I can't remember where I heard this from, but I heard he was in an elementary classroom reading a book, someone came in to tell him of the first attack and he just continued reading to the class.

There was a part in the movie Farenheit 9/11 that shows President Bush reading a book to the classroom. I think it took him at least 10 minutes to stop reading to the kids and leave to do something! It was strange watching his face when he was told...almost scary. I think it was because he had no idea what to do and his little brain was stalling for time. The following video is NOT from the movie Farenheit 9/11...

I can not speak for Bush, but I will say how I reacted! When the first plane hit, it was about 3pm, a sunny day in East London. I thought it was a simple accident and that the piolet was prob drunk or something. The the second plane hit and I started to think WTF? But I still dot not assume terrorism! When the third plane hit the pentagon I knew it was terrorism, then the towers collapsed and I went from an opinion of "oh well" to "holy s*%¤" After the fourth plane went down I was sure (and I still am sure) that the US milatary shot it down and I was proud to have them as an ally! They did what was needed to be done! I know there is no proof for this, but it is something I believe (my faith if you like). I feel a real loss for those who had friends/relatives that died in the attacks and I hope nothing like it ever happens again.

He certainly didn't react immediately. On the other hand, I am not sure that he needs to react within seconds. A president is not elected to be an action man, he is elected to lead the country, the government, and make long term decisions. I would far rather a president who took an hour or two to make the right decision than one who sprang into action with the wrong decision. Instant action is the province of the military, not politicians. Which is not to express the slightest approval of GWB, merely to say that this, at least, is not a justified attack on him.

Yes he was in a classroom ... but to all the Bush haters ... he was to do what exactly? Do you not think they needed to confirm the information before going live? Do you think that he personally calls people? Do you not think his "people" do all that for him? He is a figure head. I don't understand why people make a big deal about 10 minutes. Behind the scenes, I'm sure everything was getting done what needed to be done. And when everything was confirmed and they were ready to address the public, they did. You don't just rush out and tell the nation about something someone told you. You would look like the biggest moron if it turned out to be untrue. Should he have left the classroom immediately? Maybe, but still, nothing would have been done faster and everything would've still happened as it did.

i agree with most of these answers. it is true. he continued to read his book. claiming that he was very aware of the first plane hitting, because he saw it on the classroom TV. which was impossible, because it wasn't shown on TV at the time he was reading. he was obviously critisized for this. this is also interesting. osama bin-laden mocked Bush and his reading in this video statement: "We had agreed with the (Sept. 11) overall commander Mohamed Atta, may God rest his soul, to carry out all operations in 20 minutes -- before Bush and his administration could take notice. It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the American forces would leave 50,000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone at a time when they most needed him because he thought listening to a child discussing her goat and its ramming was more important than the planes and their ramming of the skyscrapers. This gave us three times the time needed to carry out the operations, thanks be to God." * qoute found @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pet_Goat * (The Pet Goat was the name of the book he was reading.)

the video i just posted has no conection to the movie farenheit 9/11...I can't find the clip I wanted to show but, this is President Bush's commentary saying exactly what he was thinking....

he reacted immediately, take a close look at his eyes. Give him credit, he was in the room with very small children. What would you expect him to do? Scream?

There was not much Bush could do until he had the facts and gather the facts about just what was going on was the responsibility of those that serve under him. The people who keep criticizing Bush for not doing something seem to forget about something called delegating authority. Presidents don't make decisions about everything that happens in their administrations. They can't. There are simply too many things going on in the country for anyone person to keep track of. That is why the President has a cabinet and why his secretaries have staffs under them. To deal with situations as they arise so that those that are higher up the chain of command can deal with larger issues. When the first plane struck, no one knew what was happening. It could quite easily have been an accident. If so, then tragic though something like that would have been, it was not something that needed the President's immediate attention. It was not until after the second plane hit 16 minutes later that people began to consider the possibility of an attack. Even then there was really not much the President could have done to prevent the remaining attacks. So, I don't fault him for his hesitation at that point.

I think he reacted too slow. but then again he is a moron anyway

Well, he lied about his reaction, if that tells you anything:

It doesn't matter. He couldn't have done anything about it anyway because nobody knew what was going on. I don't think Clinton would've done any different. After all, Clinton refused to act when the CIA had Osama Bin Laden in their crosshairs. That would've saved us all a lot of trouble.