esmaspäev, juuni 21, 2004
Daily Froomkin
Today's briefing points us to this interesting little piece that ran over the weekend. It's one of those stories about Bush's 7 minutes in the classroom on 9/11. There are two comments I would make on this.
1) The story seems to accept the false dichotomy that Bush set up: Either you sit calmly and do nothing or you jump up screaming "Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die!" and dive out a window. Needless to say, there was another option, the one Bush finally took 7 minutes later at the urging of an aide: politely excusing yourself and leaving.
2) This may be another one of those consequences of having an incurious president. First, take Bush's claimed initial reaction to the attacks. The moment the first plane hit the tower, both George Tenet and Bill Cliton thought "We're under attack. It's bin Laden." Bush said "Boy, that's one bad pilot."
Then, after being told about the second plane, Bush determines that it's more important to keep these 20 or so schoolchildren calm than to deal with a terrorist attack that has already killed hundreds.
Way to weigh your priorities there, Dubya.
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Today's briefing points us to this interesting little piece that ran over the weekend. It's one of those stories about Bush's 7 minutes in the classroom on 9/11. There are two comments I would make on this.
1) The story seems to accept the false dichotomy that Bush set up: Either you sit calmly and do nothing or you jump up screaming "Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die!" and dive out a window. Needless to say, there was another option, the one Bush finally took 7 minutes later at the urging of an aide: politely excusing yourself and leaving.
2) This may be another one of those consequences of having an incurious president. First, take Bush's claimed initial reaction to the attacks. The moment the first plane hit the tower, both George Tenet and Bill Cliton thought "We're under attack. It's bin Laden." Bush said "Boy, that's one bad pilot."
Then, after being told about the second plane, Bush determines that it's more important to keep these 20 or so schoolchildren calm than to deal with a terrorist attack that has already killed hundreds.
Way to weigh your priorities there, Dubya.
