Dis-Strib-Ute

Hmm, it's Saturday. Must be time for another ridiculous Don Wright cartoon in the editorial pages of the Star Tribune.

In my last Dis-Strib-Ute, I wrote about another Wright cartoon the Strib chose to run. That post has additional info on Wright.

Today, the Strib ran this Wright cartoon.

It shows President Bush, FEMA, Homeland Security and Congress all reading "My Pet Goat".

This book, "My Pet Goat" was the one President Bush was reading to that Florida classroom on the morning of 9/11. The book has achieved almost mythical status among the hateful Left, as they use it as just another wet noodle cudgel with which to beat up President Bush. Their complaint is that upon hearing about the attacks, President Bush didn't immediately leap up, start screaming "We're all gonna die!" in a panic, getting all the kids terrified, and knocking over tables, chairs, children and teachers in a mad dash to run from the room. Instead, President Bush sat there for another several minutes, in order not to do all of the aforementioned. The hateful Left never explains just what President Bush might have accomplished had he left the room immediately, instead of a few minutes later.

And so, Wright is saying that the President and various government agencies cluelessly read a silly book while grave events were taking place, and didn't give their full attention to the hurricane disaster.

Michael Moore mentioned the "My Pet Goat" myth in his lunatic fever dream documentary "Fahrenheit 911".

Dave Kopel put together a masterful denunciation of all the lies in Moore's waste of celluloid. It can be read here.

In a section entitled "Bush on September 11/Cheap Shot", Kopel addresses the issue of the book.

First, Kopel points to a New Yorker article that says the book President Bush was reading wasn't, in fact, called "My Pet Goat". It was entitled "Reading Mastery 2", and "My Pet Goat" was an exercise in that book.

Kopel goes on to say the people actually in the room at the time were grateful President Bush didn't create a panic.

What Moore did not tell you:

Gwendolyn Tose’-Rigell, the principal of Emma E. Booker Elementary School, praised Bush’s action: "I don’t think anyone could have handled it better." "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"…

She said the video doesn’t convey all that was going on in the classroom, but Bush’s presence had a calming effect and "helped us get through a very difficult day."

Kopel correctly points out:

Moore does not offer any suggestion about what the President should have done during those seven minutes, rather than staying calm for the sake of the classroom and of the public. Nor does Moore point to any way that the September 11 events might have turned out better in even the slightest way if the President had acted differently. I agree with Lee Hamilton, the Vice-Chair of the September11 Commission and a former Democratic Representative from Indiana: "Bush made the right decision in remaining calm, in not rushing out of the classroom."

Bill Sammon wrote a detailed article in the Washington Times explaining the events in the room. Bush's Press Secretary at the time, Ari Fleischer, had written on a back chalkboard "Don't say anything yet".

Kopel then points to an account claiming a Middle Eastern person purporting to be a journalist said they had an interview with the President, and referred to a Secret Service agent by name. With all that going on, is it not perfectly understandable that the President and his staff paused for a short time in that classroom before removing themselves and heading out to shape the response to those terrible acts?

The hateful Left cares about none of this. They are so far gone in their Bush Derangement Syndrome, that they drag out "My Pet Goat" at any occasion, no matter how inopportune.

Once again, says something about the Strib's editorial bent that they think such cartoons are appropriate commentary.