Letter to Bush...
Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush
Friday, September 2nd, 2005
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.
Friday, September 2nd, 2005
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.
posted by Snapshots of ... at 3:45 PM
9 Comments:
Hmmm - Good points raised there. I still cannot believe that America has got this guy as their president - but hey... it could be worse - heck, no it cant.
Pretty good reading that was... stopping myself from adding my two cents past here!!!
You should have listened to his speech today! I almost screamed...apparently the situation is under control ;-)
ARGHHH. I am seething over the news coming in from New Orleans. It's the same old elements that contribute to the use of the death penalty - destitute black people pushed to desperation whilst and some pathetic cowboy tries to convince us that 'he understands that people would have liked help to have arrived yesterday' and that the situation does not justify 'breaking the law'. Bull shit he understands - which friend of his is in a squalid refugee camp? And the comment about 'help arriving yesterday' is an insulting insinuation that demands for assistance are somewhat unreasonable. And why the hell shouldn't sick and starving people take drugs and food from giant corporations who will be covered by insurance anyway?
grumble grumble
Angie
A cynical thought - the majority of the people affected by the disaster are African descendants could be affecting Mr Bush's speed. Am I wrong?
I've always liked Michael Moore's no holds barred approach to matters of national importance & yeah, he couldn't be 'righter' about the presidet & his weird administration that's full of lies & deceit. Too sad that so many are suffering not because we lack resources but because of disregard for the urgency of this rescue effort.
Oh, I can't wait to turn the Tv off again when the prez readies up another excuse & false promise!
Uaridi, being a cynic is exhausting work, isn't it. But just when you are begining to regain some faith in humanity, somethibng like this comes along. Can anyone really be this uncaring? Or is he just stupid?
Wambui, it took me a while to find this blog, and I wish I had come at a happier time.
Wambui I have been waiting to read a piece from you on your favourite haunts in New Orleans. Bush what can I say and then compounded by his mother telling the evacuees that at leat they might get better housing when the federal plows in money. aarggh!
@nyaks: a break down coming soon or I could just send you back to the New Orleans blog ;-)
Been real busy guys and sorry for the silence....will back soon, I promise. ;-) But thanks for still popping by.
There used to be a time when a person was considered innocent until proven guilty. I regret that those days are past.
The false assumption of many on the left--and this apparently includes those who comment and blog here--is that one is first proven guilty by fiat (It's all Bush's fault, regardless)--unless, of course, you are a liberal.
Months ago I watched Fahrenheit 9/11 and had a completely different reaction than I thought I would. I expected to be angry at the ridiculous charges I was going to see Moore make.
Instead, I laughed the whole way through it.
The extreme attempt at emotion of how SAD IT ALL IS. EVERYTHING IS JUST SOOOOOO SAD...(weep, weep, sneer--oops, weep)
Moore should have striven for more believability by replacing himself with Eeyore. Eeyore can do sad and depressed with the best of them. On the other hand, that would have made the movie genuinely sincere.
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