotation. One year from now we will return to the troop strength we were at before the “surge.”
The duration of WWI and WWII and Korea are well behind us. We seem on schedule for the brutal duration of Vietnam.
Maybe it is time to stop being dramatic and start digesting all the facts we can.
Here’s to Kev, who waited half his life to wait tables upstairs and make some real money.
Here’s to Roberto, who taught me, by example, that you could serve the stupidest asshole customer in the world without raising your voice or blowing your cool.
I miss you guys and have never forgotten the things you taught me.
To those who think RB offended the dead by showing the Buffoon-in-chief in his moment of truth: Nothing compares to what Bush has done in their name since that day. Reminding people of that is not wrong.
Six years and the pain still lingers, even for a mug like me with a thousand miles and a couple of careers or distance from what happened.
I will raise a glass before I go to bed tonight, for absent friends and those who live with worse pain than me, and in hopes that one day a real leader finds us. I suspect that sleep may not come. Oh well. I’ll survive.
My heart goes out to you and to those who have lost loved ones on this day. I guess what ticks me off about RB today is their seemingly lack of empathy. Yes, we can be angry about the country’s leadership, but is this how we honor the dead? I would have preferred nothing at all.
While I felt uneasy to see this clip played on RB, I feel even more uneasy about the vicious responses here in the comments. In hindsight, this clip of “political response” is appropriate today, especially as candidates for the 2008 presidential election are using this event as a platform. You might not agree with RB showing this clip, but you flat out deny their right to show it, questioning their freedom to express their opinions. What does 9-11 mean to you? Does it mean we follow our orders with blind obedience, questioning everyone else who fails to do so? Reminds me of recent political debates: “How long are we going to be in Iraq?” answer: “9-11! 9-11! 9-11! 9-fucking-11!!!!”
What’s the point of this video?
Is RB’s point that our President should have scared the children by reacting as though terrorists have destroyed our country, changing it forever. Or should he have kept calm and cool and then carefully assessed the situation and then reacted.
I watch RB, but it’s becoming a little to political and snobby lately.
I think RB should have shown how we are never going to forget Sept. 11 or just honored the people we lost that day.
Does somebody know what exactly was the guy whispering to GW? It was after the 2nd tower was hit? So after the 1st was hit earlier they went on with the class anyway? Maybe after he already gave the appropriate orders? Second guessing is so much fun…
The real scandal, in my view, is the rather medieval-looking way of teaching reading. Poor kids.
As noted elsewhere here, the gentleman doing the whispering is Andrew Card, Bush’s chief of staff. According to the 9/11 Commission report, he is whispering, “A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack.”
Martian, Card said, “A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack.”
Why don’t you know about this wildly important and well-publicize event?
Read the above links ‘pudding pops’ provided you or research the details yourself.
This is hysterical…no wait. RB? Ouch. I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge this morning, on the way to work, and it felt like the world was crying. The clouds were heavy, the sky was wet and the people were sad. The day bore no resemblance to the blue bird sky of Sept. 11th, 2001. If I were GW on that day, I don’t know how I’d have reacted. He looked stunned, as we all did. He didn’t prevent 9/11, obviously, but could he have? The chain of events that caused 9/11 date back to the Industrial Revolution (over 120 years) maybe earlier, when the Oligarchs cleverly married Capitalism to Democracy…
But this is a time to mourn the loss of innocent people who were just going about their day, and the people who tried to save them, so I digress.
wow, that was painful to wacth. To think he just sat there reading a book upside down while my New Yorkers just died and more to come. And he just sat there for nearly ten minutes. WTF@#$%^&*
So some of you think Rocketboom\’s mission is to unify the country behind the 9/11 tragedy? Me, I found the clip boring and sad for the students being tortured (as an earlier poster explained) with that brain dead teaching method. As for GW being clueless . . aren\’t we all used to that by now? After all we have endured from him, seeing him fail to respond to a historic emergency . . even THAT is boring now.
Thinking about it more, the other reason I’m disappointed is the extreme laziness here. Is there NO new insight you could offer about 9/11? Is “Bush is an idiot”, hardly an new or original message, really all you could come up with to say? You have a powerful platform to speak to so many people, and you wasted it on this?
(I have a similar complaint about many comedians, TV shows, etc, who have been skating by for YEARS now, taking easy pot shots at Bush instead of actually challenging themselves or their audiences. Being critical is good, but you have to actually BE critical. Put some effort into it. Think. Make US think. Don’t just keep rehashing the same easy jokes from the last 6+ years.)
So… out of all the things I have to say about Bush (like I don\’t approve of him), this is the one thing that I appreciate. My childhood was full of PANIC, and I can\’t say anything else to Bush but thankyou for being a stoic, and remaining calm. You did those children a favor. I lean waaaay left in politics but this doesn\’t have anything to do with politics, it\’s just pure respect that only took a few minutes.
Also, thanks RB as I\’d never seen the whole thing unedited. It\’s not nearly as long of a period of time as people have made it out to be.
To the people pointing to the RB staff as being shameless or unthoughtful: it is now more than 6 years ago. We all respect the families who lost someone but it is good to not make us forget mistakes were made and not just use 9/11 for patriotism.