Moore's Open Letter

Michael Moore
Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush
Fri, Sep 2, 2005, 9:16 AM

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... sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then, but it was [still] pretty nasty. Eleven people died,... That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know [that] 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. [It was cut by seventy-two billion dollars, and plans to repair and strengthen the levies scrapped.] 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 -- 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 [at] 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 [middle-class] white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race [and poverty] have 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
www.MichaelMoore.com