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"A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack."
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card leaned over and whispered these words into President Bush's right ear at 9:07 a.m. September 11." - Washington Times (10/08/02)
(Video of Card whispering to Bush at the school)
"I was uncomfortable about interrupting the president . . . But I felt if I were president, I would want to know." Card walked away from Bush immediately after delivering the bad news." - Boston Herald (09/08/02)
"White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card was with President Bush during a children's reading event at a Sarasota, Fla., public school when word came that planes had hit the World Trade Center. Card had to decide how to tell Bush without creating a national panic...
"I said those things into the president's right ear, and I stepped back." - SFGate (09/11/02)
"White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card leaned over and whispered these words into President Bush's right ear at 9:07 a.m. September 11.
"I looked at him, and that's all he said," Mr. Bush recalled months later... "Then he left. There was no time for discussion or anything." - Washington Times (10/08/02)
"I did not want to have a discussion with the president in front of that audience and in front of those cameras," [Card] said. - Boston Herald (09/08/02)
"Then, at 9:07, Mr. Card entered the classroom and seized a pause in the reading drill to walk up to Mr. Bush's seat.
"A second plane hit the second tower," he whispered into the president's right ear. "America is under attack." - Washington Times (10/08/02)
"Principal Gwen Rigell was struck by how closely Bush followed the White House script. He sat in a plain padded chair and listened as the children read him a story about a girl and her pet goat. " - St. Petersburg Times (09/08/02)
"I said those things into the president's right ear, and I stepped back, because I did not want to invite a discussion from the classroom. ...and I thought that he was outstanding in his ability not to scare either the American people that were paying attention to the cameras or, more importantly, the students that were in the classroom." - SFGate (09/11/02)
"...the only person who could have ordered them to be shot down was the president, and he was still at a public event when the second tower was hit." - Cape Cod Times (8/21/02)
"I said those things into the president's right ear, and I stepped back, because I did not want to invite a discussion from the classroom. He looked up -- it was only a matter of seconds, but it seemed like minutes -- and I thought that he was outstanding in his ability not to scare either the American people that were paying attention to the cameras or, more importantly, the students that were in the classroom.
And he just excused himself very politely to the teacher and to the students, and he left". - SFGate (09/11/02)
"Bush was reading to a grade-school class in Florida at that moment. Instead of jumping up and leaving, he instead sat in front of the class, with an unfortunate look of confusion, for nearly 11 minutes.
There Bush sits, with no access to his advisers, while New York is being viciously attacked." - FOX News (06/15/04)
Sammon's conservative perspective makes his account of Bush's behavior at the end of the photo-op all the more surprising. Bush is described as smiling and chatting with the children "as if he didn't have a care in the world" and "in the most relaxed manner imaginable." White House aide Gordon Johndroe, then came in as he usually does at the end of press conferences, and said, "Thank you, press. If you could step out the door we came in, please." A reporter then asked, "Mr. President, are you aware of the reports of the plane crash in New York? Is there anything...", But Bush interrupted, and no doubt recalling his order, "DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET," Bush responded, "I'll talk about it later." But still the president did not leave. "He stepped forward and shook hands with Daniels, slipping his left hand behind her in another photo-op pose. He was taking his good old time. ... Bush lingered until the press was gone." (Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism - From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, p. 90)
- thememoryhole.org