What about the film’s charge that Bush ignored warnings about possible attacks by Al Qaeda in 2001, and was on vacation 42 percent of the time that year?
Phil Shenon, who covers the 9/11 commission for the New York Times, wrote, “Mr. Moore charges that President Bush and his aides paid too little attention to warnings in the summer of 2001 that Al Qaeda was about to attack, including a detailed Aug. 6, 2001, C.I.A. briefing that warned of terrorism within the country’s borders. In its final report next month, the Sept. 11 commission can be expected to offer support to this assertion. Mr. Moore says that instead of focusing on Al Qaeda, the president spent 42 percent of his first eight months in office on vacation; the figure came not from a conspiracy-hungry Web site but from a calculation by The Washington Post.” Philip Shenon, Michael Moore Is Ready for His Close-Up, New York Times, June 20, 2004. In fact, here’s what the Washington Post said: “News coverage has pointedly stressed that W.’s month-long stay at his ranch in Crawford is the longest presidential vacation in 32 years. Washington Post supercomputers calculated that if you a
