Rove: I was the one to inform Bush about the first plane crashing into the WTC

[sabra]

http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=16708

<snip>

“War on terror is a defining factor of this generation,” he said.

Rove recalled 9/11, saying he was the one to inform Bush about the first plane that had crashed into the World Trade Center.

“He (Bush) said ‘we’re gonna do things differently,’” Rove said.

Although Rove said the majority of Americans want the war to be over, he posed the question: “Are we going to stay and prevail or go and lose?”

As for Democrats, he said, “they seemed to be more interested in mandating failure.”

[Rex]

1. Waaaaaaaaaa? But but we all saw Card tell Monkeyboy!

Oh, I see, Rove told Card. Right. Sure. All of what they say is true. Honest.

[Nickster]

6. Actually, we saw Card tell Dubya about the SECOND hit on the WTC.

[Liberal In Texas]

17. That's right, he knew about the first plane BEFORE he even went into the school building.

Any reasonable person would have canceled the photo-op. But, we're talking about * here.

[ljm2002]

47. I think he was being quite reasonable...

...within the parameters of what they were trying to accomplish, which was providing the president with cover as to why he was not in charge of anything that morning. That's it. So of course he went ahead with the photo op!

[Liberal In Texas]

52. There are too many things in the "official" story that don't make a lick of sense.

They are either fools or villains. Either way, they shouldn't be running the country.

[ljm2002]

53. They're not fools...

...so that leaves villains.

Really, I think we give them too much credit by leaving open the possibility that they are mere misguided fools. If you look at the dollars, and who benefits, at Bush, Cheney, the Saudis, Halliburton, Blackwater, it goes on and on, but one thing is constant: those who make the policies are also its chief financial beneficiaries, imagine that. And the business they are a part of can be described in two words: oil and war.

[Liberal In Texas]

60. Don't get me wrong, I'm in the villain camp,

but for those who can't swallow that, then you have to point out that then they did some awful fool-assed things and are, ergo, incompetent.

[ljm2002]

61. Got it...

...and yes, with some, I guess you do have to leave that as the other possible explanation. :-)

[Rex]

23. Oh yeah that is true! Thanks for reminding me, I thought for sure

it was the first one, but now I remember - George was riding in his limo(or in his hotel), watching a TV although he lied and told the world he didn't know about the first one (until it later came out).

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. Card told Chimpy about the second plane

But, I believe McFuckwad got the news of the first plane from someone else while riding in his limo to the grade school photo op.

Will look it up later to verify, but have to go to dental app't right now :hi:

[aquart]

21. See? You bought the lie.

Bush knew before he walked in. He knew while he was reading. Card told him about the second plane.

What honest man would do that? Bush acted like a man providing himself with an alibi.

[Rex]

24. Actually I forgot.

Horrible thing, the mind. I wonder what else I've forgotten over the past 7 years? :(

[SpiralHawk]

2. "We're gonna do things differently" - Commander AWOL

"We will sit on our chickenhawk republicon asses, do NOTHING to defend America and read My Pet Goat while Americans die -- then we will pretend Iraq had something to do with it, while we play kissy face with the Saudis who actually did it SMIRK, SMIRK, SMIRK"

- Commander AWOL

[originalpckelly]

3. Excuse me? I thought that was Andy Card?

Anyone else here think that this doesn't make any sense?

Is Rover bragging and exaggerating, or is this a slip up?

[sabra]

10. I believe Card told Bush about the second plane

in regards to the first plane, I remember Bush making some weird comment about seeing it on TV and thinking "wow that's a real bad pilot"

[originalpckelly]

14. True, I don't think Bush, Rove, or Card would be allowed to know...

I don't think they're the conspirators, and if this was an inside job, operational security would dependent upon a need to know information structure. Better to keep Bush out of the know, we all are pretty certain he's stupid enough to spill the beans.

[jobycom]

22. He meant he saw the report on the tv. The early reports were that it was a twin engine plane.

I remember thinking the same thing, that it was a bad pilot. However, Bush knew before he walked into the school that it was a hijacked airliner, he was came up with that lie so he would look less inept for going ahead with the photo op.

[canetoad]

11. Something to do with monkeyboy saying he'd seen first crash?

That line has been hanging around and never satisfactorily resolved. Are they attempting to tie up the loose ends before closing the book on 911.

[jobycom]

16. Bush knew about the first plane before he got out of his limo that morning.

They've tried to pretend that Bush learned about the first plane when he, as he claims, "saw the first plane hitting the tower on the television in the school hallway" (he probably meant he saw reports of it, since the tape of the first plane hitting the tower wasn't available until later that afternoon). But in reality, reporters were asking him about it as he walked into the school. He would have been told in the limo not only that the plane had hit the tower, but that it had been hijacked, and that other planes had been hijacked, too, since this was all known by them when he sat down.

Rove is probably changing the story again, maybe to one closer to the truth. Ultimately, he will admit he told Bush before they left the hotel that morning. And they will act like that was their story all along. There must be something else coming down the pike which requires us to believe that Bush knew everything that morning, rather than their old story, that Bush knew nothing until Card told him.

[GreenPartyVoter]

What about Andy Card?

[originalpckelly]

5. Indeed, this is either a bald faced lie, or a slip up.

[alfredo]

4. Someone is lying. bush said he saw the first one hit and commented

that that was a real bad pilot.

[originalpckelly]

12. I know, we've got three different stories:

1. The MSM version with Andy Card whispering in Bush's ear.
2. The Bush version of him seeing it on TV, and saying that about the pilot.
3. The Rove version of him telling Bush.

Which one is accurate?

You would think these people could remember this. I know I remember the entire day and the day before, and I remember little details. It's sort of like Kennedy or the Moon landings.

[alfredo]

28. We do have the video of bush being told.

[canetoad]

35. Not really

We only have a video of andy card whispering in his shell pink ear.

[alfredo]

44. what else can it be. They told us that before they could get

their lies together.

[City Lights]

36. Andy Card whispered to him on camera when the second plane hit. eom

[wildbilln864]

39. Not only that but....

We also got three different stories explaining why NORAD didn't do anything until one and a half hours after the first plane was known to be hijacked!

10 minute video link
:hi:

[Canuckistanian]

56. Andy Card told him of the SECOND plane

Nobody knows for sure what under what circumstances he learned of the FIRST plane.

The Rove version could be true, for all the evidence we have.

But one thing's for sure - he was lying about seeing the first plane hit the the tower. That video didn't air until much later that afternoon.

[City Lights]

33. None of them have a shred of credibility.

I've always wondered if Booooosh saying he saw the first plane hit was one of those rare moments when the truth slips out of him, seeing as how if he did see it, he'd have had to have known about it in advance. :shrug:

[jobycom]

7. Bush said "We're going to do things differently."

I'll say he did. Rather than lead the nation, he fled in a drunken stupor like a coward while the mayor of the city under attack had to provide the leadership the nation craved. Afterwards, just when he had the bastard who attacked us cornered, he pulled back and attacked a neighbor who not only had nothing to do with the attacks, but actively hated the person who attacked us.

That was thinking outside of the box, for sure. Unless the box was a coffin.

[canetoad]

19. Isn't that in itself a bizarre first response?

Wouldn't your first reaction be, oh....something about lives, safety, rescue etc.

[Poiuyt]

27. Not only that, but how did they know it wasn't an accident?

That was what everyone else was thinking after the first plane hit.

[canetoad]

31. Bingo!

So why is Rove saying this now and what scene is being set?

[Javaman]

65. Prepare for the next false flag op. nt

[soothsayer]

34. not if he meant "we're going to install a fascist regime now"

[Cosmocat]

48. It was crape ...

Rove making crape up as he went along ...

GOD ONLY knows what the dimwit actually said at the time, but only these deluded, compulsive liars could prattle off some nonsense like that and see how out context it was ... Just shoveling manure for their braindead minions to gobble up ...

[Zynx]

9. For people who don't remember the sequence of events:

Card informed Bush of the second plane. Bush knew about the first one before he went into that classroom and chose to ignore it.

[aquart]

18. Yep.

May the fires of hell burn him now.

[BridgeTheGap]

13. Out of Bush's own mouth

"Well Jordan, you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my chief of staff, Andy Card -- actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower--the TV. was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, 'There's one terrible pilot.' And I said, 'It must have been a terrible accident.’”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011204-17.html

"Anyway, I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff -- well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane, or -- anyway, I'm sitting there, listening to the briefing, and Andy Card came and said, "America is under attack.""

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020105-3.html

[aquart]

15. More PR, Karl?

Karl, YOU created the "War on terror," so of course you want your baby to define this generation.

Get stuffed, Karl.

BTW, "we're gonna do things differently" is a bizarre response to "a plane has struck the WTC." Here are appropriate responses: "What kind of plane?" "Any word of casualties?" "Get me the mayor/governor/senators of New York." "Is this the al qaeda threat or someone else altogether?" "Where was our air support?"

[KansDem]

20. "“He (Bush) said ‘we’re gonna do things differently,’” Rove said."

Yeah, we're not gonna do anything!! Now that's different!


Let's see, how long was I suppose to sit here?

[ljm2002]

51. Just look at that face...

...that picture captures the look of someone in whom the last vestiges of conscience are shriveling up and dying, as he pursues the goal of Ultimate Power for himself and those he serves. The thing is you can still see that little seed of doubt in his eyes, like "Oh dayum, it's really happening... too bad about those folks though... well no time for that... I hope we get away with it... looks like I'm a gonna be a War President after all".

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. "Differently". Yes, the word is "incompetently".

Completely different from the Clinton years.

[Bluebear]

26. WHO IS LYING??? Bush: "I SAW an airplane hit the tower...."

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Jordan. Well, Jordan, you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card -- actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident.

[Individualist]

29. All of them

Unless I'm mistaken, there was no video on TV of the first plane hitting until some time after the second plane had hit.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

59. That is true. The first seen video of a plane was of the Second

plane hitting the WTC LIVE on the TV. They had not yet received the footage of the first plane getting filmed by the firefighter? crew. That's the way I remember it, fwiw.

[Rex]

38. Thanks.

Obviously the TV was on. :eyes:

[HereSince1628]

30. Once again the voicing of concern over losing...

Aversion to loss is a significant psychological barrier to ending US military participation in Iraq.

The Cheney/Bush administration has slid very deep into the irrationality of the sunk-cost fallacy. Anti-war advocates of all types need to enlist the insights of cognitive therapists in order to provide the loss-averse White House with a vocabulary that doesn't trigger maniacal responses to this anxiety.

If we don't we'll be forced to wait on these folks are out of control of the White House, and that is very troubling as it appears Cheney has no intention of letting that sort of power slip through his fingers.

[PurityOfEssence]

32. No, Karl, we're going to stay and lose

We don't have the troops to fight a successful occupation and counter-insurgency, and whenever we go on temporary offensives, we'll take losses and deplete our equipment, supplies and troops. At a certain point, fighting units simply lose their cohesion and effectiveness. When that happens, they have to be pulled off the line or they'll fall apart.

We'll go back to our hidey-holes and watch things disintegrate around us. If the Shiites and Sunnis ever bury the hatchet for a little while, they can mess up our logistics bigtime and then start whittling away at the smaller outposts.

From any objective military analysis, this is silly.

[Bridget Burke]

37. Ah, one short day. So many questions!

"Who told Bush?" is certainly one of them. Some say Rove bore the tidings--but Rove's latest version doesn't match anyone else's.

In other accounts, it was advisor Karl Rove who first told Bush. According to photographer Eric Draper, who was standing nearby, Rove rushed up, took Bush aside in a corridor inside the school and said the cause of the crash was unclear. Bush replied, “What a horrible accident!” Bush also suggested the pilot may have had a heart attack. (Daily Mail, 9/8/02)

Dan Bartlett, White House Communications Director, says he was there when Bush was told: “ being a former pilot, had kind of the same reaction, going, was it bad weather? And I said no, apparently not.” (ABC News, 9/11/02)

A reporter who was standing nearby later said, “From the demeanor of the President, grinning at the children, it appeared that the enormity of what he had been told was taking a while to sink in.” (Daily Mail, 9/8/02)

One account explicitly says that Rove told Bush the World Trade Center had been hit by a large commercial airliner. (Telegraph, 12/16/01)

However, Bush later remembered Rove saying it appeared to be an accident involving a small, twin-engine plane. (Washington Post, 1/27/02, MSNBC, 9/02)

www.cooperativeresearch.org/essay.jsp?article=essayaninterestingday

I have an idea. Why doesn't Congress ask everyone who was there exactly what happened? On live TV. Under oath.

[Rex]

43. Don't we wish.

I remember Chuckle Nuts and Darth Cheney 'sitting down' with Congress about 911, no oaths or anything - can't hold anyone responsible or bound legally to tell the truth ya know.

The Repukes fawned all over the two and did their best to steer away from any real questions.

[No_Quo]

63. Bush Explains

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm73wOuPL60

And Condi says she told him also,

"At 8:55, before entering the classroom, the President spoke to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who was at the White House. She recalled first telling the President it was a twin-engine aircraft-and then a commercial aircraft-that had struck the World Trade Center, adding "that's all we know right now, Mr. President." 184

http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch1.htm

So he says he saw something he couldn't of seen, unless he had a camera view we don't know about, or he is lying to help muddy the waters of that day since a lot of it still doesn't make any practical sense anyways.

[Richard Steele]

40. So Herr Roverer is saying they KNEW the first plane was no accident?

Is that correct?

[Fridays Child]

41. You say that you told him about the first plane? What year was that, Karl?

[Bitwit1234]

42. Why did he go in to read the book if he already knew about the first plane.

That just goes to show the non-feeling for Americans of this person.

[lpbk2713]

45. And Boosh replied ....

"OK. Let's invade Iraq."

[HCE SuiGeneris]

46. Psst. A little secret KKKarl. The plane has no link to Iraq, M'fkr.

[Johonny]

49. what's this We crap

He's sitting on his ass in Washington, while service men and women die!

[wildbilln864]

50. kick! eom

[mhatrw]

54. The story as we've been told so far.

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/essay.jsp?article=essayaninterestingday

In some accounts, “President Bush had emerged from his car and was shaking hands with local officials standing outside the school when Chief of Staff Andrew Card sidled up to him with the news.” Bush later recalled that it was Card who first notified him: “‘Here’s what you’re going to be doing; you’re going to meet so-and-so, such-and-such.’ Then Andy Card said, ‘By the way, an aircraft flew into the World Trade Center.’ ” At a press conference later that day, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer also claimed it was Andy Card who first informed him, “as the President finished shaking hands in a hallway of school officials.”

In other accounts, it was advisor Karl Rove who first told Bush. According to photographer Eric Draper, who was standing nearby, Rove rushed up, took Bush aside in a corridor inside the school and said the cause of the crash was unclear. Bush replied, “What a horrible accident!” Bush also suggested the pilot may have had a heart attack. Dan Bartlett, White House Communications Director, says he was there when Bush was told: “ being a former pilot, had kind of the same reaction, going, was it bad weather? And I said no, apparently not.” A reporter who was standing nearby later said, “From the demeanor of the President, grinning at the children, it appeared that the enormity of what he had been told was taking a while to sink in.” One account explicitly says that Rove told Bush the World Trade Center had been hit by a large commercial airliner. However, Bush later remembered Rove saying it appeared to be an accident involving a small, twin-engine plane.

In yet another account, Blake Gottesman, Bush’s personal assistant, while giving the president some final instructions as they walked to the school, remarked, “Andy Card says, ‘By the way, an aircraft flew into the World Trade Center.’ ”

...

Bush’s own recollection of the first crash only complicates the picture. Less than two months after the attacks, Bush made the preposterous claim that he had watched the first attack as it happened on live television. This is the seventh different account of how Bush learned about the first crash (in his limousine, from Loewer, from Card, from Rove, from Gottesman, from Rice, from television). On December 4, 2001, Bush was asked: “How did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?” Bush replied, “I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower—the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there’s one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident. But I was whisked off there, I didn’t have much time to think about it.”

There was no film footage of the first attack until at least the following day, and Bush didn’t have access to a television until 15 or so minutes later. The Boston Herald later noted, “Think about that. Bush’s remark implies he saw the first plane hit the tower. But we all know that video of the first plane hitting did not surface until the next day. Could Bush have meant he saw the second plane hit—which many Americans witnessed? No, because he said that he was in the classroom when Card whispered in his ear that a second plane hit.” Bush’s recollection has many precise details. Is he simply confused? It’s doubly strange why his advisors didn’t correct him or—at the very least—stop him from repeating the same story only four weeks later. On January 5, 2002, Bush stated: “Well, I was sitting in a schoolhouse in Florida… and my Chief of Staff – well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane…”

Unfortunately, Bush has never been asked—not even once—to explain these statements. His memory not only contradicts every single media report, it also contradicts what he said that evening. In his speech to the nation that evening, Bush said: “Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government’s emergency response plans.” It’s not known what these emergency plans were, because neither Bush nor anyone in his administration mentioned this immediate response again. Implementing “emergency response plans” seems to completely contradict Bush’s “by the way” recollection of a small airplane accident.

[Drifter]

55. That's bullshit ...

We all know what Bush said after he was told about the first plane crash. He joked about it until his handlers let him in on the fact that he sounds like a moron.

He joked that "it must have been a pretty bad pilot".

No fucking way he said "we are going to do things differently". It was not until after the second plane hit that he was told that America is under attack. It was not for a long while after that, that the president was even in a position to do anything (as they carted his chicken shit ass around the country).

This is just more BS propaganda.

Cheers
Drifter

[Canuckistanian]

57. Do WHAT things differently?

You mean take immediate, decisive action after a national tragedy?

Well, he did it differently, all right.

[DemGa]

58. Most of the people I"ve talked to

have no idea Bush knew about the first aircraft hitting WTC BEFORE he got to that school. Is there any official explanation for Bush doing this?

[Disturbed]

62. "This is just more BS propaganda."

More accurately: These are outright lies!

[Bridget Burke]

66. More about Bush's "Interesting Day"

At approximately 8:48 a.m. on the morning of September 11, 2001, the first pictures of the burning World Trade Center were broadcast on live television. The news anchors, reporters, and viewers had little idea what had happened in lower Manhattan, but there were some people who did know.

By that time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon, the White House, the Secret Service, and Canada’s Strategic Command all knew that three commercial airplanes had been hijacked. They knew that one plane had been flown deliberately into the World Trade Center’s North Tower; a second plane was wildly off course and also heading toward Manhattan; and a third plane had abruptly turned around over Ohio and was flying back toward Washington, DC.

So why, at 9:03 a.m.—fifteen minutes after it was clear the United States was under terrorist attack—did President Bush sit down with a classroom of second-graders and begin a 20-minute pre-planned photo op? No one knows the answer to that question. In fact, no one has even asked Bush about it.

From an invaluable summary already cited in this thread:

www.cooperativeresearch.org/essay_pf.jsp?article=essayaninterestingday

The whole story is "interesting" indeed, with details gleaned from reliable news sources.

So many questions.

[Javaman]

64. “He (Bush) said ‘we’re gonna do things differently,’” Rove said."

Yeah, they went from doing things the smart way to doing things the really fucking bizarrely stupid way.

[OzarkDem]

67. Mandating Failure

Rove's manufactured talking point sure describes everything Bush has done since then.

[spanone]

68. bite me karl