Moore Facts (Part 2)? by Jeffrey J. Jackson (7/15/04)

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*Author's Note: This is the first part of a multipart exposure of Michael Moore's lies hidden around nuggets of truth. Mr. Moore attempts to post a "Fact Sheet" on his website to debunk critics of his "documentary" While many of the items are indeed truthful, they are not true in the way Mr. Moore attempts to portray them. So without further delay here is Part 2. To read part 1, follow this link to Moore Facts?

Michael Moore’s “FACT” sheet continues:

“In his first eight months in office before September 11, George W. Bush was on vacation, according to the Washington Post, forty-two percent of the time.”

Why is it presented: to show that President Bush is a liar, and idiot and an incompetent President

The problem here is that “vacation” implies that someone is away from their work and detached from the duties required by it. Ask the average citizen what “vacation” means and you will get a similar response. Moore’s Washington Post “source” says that these vacations were “weekends at Camp David, layovers at Kennebunkport and assorted to-ing and fro-ing”. Are these “vacations”? How does a President go on “vacation”?

Does he perhaps spend time outside of the Oval Office and does this time away constitute “vacation”?

No. Michael Moore and the Washington Post actually provide no evidence that President Bush was on “vacation” in the traditional sense of the word. He did show that yes, President Bush spent a lot of time out side of the Oval Office however.

The USA today on 8/3/2001 even reported “White House officials point out that the president is never off the clock. They refer to the 30 days at his Texas ranch — now it's called the Western White House — as a working vacation. “He'll receive daily national security updates and handle the duties of the Oval Office from his 1,583-acre spread near Crawford.”

This statement is presented to give a false impression, hence definition #2 of a lie “to create a false or misleading impression”.

“Bush relaxes at Camp David, Kennebunkport and his ranch in Crawford Texas.”

Why is it presented: to show that President Bush is a liar, and idiot and an incompetent President.

This statement goes hand in hand with the previous assertion by Mr. Moore. And as such is also presented to give a false impression, hence definition #2 of a lie “to create a false or misleading impression”.

“On Sept. 10, 2001 , Bush joined his brother in Florida where he slept the night in “a bed made of fine French linens.”

Why is it presented: to show that President Bush is a liar, and idiot and an incompetent President.

Michael Moore is attempting here to show that President Bush is not a trustworthy man of the people because he is linking him to items most American’s would see as only being possessed by wealthy fat cats. You know, like the kind that are in bed with BIG OIL!

Mr. Moore is trying to discredit George Bush’s down to earth persona in this manner. He is attempting to discredit George Bush without providing any evidence of why he should be discredited.

This statement is presented to give a false impression, hence definition #2 of a lie “to create a false or misleading impression”.

“As the attack took place, Mr. Bush was on his way to an elementary school in Florida . When informed of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, where terrorists had struck just eight years prior, Bush just decided to go ahead with his photo opportunity.”

Why is it presented: to show that President Bush is a liar, and idiot and an incompetent President.

Note that on Michael Moore’s website, he attempts to justify this claim even further by saying “NOTE: It should be emphasized that at the time Bush was notified of the first plane attack, he (unlike the rest of America) was already aware that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America by hijacking airplanes, per the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Brief (PDB). He was also aware, of course, that the World Trade Center had been historically a target for terrorist attacks. He nonetheless went ahead with this photo opportunity in a school full of children.”

The FACT of the matter is, that even at the time President Bush had been notified, little information was available. The fact that ObL had been known to desire to hijack planes does not however, as Michael Moore attempts to show, have any direct link to the World Trade Center or the crashing of them in to such a building. His “source”, the PDB, is a compilation of vague threats.

This is all presented, as previously stated, to try and show that President Bush is incompetent. What it actually shows is that he remained calm during a situation where his own life was in danger because many people knew where he was going to be on that day. He wasn’t hiding in a secret bunker somewhere because he had prior knowledge of what would be happening.

Michael Moore’s own source says “George Sr. Mr. Rove, a fellow Texan with an expansive manner and a colorful turn of phrase, told the President that a large commercial airliner (American Flight 11) had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre . Mr. Bush clenched his teeth, lowered his bottom lip and said something inaudible. Then he went into the school.”

Note that nowhere in this report is it mentioned that any further information was given to the President or that even if any further information was available. But Michael Moore, being the omnipotent person that he is knew everything from the start?

I remember watching these events. It wasn’t until the second plane hit that the thought of “terrorism” entered my mind even though I also knew that ObL planned attacks on the United States.

This statement is presented to give a false impression, hence definition #2 of a lie “to create a false or misleading impression”.

“When the second plane hit the tower, his chief of staff entered the classroom and told Mr. Bush the nation is under attack.”

And

“Mr. Bush just sat there and continued to read My Pet Goat.”

Why is it presented: to show that President Bush is a liar, and idiot and an incompetent President.

It is also true however it is not true in the sense that Mr. Moore wants to use it to for his purposes. Mr. Moore is attempting to paint the government as hanging only on the President and what the President does. I refer you to the limited powers of the President in the Constitution if you are unaware of them. The President is a symbolic leader, true, however the fact that he remained calm in a room full of children does not show a lack of leadership.

While President Bush was completing his “role” at the school, the wheels were already in motion around the country to respond. Firefighters and paramedics and police in New York City were on their way to the scene. Air Traffic Controllers were gaining control of the sky. Military units were scrambled.

And all of that and more happened while the President remained calm and said nothing.

This statement is presented to give a false impression, hence definition #2 of a lie “to create a false or misleading impression”.

“Nearly seven minutes passed with nobody doing anything.”

Why is it presented: to show that President Bush is a liar, and idiot and an incompetent President.

Blatantly false as shown in the previous rebuttal. “Nobody” wasn’t doing “anything” as Moore asserts. The scene in New York was already being responded to and other hijacked planes were being looked into and prevented by Air Traffic Control

This claim actually falls under definition 1 which is “to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive”

Quick side note as I wrap up part 2 here, each of Michael Moore’s first 14 points are lies. That is 0/14 or 0% on the Truth-o-meter for those of you keeping score at home. Some of these lies are “half-truths” and among them are scattered a couple outright falsehoods.

This is the method that will be continued to be observed in all following parts of this series.

(To be continued in Part 3)

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