Michael Moore... Mistaken?

The passing of ten years allows the possibility to bring perspective to the black events that befell the nation on September 11th, 2001. One place where perspective is needed is in the criticism documentary film director Michael Moore heaped upon the president for his handling of the event as it became known to him. In the eyes of the second graders that were reading to President Bush that day, a more mature assessment is offered us. Now high school students, they have little agreement with the Bowling From Columbine blowhard:

"One thing the students would like to tell Bush's critics - like liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, whose 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 911 disparaged Bush for lingering almost 10 minutes with the students after getting word that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center - is that they think the President did the right thing. "I think he was trying to keep everybody calm, starting with us," says Guerrero. Dubrocq agrees: "I think he was trying to protect us." Booker Principal Gwendolyn Tose-Rigell, who died in 2007, later insisted, "I don't think anyone could have handled it better. What would it have served if [Bush] had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"

I always felt President Bush handled the terrible events well, and was encouraged by his calm and courage. I'll never forget his putting his arm around that firefighter at the wreckage of the World Trade Center, the words he said there, the first pitch he threw out at the World Series, the way he pursued a course of action that was a bold effort to defend liberty and to bring the fight to the enemy.

It's nice to see that the children that sat with the president that morning had the same take away as I.


With a hat tip to Roxeanne de Lucca over at Haemet.

My Interest Lay With The Crowd Outside

With the Royal Wedding such a recent, warm memory, one's thoughts go to the handsome young prince and his beautiful bride. It's fun to note then that our friend from the British Isles, though appreciative of the prince's good luck at convincing young Miss Kate to marry him, was most cheered with what he saw of the people of England itself:

"Because the civilised majority work to entirely different codes from the minority that control the culture it is all too easy for them to be underrated in their capacity to resist indoctrination. Having denied them a voice, the leftist establishment frequently makes the mistake of thinking they don’t exist at all. This mistaken belief is only strengthened by the good people's refusal - perhaps suicidal, but admirable all the same - to revolt whenever they are fresh oppressed.
...

So suddenly there they were: still alive, and still among us, terrifying the establishment with their heretic decency, good-naturedness, enthusiasm for tradition, and refusal to be embarrassed by their nationality or their flag. Like plague rats they came, swarming over leftist consensus, their weapons the steadfast refusal to hate anybody, or to view monarchical privilege as an injustice crying out for blood."

Love that Venerable Bede. Read his whole piece here.

Say It Ain't So, Joe

..the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable..

the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable You just gotta love Joe Biden. Though there is a lot of excitment and speculation as to how the mission to kill or capture bin Laden went down, most security officials are rather circumspect as to specifics. Here is a typical Q and A between a member of the press and a Pentagon defense official:

Q: "Can I ask you, can you confirm that it was a (Navy) SEAL team? And was this a specially designated team that had been practising or reviewing intelligence for a while and they were the unit of choice?"

A:"Not going to comment on units or numbers."

Now here is our Vice President at a dinner at the Washington’s Ritz Carlton Hotel last night:

"Let me briefly acknowledge tonight’s distinguished honorees. Admiral James Stavridis is a, is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understands the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday."

And a little later in the evening:

"Folks, I’d be remiss also if I didn’t say an extra word about the incredible events, extraordinary events of this past Sunday. As Vice President of the United States, as an American, I was in absolute awe of the capacity and dedication of the entire team, both the intelligence community, the CIA, the SEALs. It just was extraordinary."

This is the guy that the Dems were so sure had the experience and gravitas that made him an excellent VP choice over the hapless and silly Sarah Palin.

What a maroon!

Check out the rest from the UK Telegraph's Toby Harnden.

Done With Dithering?

Allergy sufferer Hillary Rodham Clinton...  choking back a sneeze?

What's going on in this picture?

Where does your eye fall, who do you see, and who strikes you as the leader of this group of people?

My eye went immediately to Hilary Clinton, and returned there a number of times. She has the most dramatic presence in the shot. Then my eye strolled about looking at the various managers and officers. But to tell you the truth, I looked at this photo three or four times before I realized president Obama is in the shot. Yeah! There he is, sitting low against the far wall!

A White House "insider" reportedly had the following exchange with Socy Berty's Ulsterman:

"What changed the president’s position and enabled the attack against Osama Bin Laden to proceed?"

"Nothing changed with the president’s opinion – he continued to avoid having one. Every time military and intelligence officials appeared to make progress in forming a position, Jarrett would intervene and the stalling would begin again. Hillary started the ball really rolling as far as pressuring Obama began, but it was Panetta and Petraeus who ultimately pushed Obama to finally act – sort of. Panetta was receiving significant reports from both his direct CIA sources, as well as Petraeus-originating Intel. Petraeus was threatening to act on his own via a bombing attack. Panetta reported back to the president that a bombing of the compound would result in successful killing of Osama Bin Laden, and little risk to American lives. Initially, as he had done before, the president indicated a willingness to act. But once again, Jarrett intervened, convincing the president that innocent Pakistani lives could be lost in such a bombing attack, and Obama would be left attempting to explain Panetta’s failed policy. Again Obama hesitated – this time openly delaying further meetings to discuss the issue with Panetta. A brief meeting was held at this time with other officials, including Secretary Gates and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but Gates, like Panetta, was unable to push the president to act."

I have no idea how reliable this inside source is, but knowing the characters in this particular production of Hamlet, I have to say...

... it sounds about right to me.


With a tip of the fedora to Jill over at Pundit and Pundette.

Update 5/4/11

Well, Chris Cillizza has weighed in on the photo, and surprise, surprise, has taken an entirely different view. I looked at this and when I finally saw that Obama was in the photo, I saw him as peripheral and voting "Present". The man who earlier was scratching his head to try to figure out how Palin came to have a low approval rating saw the photo like this:

"The image powerfully portrays the tension and seriousness of purpose of the people gathered in the room. And, while the picture wasn’t taken with politics in mind, the message that it conveys — serious people doing a serious thing — is politically powerful, reinforcing the idea of Obama as a strong and sober leader."

Serious people doing a serious thing.. like that surprised him. What was that Costella told Abbott?

"What makes balloons go up?"

"Hot air."

"So what keeps you down?"

'The Horse Soldiers' Open Thread

What did you think?

Bad News Bin Laden Bites The Big One

Osama Bin Laden, the murderous islamo-fascist who has organized the killing of thousands and plotted to kill hundreds of thousands more met some rather unexpected visitors yesterday afternoon. Apparently Mr. Bin Laden had been living in a million dollar complex some thirty-five miles north of Islamabad, and though he had few visitors it was a far more comfortable setting than most of his henchmen enjoyed in the mountainous territory of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr. Bin Laden's visitors requested he join them for a short helicopter trip, but their entreaties were rebuffed brusquely. Thus electing to end his days here on the earth, he was obliged. A forty minute fire-fight ensued that left the al Qaeda leader dead from two shots to the head. His remains were extracted out of the site, samples taken for DNA confirmation and his body buried at sea.

Former Bush administration officials Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield both congratulated the men and women of our armed services, and were gracious in offering praise to President Obama for continuing the pursuit of Mr. Bin Laden.

“At this moment when bin Laden has been brought to justice, we especially remember the sacrifice of the young Americans who’ve paid the ultimate price in defense of the nation, as well as the nearly 3000 Americans who lost their lives on 9/11,” Cheney said.

Well said.

The death of this hate-filled, murderous man was met with gladness through much of the United States.

He will not be missed.


Update May 2nd, 4:25 pm

Jill over at Pundit and Pundette has a pretty good round up piece on the day's events and reactions to it here.

Cillizza Ponders the Palin Tipping Point

Cillizza?

I know.. who the heck is Chris Cillizza? I don't think anyone knows. Nevertheless, he's one more newsie attempting to dismiss Sara Palin, this time by pondering the causes of her fall from grace.

"Even as Palin’s poll numbers have slipped, she, too, has faded somewhat from the spotlight. She continues to post notes on Facebook that draw thousands of comments, but she rarely seems to break through into the national dialogue.

So, when did Palin reach the political tipping point — and why?"

Gee, I don't know Chris, do you think it could have anything to do with the deluge of crap clowns like you have dumped on her for the last three years? The Posties can ponder on.

Meanwhile, the Politico is reporting Ms. Palin turning heads over at Tammy Haddad's Brunch Fundraiser.

"The big star at Tammy Haddad's eighteenth annual garden brunch was not, say, Chace Crawford, Morgan Fairchild or Shaun White. The biggest head-turner was Sarah Palin, who attended the party with Fox News' s Greta Van Susteren. Palin was also accompanied by her husband, Todd, and daughter Bristol.

"The nice thing about this is we're doing this for a cause, for special needs, which, of course, is near and dear to my heart," Palin told POLITICO. "A nice social event combined with helping to raise awareness and funds for special needs. We're honored to be here.""

Huh. And what about the newsies?

"Once inside, guests of all stripes angled to get a picture with Palin, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The hubbub was enough to cause one reporter to quip: "Look at all these reporters who typically rip her a new one mosey on up to her, desperate to get a photograph."

Sounds about right. That's why the Dems were so nervous and desperate to marginalize her, if ever they could. She has an appeal that the toadies of the press recognize, whether they are willing to speak of it...

... or not.